WILDLABS logo

WILDLABS logo

Group

Drones / Feed

Used to pick up signals from tracking gear on the ground, collect images of wildlife and habitats from the air, gather acoustic data with specialized hydrophones, or even collect snot samples from whales' blowholes, drones are capable of collecting high-resolution data quickly, noninvasively, and at relatively low cost.

Link

Ekobot WEAI robot - autonomous weeding at farm scale

Wade

29 November 2023 12:11am

A little off the typical path for Wildlabs - and probably not the sort of drone people typically think about here 😄 - but I find robotic agriculture very interesting, with the potential to greatly reduce use of poison and improve effective yields. Anyone working on like things?

0
discussion

Drones for GIS Best practice Document

Adrian Hughes

31 March 2020 10:42am

We've just released the latest version of our best practice document   General refresh and update based on knowledge acquired over the last couple of years...

11 0
Nigel Butcher

12 May 2020 12:42pm

They will be great for crocs. I'm sure the RSPB can provide a presentation of the variety of applications we have used UAV's for including bird monitoring, nest finding, habitat assessments and their limitations/ legislation/ technicalities.

See full post
Link

Insight; a secure online platform designed for sharing experiences of conservation tool use.

Cleo Graf

7 November 2023 1:01pm

A secure platform designed for those working to monitor & protect natural resources. Insight facilitates sharing experience, knowledge & tools to increase efficiency & effectiveness in conservation. By sharing we reduce time & money spent to find, test, & implement solutions.

0

Welcome to Insight

Wildlife crime refers to any illegal activity that involves the taking, trading, or possession of wild animals and plants, or their parts and derivatives.

Insight
careers

Conservation Innovation Manager

David Will

27 September 2023 11:08pm

Island Conservation's Innovation Team is dedicated to developing innovative, data-driven tools to increase the scale, scope, and pace of island restorations around the world. As the Conservation Innovation Manager, you...

1
See full post
discussion

Selecting a thermal imaging drone for wildlife monitoring

Doug Osborn

24 July 2023 4:52am

Hi All,I'm in a small volunteer conservation group in the inner western suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. We care for a small patch of remnant wetlands, and work closely with the...

6 0
Mike Johnston

25 August 2023 12:15pm

Hi Doug,

 

I've got a Mavic 3T. Happy to chat about this and other fox related issues in Melb.

Mike.

 

Philipp Ramjoué

29 August 2023 12:42pm

Hi Doug,

we are a young startup that uses AI as a tool in nature and wildlife conservation. At the moment we develop a drone with on-board AI (for object detection) and thermal and "normal" camera. If you want to know more about the project, you can contact me [email protected]. I would be happy to help you.

 

See full post
discussion

Using drones and camtraps to find sloths in the canopy

Frank van der Most

18 July 2023 7:39pm

Recently, I started volunteering for Sloth Conservation Foundation and learned that it is extremely difficult to find sloths in the canopy  because: 1) they hardly move,...

4 1
Frank van der Most

7 August 2023 3:16pm

Hi Lucy,

thank you for your reply! You're right of course about the right placement of cameras and I like the suggestion of just sitting down in a tree and do nocturnal observations.

You reply made me rethink my own question a bit better. I guess, I am looking for a solution that can be scaled up without too much additional labour. Collaboration between teams might be an option. You mentioned that you were not targeting sloths, but still found some. That could work the other way around as well. I realize that it is much easier said than done, though, what with all the different observation protocols, location requirements, etc.

Colin Cook

11 August 2023 12:37pm

Can you developan eDNA test for sloths? Sample preparation techniques have evolved so that soil and leaf litter samples (or even swabs of tree surfaces) can be tested for the presence of Sloth DNA. Once you identify the trees they are in, you can conduct more intensive searches. Sniffer dogs can be remarkably effective, even if they don't count as tech. Use the dogs to indicate target trees/areas, use the eDNA testing to identify more precise locations, then conduct your canopy search.

DNA testing equipment has come down in price and improved to the point that you can get a DNA profile from a desktop profiler that costs a few thousand dollars. We're hoping to use some of this tech in a project soon, just waiting on a reply from the funding body we applied to.

See full post
article

Sustained Effort: Carbon Footprints and Capacity

Sol Milne

9 August 2023 10:00am

In this article, Sol Milne discusses his experiences with sustainability, both in terms of environmental impact and project longevity, and considers how uncoupling conservation work from colonial ideas can help us build...

0
See full post
article

#Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge: Judges' Panel Honorees

WILDLABS Team

4 August 2023 10:00am

Please join us in celebrating this year’s top #Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge Honorees as chosen by our panel of leading conservation organization judges, and enjoy the story contained within these entries about how our...

1
See full post
discussion

Project Spotlight: Monitoring tropical freshwater fish in Kakadu National Park with drones, underwater cameras and AI

Stephanie O'Donnell

12 July 2023 3:40pm

This was such a fantastic presentation in our June Variety Hour show. Andrew and his team are exploring applications of a whole range of technologies, anda are looking to share...

1 0
Stephanie O'Donnell

12 July 2023 3:58pm

During Andrew's talk, @dmorris put out a call in the chat that might be relevant to folks catching up on the video, so I'll drop it here too: 

Re: Andrew's fish work... part of the reason I got in touch with Andrew a few weeks ago is that I'm trying to keep track of public datasets and public models for marine video that have basically this gestalt (video where fish look fishy-ish). I think we're getting close to enough public data to train a general-purpose model that will work well across ecosystems. My running list of datasets is here:

https://lila.science/otherdatasets#images-marine-fish

Let me know if folks know of others!

There are also a grand total of two public models that I'm aware of that sort of fall into this category... one is Andrew's:

https://github.com/ajansenn/KakaduFishAI

The other is:

https://github.com/warplab/megafishdetector

If folks know of other publicly-available models, let me know about those too!

See full post
article

Osa Conservation: A Multi-Tech Toolbox of Solutions

Osa Conservation

22 June 2023 10:42am

In this Conservation Tech Showcase case study from Osa Conservation, you’ll learn about how technology is aiding their long-term efforts to prevent wildlife crime, protect critical species, and build a climate-adaptive...

2
See full post
Link

UAV-assisted counts of group size facilitate accurate population surveys of the Critically Endangered cao vit gibbon Nomascus nasutus

Diep

13 June 2023 3:51am

This paper explores the use of UAVs equipped with thermal and standard cameras to accurately count the group sizes of the Critically Endangered cao vit gibbon, highlighting how this technology can overcome the limitations of traditional ground-based methods and contribute to more robust population surveys and conservation efforts.

1