Ten years ago, we couldn't have imagined how tools like machine learning, eDNA, and satellites would advance and transform conservation work. Now technology is advancing faster than ever, and as tools become smaller, lighter, and more affordable, it's vital to have a space where community members can discuss the next big thing, share ideas, compare tool options, and tell the story of their experiences - positive, negative, and anything in between - while using new technologies.
In 2021, the WILDLABS State of Conservation Tech report detailed what tools show the most promise according to community members, as well as what tools are currently seen as the most effective. And as new tools enter the field, we're excited to see how this data will change over time, and how this group grows over time as well.
Our State of Conservation Tech research also discusses something called the "Hype Cycle" - the pattern that occurs when a new technology bursts onto the scene, promises to be an exciting solution, encounters challenges as new users adopt the tool and put it into practice beyond just theory, and eventually settles into its most effective state as users acquire the right skills to use it to its actual potential. Machine learning, one of the most promising technologies, is currently in the middle of its own hype cycle, and we see community members working through their own hurdles to incorporate ML into their work effectively. Despite what you may think, this Hype Cycle can also be positive for tech development, as it means that users have big ideas for new tools, and with the right resources and skills, they can work toward bringing those ideas to life. And as our community members experiences the Hype Cycle for various tools at their own paces, we hope this group will also serve as a place to discuss that process and overcome hurdles together.
Ready to discover new possibilities? Join our Emerging Tech group now and get to know your forward-thinking conservation tech peers!
Header photo: Internet of Elephants
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- 6 Discussions
- 6 Groups
- @capreolus
- | he/him
Capreolus e.U.
wildlife biologist with capreolus.at
- 1 Resources
- 71 Discussions
- 16 Groups
Ol Pejeta Conservancy
Deputy Technology Manager
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 7 Groups
An Environmental sciences and Management graduate from SUA, passionate and eager to drive change to the Environment, making World a better place for present and future generations.
- 0 Resources
- 3 Discussions
- 14 Groups
- @raquelgo
- | (she/her/hers)
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 17 Groups
Software Engineer
- 0 Resources
- 5 Discussions
- 10 Groups
- @StephODonnell
- | She / Her
WILDLABS & Fauna & Flora
I'm the Executive Manager at WILDLABS.
- 152 Resources
- 668 Discussions
- 30 Groups
Interested in automated insect monitoring.
- 0 Resources
- 15 Discussions
- 3 Groups
WILDLABS & Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)
I hold a PhD in Biological Sciences and specialize in bioacoustics and passive acoustic monitoring of cetaceans in the Argentine Sea and Antarctica. Recently, I've also embraced computing to leverage technology in enhancing our conservation efforts.
- 7 Resources
- 2 Discussions
- 14 Groups
- @TaliaSpeaker
- | She/her
WILDLABS & World Wide Fund for Nature/ World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
I'm the WILDLABS Research Specialist at WWF-US
- 13 Resources
- 56 Discussions
- 24 Groups
Sustainability Manager for CERES Tag LTD. An animal health company; animal monitoring, conservation, & anti-poaching/ rural crime. Wildlife, livestock, equine & companion. #CeresTrace #CeresWild #CeresRanch
- 2 Resources
- 19 Discussions
- 24 Groups
Wildlife Drones
Wildlife Drones has developed the world’s most innovative radio animal-tracking system using drones so you can track your radio-tagged animals like never before.
- 11 Resources
- 8 Discussions
- 32 Groups
WILDLABS and Fauna & Flora International are seeking an early career Vietnamese conservationist for 12-month paid internship position to grow and support the Southeast Asia regional community in our global...
11 January 2023
This position focuses on the ecology aspect of the project, while a second PhD in Ilmenau will be dealing with programming/AI development. Because of the high temporal resolution of our data, we can investigate how land...
9 January 2023
Careers
We are looking for someone who enjoys the craft of making to come and help run our London based lab.
5 January 2023
Rainforest Foundation UK is looking for a developer who wants to put their skills to use in the fight against climate change and social injustice.
19 December 2022
a technology-led solution to understanding the honeybees of the wasp world
8 December 2022
Rainforest Foundation UK is looking for a FullStack developer with an interest in environmental justice and the development of rainforest monitoring systems
6 December 2022
Conservation partnership launches new award to advance biodiversity conservation from space
5 December 2022
This SPACES paper aims to inspire the audience to use spatial intelligence as an enabler for integrated nature and climate action. It showcases ’emerging’ data sources and digital technology in the nature and climate...
