In recent years, drone technologies have been explored for a range of applications in conservation including (but not limited to) mapping, biodiversity inventories, antipoaching patrols, wildlife tracking, and fire monitoring. The rise of customizable, open-source drones like those of ArduPilot and OpenROV hold promise for more effective conservation applications, and combined with other monitoring sensors and devices, they are capable of collecting high-resolution data quickly, noninvasively, and at relatively low cost.
However, challenges remain in putting these tools to use. A recent paper reviewing 256 conservation drone projects highlighted some of these major obstacles, ranging from unintended social and ecological consequences of drone operations to still prohibitive costs, both in terms of hardware and in terms of storing and processing large volumes of data. The longstanding challenge of power/battery life remains as well.
If you're considering trying out drones for yourself, and want to explore the possibilities and understand the major conversations happening around this technology, check out these beginner's resources and conversations from across the WILDLABS platform:
Three Resources for Beginners:
- Conservation Technology User Guidelines Issue 5: Drones, World Wildlife Fund | Drones, best practices, ethics, regulations, case studies
- WILDLABS Virtual Meetup Recording: Drones, Craig Elder, Dr. Claire Burke, and Gabriel Levin | Drones, thermal camera, wildlife crime, ML, biologging
- New Paper: Drones and Bornean Orangutan Distribution, Sol Milne | Drones, data analysis, citizen science, community science, primates
Three Forum Threads for Beginners:
- Curious about radio-tracking with drones? | Wildlife Drones, Biologging (5 replies)
- Drones for GIS Best practice Document | Adrian Hughes, Drones (10 replies)
- WWF Conservation Technology Series: Drones in Conservation | Aurélie Shapiro, Drones (7 replies)
Three Tutorials for Beginners:
- How do I use a drone to capture radio-tracking data? | Debbie Saunders, Tech Tutors
- How do I choose the right drone for my conservation goals? | Shashank Srinivasan, Tech Tutors
- How do I strategically allocate drones for conservation? | Elizabeth Bondi, Tech Tutors
Want to know more about using drones, and learn from experts in the WILDLABS community? Make sure you join the conversation in our Drones group!
*Header photo: Parker Levinson, Point Blue Conservation Science
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Technologist, birder, photographer and mountain guide.
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- @vandita_shukla
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PhD candidate studying drone flight planning for enabling tracking and identification of individual characteristics of wildlife; member of the WildDrone, an MSCA Doctoral Network funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research
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Movement Ecologist studying the where, why, and how animals move throughout our world. Current work is investigating the movement and energetics of large neotropical bats in a changing environment with ephemeral resources.
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- @tom_august
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Computational ecologist with interests in computer vision, citizen science, open science, drones, acoustics, data viz, software engineering, public engagement
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- @amykukulya
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Amy Kukulya is an ocean tech innovator and conservationist from the US. She has captured thrilling footage of megafauna using novel biologger and oceanrobotCams—SharkCam, TurtleCam featured across the globe on mainstream media outlets.
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- @fsanger
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Environmentalist and Python developer working in the realm of Remote Sensing. Fascinated by the intersection of technology and nature, with a focus on machine learning, ecological modeling, and biodiversity monitoring. 🌍
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Founder & CEO of we.are.tohorā, creating a community that cares about whales, the environment and each other.
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- @Fatuma
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I aim to transition my career towards conservation technology after gaining two years of experience in the tech industry.
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Society for Conservation GIS
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Friends of Brisbane Ranges
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Fauna & Flora International is seeking a qualified candidate for the position of a Technical Specialist, Analytics to support and grow the use of spatial technologies and analyses for conservation planning and...
21 March 2022
In their three-part interview from our new series Technical Difficulties, Colby Loucks and Eric Becker share the failures they've encountered and learned from throughout six years of working on the WWF-US Wildlife Crime...
20 October 2021
In their three-part interview from our new series Technical Difficulties, Colby Loucks and Eric Becker share the failures they've encountered and learned from throughout six years of working on the WWF-US Wildlife Crime...
13 October 2021
ZSL's Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation journal has released new research for early view before inclusion in an issue. See the full list of recent open access research papers on RSEC.
22 April 2021
National Geographic is offering funding up to up to $50,000 for conservationists conducting research on how the pandemic has impacted wildlife and conservation work. If you are interested in researching aspects of the...
10 March 2021
How can drones and ATVs protect black-footed ferrets from the plague? In this case study from WWF's Northern Great Plains Program, Black-footed Ferret Restoration Manager Kristy Bly discusses how delivering vaccines to...
17 February 2021
Sol Milne's new paper, Drivers of Bornean Orangutan Distribution across a Multiple-Use Tropical Landscape, is now available. Using drones to detect orangutan nest density in aerial surveys (as shared during our...
