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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A recent online video of a baby bear's efforts to scale a steep cliff took what seemed like an inspirational moment viral. But after the initial enthusiasm for the video came some controversy when scientists pointed out...
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In this case study, WILDLABS member Sol Milne takes us through his Ph.D. work investigating how changing land-use is affecting orangutan distribution in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. With the help of five local research...
22 October 2018
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23 August 2018
Increasingly complex research questions and global challenges are driving rapid development, refinement, and uses of technology in ecology. This trend is spawning a distinct sub‐discipline, dubbed “technoecology” by...
9 May 2018
This month, we're following along with the scientists and engineers from the Simons Collaboration on Ocean Processes and Ecology (SCOPE) and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) who working together to...
23 April 2018
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10 April 2018
If you have ever flown over the Pacific and looked down from the window seat, the water seems still. Viewed from this distance, the water appears stagnant with unmoving dashes of waves. This picture strikes discordantly...
3 April 2018
Hundreds of people joined our #Tech4Wildlife photo challenge this year, showcasing all the incredible ways tech is being used to support wildlife conservation. We've seen proximity loggers on Tasmanian Devils in...
3 March 2018
With Arctic sea ice disappearing, can advanced sensor technologies provide insights into an ecosystem on the brink?
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It’s one thing to hear that a project is working, it’s another thing entirely to see the data brought to life. Using submersible and aerial drones, as well as scientists with snorkels and digital cameras, The Nature...
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10 August 2017
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Hi, I would like to share this article with good social reflections about drones and mapping: https://forestcompass.org/drones-pros-... |
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Drones | 6 years 5 months ago | |
Excellent - started reading this yesterday. This is a very timely and pertinent paper. Thanks for sharing. |
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Drones | 6 years 9 months ago | |
Hi Mazidi, all the systems that I recommended are separate systems with their own GPS, not connected to the drone. Just the last one was the only finished product. Good luck... |
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Drones | 6 years 9 months ago | |
The European Space Agency have an exciting funding opportunity coming up and got in touch with us to ask that we share it with you,... |
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Drones | 6 years 11 months ago | |
For those who couldn't make it to the webinar, there's a recording at https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0smOWFNRzuoLXpPSWREUnE2YzA/view. What do people think? Is this the... |
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Drones | 6 years 11 months ago | |
People in this thread might be interested in this special issue of remote sensing in ecology and conservation, looking for papers on "New Approaches to Citizen Science... |
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Drones | 6 years 11 months ago | |
Cool! Thanks @Tomas Starnes. Meanwhile, http://precisionmapper.com/ has adopted the freemium model, so the first 60 maps by year are free, It's not open source but... |
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Drones | 6 years 11 months ago | |
Hey @ahughes_rspb , thanks for starting this thread! It would be really useful to share experience on GCPs in particular. We're about to start experimenting by... |
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Drones | 7 years ago | |
Hi Marcelo, To improve autonomy, you'll either need less weight on your drone, better batteries, or what about a fixed wing aircraft? Look at the parrot disco - it... |
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Drones | 7 years 1 month ago | |
This is really fascinating! This could also be potentially useful as a way to distribute vaccines for wildlife and livestock! |
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Drones | 7 years 1 month ago | |
Thanks for sharing, @Lot Adding a little more info in case anyone was interested but didn't click through - also, earlybird tickets are still available.... |
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Drones | 7 years 2 months ago | |
Hi @twhitten The British Model Flying Association provide a specialist insurance for drone operators who are not using them as a hobby nor for commercial purposes ("... |
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Drones | 7 years 3 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