28 October 2022
*New closing date!* WILDLABS and Fauna & Flora International are seeking an early career conservationist for 12-month paid internship position to grow and support the Southeast Asia regional community in our global...
19 October 2022
Apply now for $2,500–$15,000 USD grants for early-stage ideas or projects that address global challenges.
4 October 2022
This paper released by the World Economic Forum and the SPACES coalition shows how businesses can embrace the use of spatial intelligence for action on nature and climate. How can we make sure businesses apply the...
23 September 2022
This role will be employed under Osa Conservation's Movement Ecology Program. Broadly, the project aims to develop and use novel animal tracking technology to increase our understanding of the movement ecology of...
22 September 2022
August 2024
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April 2024
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Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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I agree, this would be great for canopy work! |
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Autonomous Camera Traps for Insects, Camera Traps, Emerging Tech, Marine Conservation | 10 months ago | |
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Climate Change, Community Base, East Africa Community, Emerging Tech, Software and Mobile Apps | 10 months ago | ||
Hi all! I am a mechanical engineer working in the Aerospace Engineering department at a University, and I have the opportunity to take over... |
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Emerging Tech, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Marine Conservation, Open Source Solutions, Sensors | 11 months ago | |
Carly, that would be great! Thanks! I work with soundscapes and love the work of Rainforest Connection! I'll send you an email (@CUNY) to coordinate! |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Drones, eDNA & Genomics, Emerging Tech, Remote Sensing & GIS | 1 year ago | |
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Emerging Tech | 1 year 1 month ago | ||
Hi everybody 👋🏽,I'm a UX designer, and I design interfaces and improve user experiences/flows. I would love to contribute to conservation... |
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AI for Conservation, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Emerging Tech, Human-Wildlife Conflict | 1 year 1 month ago | |
Hi Jeremy, With a quick search I've found the paper linked below. It looks like equipments such as Livox MID are sufficient for plot-level analyses, but not for individual... |
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Drones, Earth Observation 101 Community, Emerging Tech, Remote Sensing & GIS, Sensors | 1 year 2 months ago | |
Yes, but for our needs that are not powerful enough |
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Acoustics, Build Your Own Data Logger Community, Camera Traps, Emerging Tech, Open Source Solutions | 1 year 2 months ago | |
Hi James - I'm working for Regen Network at the intersection of blockchain and ecosystem regeneration and am developing an Environmental Stewardship initiative that might be of... |
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Emerging Tech | 1 year 2 months ago | |
Hi Andrea! Although I am a keen user and observer of the Moveapps initiative, my R or Python coding skills are next to non- existing. I am therefore not likely to be contributing... |
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Biologging, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Data management and processing tools, Emerging Tech, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Open Source Solutions, Software and Mobile Apps | 1 year 3 months ago | |
Hi all,Thank you so much for sharing the resources, these are quite insightfull |
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Emerging Tech | 1 year 3 months ago | |
Hi @Sicily_Fiennes,Over the past several years, I have explored how to design engaging and useful tools for the exploration of audio recording to locate calls of a particular bird... |
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Conservation Tech Training and Education, Emerging Tech | 1 year 3 months ago |
€4,000 travel grants for insect monitoring an AI
6 June 2024 4:49pm
New WildLabs Funding & Finance group
5 June 2024 3:24pm
6 June 2024 1:38am
6 June 2024 4:16am
Mass Detection of Wildlife Snares Using Airborne Synthetic Radar
7 January 2024 6:50am
28 May 2024 5:06am
Hi @DaveGaynor regarding funding, have you reached out to any lodges? I know that snaring is rife in the Manyaleti ... maybe some of the lodges in the Sabi Sands would be interested in helping you with your goal?
31 May 2024 12:57pm
Aakash, that is a really amazing offer, we really need people capable of analyzing the radar data and used to working with signal processing I will reach out to you now.
4 June 2024 7:52pm
Hi David - have you seen this opportunity? It may be a good one to apply to for support (the Darwin Initiative).
Apply! 2024 Conservation Tech Award
3 June 2024 3:51pm
Announcing: BeetlePalooza 2024
31 May 2024 9:00pm
🌟 Seeking a Mentor in Software Engineering 🌟
30 May 2024 10:46am
Share Your Work in a Conservation Technology Video
17 May 2024 9:06pm
Technology for Environmental Governance in Kenya
15 May 2024 8:36am
15 May 2024 10:55am
Hello @nyokabi great question! What I know of is the following, hope it's helpful:
- WildlifeDirect's “Eyes in the Courtroom” project, which monitors wildlife crime cases in court to inform and support improvements to environmental law and prosecution. Think it utilizes some sort of app software.