12 February 2021
A research mission to determine the impact of the giant A-68a iceberg on one of the world’s most important ecosystems using underwater robotic gliders gets underway this January. A team of scientists, led by British...
13 January 2021
The latest issue of WWF's Conservation Technology Series is about drones and is designed for a broad audience of conservationists. Containing ten case studies, scientific literature, and handy information on getting...
18 November 2020
As drone usage continues to grow within the conservation tech community, driven by improved performance, increased accessibility, and the wide range of data collection methods that can be served by drones, so do the...
19 October 2020
The miniaturisation of technology is rapidly opening up new possibilities for conservationists and environmental scientists in need of less invasive, easy to deploy solutions. University of Washington researchers have...
13 October 2020
Today, Sustainable Fishing Challenges group leader Daniel Steadman discusses how fishing gear itself could benefit from fresh technological innovations to prevent both environmental damage and damage to species and...
19 August 2020
November 2023
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Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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Dear all, Next November 2019 I will hold a aerial sowing workshop with Drones in Brazil, in Rondonopolis, in collaboration with the... |
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Drones | 4 years 9 months ago | |
Hello everyone, I am applying to a call to create an online ecological restoration platform that incorporates drone images to facilitate... |
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Drones | 4 years 9 months ago | |
It is indeed. You can watch it here: https://consbio.org/products/webinars/scgis-webinar-promises-and-pitfalls-conservation-drones I'll also see if we can add it... |
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Drones | 4 years 9 months ago | |
Hi everyone, I am selling a drone and 3 sensors... The drone is a 178 WingCopter Heavylift :https://wingcopter.com/technology/... |
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Drones | 5 years ago | |
Thank you for the tip! Shall try and pick up a set soon. |
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Drones | 5 years ago | |
Hi Sophie, Sorry- I only just saw your reply! It took about 3 months to get it through the department of civil aviation, but this doesn't mean much, because the... |
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Drones | 5 years ago | |
https://news.mongabay.com/2019/01/drones-and-thermal-cameras-help-detect-cryptic-species/ |
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Drones | 5 years 4 months ago | |
If you need a piece of exposed (black) film then please get in touch. I still take "real" slides and have a few black frames at start and end of each roll of film.... |
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Drones | 5 years 6 months ago | |
We are starting a new drones project at the RSPB to looks at multispectral cameras. I would love to hear about any experience people... |
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Drones | 5 years 8 months ago | |
Hi Michael! Thanks so much for following up. I have yet to really get my feet wet with drones & algal blooms (my water quality issue of interest at the moment), but... |
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Drones | 5 years 11 months ago | |
hi Stephen, Kites have gimbals too (ranging from simple strings to metal rigs) and you can connect to a camera much like a drone. In my case I have a gimbal... |
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Drones | 6 years 1 month ago | |
Hi Chris, Your project sounds interesting! How's it coming along? I'm based in the SF Bay Area. I don't have much drone experience, but it's something... |
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Drones | 6 years 5 months ago |
Kākāpō Dreaming: A Wildlife Drones Adventure
8 July 2020 12:00am
Seeking feedback: draft principles for responsible use of conservation surveillance technology
9 June 2020 6:28pm
WILDLABS Tech Tutors: Season One
19 May 2020 12:00am
Using UAVs to Assess carbon in Mangroves
13 May 2020 1:06pm
Training Course: Quantitative Analysis of Marine & Coastal Drone Data
29 April 2020 12:00am
Connecting to MBARI's Deep-Sea Instruments
31 March 2020 12:00am
WILDLABS Community Call Recording: Rainforest X-PRIZE
30 March 2020 12:00am
Virtual Field Trip: Conservation Technology with Shah Selbe
24 March 2020 12:00am
Able to Provide Movement Detection Software For Live Feed Video
16 January 2020 5:15am
15 March 2020 5:15pm
Hi Jessi,
I can check on the regulations for the specific area that is planned for a wildlife sanctuary in Zimbabwe. What altitude does the drone need to operate in? Does it require communications with any ground-based facility?
Ruth
15 March 2020 11:40pm
Hi Ruth,
Thanks for your email.
Essentially the software is only an advantage if the drones are being flown at altitudes that provide a wide area and less visible detail (i.e. if the operator flies at 3000ft (instead of 1000ft) it will cover 9x the area and see very small detail (which the software can pick up but the human eye may miss). In addition the software needs video feed from a computer (it sort of overlays the video) so it is only useful for drones that are able to relay decent quality video feed to a ground control station where an operator is viewing it live.
I have been advised that the drones that this is most useful for are likely to be at least 5kg (ie not the small toy ones that give video to a tablet).
I hope that helps? Please feel free to ask anything else and I will see what I can find out,
Jessi
#Tech4Wildlife 2020 Photo Challenge In Review
4 March 2020 12:00am
Call for Nominations: Tusk Conservation Awards
3 March 2020 12:00am
Hawai'i Conservation Conference
28 February 2020 12:00am
New Conservation Dataset with Thermal Infrared Images from Drones
26 February 2020 6:48pm
Drone Reforestation Tech for everyone
24 February 2020 12:04pm
Hacking Climate Change - Coaction on Climate Crisis
20 February 2020 12:00am
Habitat Restoration in the Pennines, UK
30 January 2020 8:48am
LIDAR USA sensor
14 January 2020 12:38pm
Thermal imaging, drones, and loggerhead sea turtles: a #tech4wildlife case study using FLIR's new Duo Pro R camera
21 September 2018 3:21pm
24 December 2019 6:42am
Rob thanks for the offer, sorry about delay in reply work has been in way. I have spoken to our coordinator here and we would be interested in borrowing flair 640 to see if it helps locate. Let me know he best way to get in touch.
2 January 2020 5:10pm
Hi thermal people,
Just a quick heads up, but I am exploring some of Seek Thermal's (ex FLIR engineers I believe) new Mosaic Core modules by having a play with their developer's kit. I'll report back once I receive the equipment, but their intention is to release 320 x 240 cameras at very low cost. Note - they won't sell them individually, so a reseller will be necessary, but if they are cost effective at this resolution it could prove excellent for wildlife conservation use.
https://www.thermal.com/uploads/1/0/1/3/101388544/mosaic_core_specification_sheet.pdf
Cheers,
Alasdair
2 January 2020 6:12pm
Cheers Al, and looking forward to hearing more about them. I am, as we speak, editing some thermal videos of wallaby behaviour near roads, specifically in relation to devices that activate lights and sounds when a car is approaching (activated by vehicle headlights at night). Used a Flir 640R, but I reckon half that resolution would still be fine. Unfortunately, not much support for the devices themselves working as a deterrent/warning (although I have some ideas on how they could with additional stimuli), but the thermal camera works great for non-invasive observations!
Image Processing Advice
22 October 2018 11:53am
13 November 2018 12:09pm
I just thought I would mention that i've been talking to Sol about his issue and also around multispectral and thermal sensors. No solution as yet to the issue but Sol will share some of his data with us so we can take a look.
28 November 2019 1:45am
Just wanted to mention I found a solution to my georeferencing issue. You can use the 'geosphere' package in R to identify the coordinates of specific coordinates in each image, based on the position of the central coordinate, bearing and distance to target pixel.
Feel free to drop me a line if you want a hand doing this!
28 November 2019 8:53am
Really useful to know about that package, thanks
[ARCHIVE] Virtual Meetup Discussion: Drones
19 November 2019 3:04pm
[ARCHIVE] WILDLABS Virtual Meetup Invitation: Drones
18 November 2019 4:35pm
WILDLABS Virtual Meetup Recording: Drones
9 November 2019 12:00am
How do you weigh a live whale?
9 October 2019 12:00am
Aerial Seeding with drones: reforestation Workshop in Brazil next November
2 September 2019 4:51pm
Tips to create a reforestation platform.
25 August 2019 11:37pm
[ARCHIVE] Promises and Pitfalls of Conservation Drones webinar (June 6)
3 June 2019 11:37am
22 August 2019 5:14pm
Is the webinar recorded and uploaded somewhere?
22 August 2019 5:24pm
It is indeed. You can watch it here:
https://consbio.org/products/webinars/scgis-webinar-promises-and-pitfalls-conservation-drones
I'll also see if we can add it to our resources area for ease of access. Leave it with me.
Workshop: Drones in the Coastal Zone
13 August 2019 12:00am
From the Field: Melissa Schiele
10 June 2019 12:00am
SALE: WingCopter HeavyLift drone, LiDAR, Multispektral camera, NextVision NightHawk
5 June 2019 10:20am
Circular Polarising Filters for the Mavic 2 Pro
29 April 2019 2:36pm
8 May 2019 7:23pm
I like the stuff Polar Pro puts out. I think they are some of the best you can get and it is what I use.
4 June 2019 3:31pm
Thank you for the tip! Shall try and pick up a set soon.
11 March 2020 3:22am
Hi Ruth,
Thanks for your reply and the suggestion.
I contacted air shepherd and a few similar groups a few moths ago and they were all saying they are not interested due to the difficult drone regulations. Hopefully the regulations are not as arduous in Zimbabwe?
Please don't hesitate to ask if there is any technical information or assistance that I can provide to help with your project,
Jessi Hargrave