- MIKE
16 May 2024 9:03pm
Thank you very much for this Esther.
I also came across Trade in Wildlife Information Exchange (TWIX) which is a enforcement tool for international wildlife trade.
Voices of Sustainability: Perspectives from - Africa Wholesome Sustainability Explained: What is E-PIE
7 May 2024 3:06am
ChatGPT for conservation
16 January 2023 10:04am
2 May 2024 9:39pm
In my experience, ChatGPT-4 performs significantly better than version 3.5, especially in terms of contextual understanding. However, like any AI model, inaccuracies cannot be completely eliminated. I've also seen a video showing that Gemini appears to excel at literature reviews, though I haven't personally tested it yet. Here's the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPiOP_CB54A.
4 May 2024 6:44am
While GPT3.5 is good for some activities, GPT-4 and GPT4-turbo are much better. Anthropic Claude is also very good, on a par with GPT4 for many tasks. As someone else has mentioned, the key is in the prompt you use, though chatGPT is continually being extended to allow more contextual information to be included, for example external files that have been uploaded previously. Code execution and image generation are also possible with the paid version of chatGPT, and the latest models include data up to the end of 2023 (I think). You can also include calls to openAI or other APIs programatically to include these in your workflows for assisting with a variety of tasks.
Regarding end results - as always, we're responsible for whatever outputs are ultimately published/shared etc.
For Conservation Evidence - you could try making your own GPT (chatGPT assistant) that can be published/shared using your own evidence base and prompt that should be well grounded and provide good responses (I should think). But don't use 3.5 for that, IMO.
4 May 2024 8:28pm
Undoubted things will quickly evolve from just "straight" ChatGPTn, BARD, ClaudeAI, etc "standard" models, to more specialized Retrieval Augmentation Generation (RAG) , where facts from authoritative sources and rules are supplied as context for the LLM to summarize in its response. You can direct ChatGPT and BARD: "Your response must be based on the reference sections provided" up to a few K of tokens. A huge amount of work is going into properly indexing reference materials in order to supply context to the reference models. Folks like FAO and CGIAR are indexing all their agricultural knowledge to feed the standard ones with location, crop, livestock, etc specialty "knowledge" to provide farmers automated advice via mobile phones, etc. I can totally see the same for such mundane things as "how do I ... using ArcMAP or QGIS?" purely based on the vast amount of documentation and tutorials. Google, ChatGPT, etc do a really good job already; this is just totally focusing its response to the body of knowledge known in advance to be relevant.
I would highly recommend folks do some searching on "LLM RAG" - that's what going nuts now across the board.
Then there's stuff I like to call "un-SQL" ... unstructured query language .. that will take free-form queries to form SQL queries, with supporting visualization code.
see:
"https://mlnotes.substack.com/p/no-more-text2sql-its-now-rag2sql"
"http://censusgpt.com"
etc.
As far as writing and evaluating proposals, I saw a paper on how summarization of public review forms are being developed in several cities.
see: "http://streetleveladvisors.com/?p=181562"
And that's just the standard LLMs; super-specialized LLMs based on Facebook Llama are being built purely based on domain-specific bodies of dialog - medical, etc. LOTS of Phds to be done.
I think what will be critical in all this are strong audit trails and certification mechanisms to gain trust. Especially when it comes to deceptive simple terms like "best"
Chris
Travel grants for insect monitoring an AI
3 May 2024 5:20pm
CollarID: multimodal wearable sensor system for wild and domesticated dogs
3 May 2024 1:42am
3 May 2024 10:14am
Hi Patrick,
This is so cool, thanks for sharing! It's also a perfect example of what we were hoping to capture in the R&D section of the inventory - I've created a new entry for #CollarID so it's discoverable and so we can track how it evolves across any mentions in different posts/discussions that come up on WILDLABS. This thread appears on the listing, and I'll make you three the contacts for it too. But please do go in and update any of the info there as well!
Steph
3 May 2024 2:01pm
Hi Steph,
We appreciate the support! Thanks for the tag and your help managing the community!
Patrick
Drop-deployed HydroMoth
2 April 2024 10:20am
15 April 2024 6:53am
Hi Matthew,
Thanks for your advice, this is really helpful!
I'm planning to use it in a seagrass meadow survey for a series of ~20 drops/sites to around 30 m, recording for around 10 minutes each time, in Cornwall, UK.
At this stage I reckon we won't exceed 30 m, but based on your advice, I think this sounds like not the best setup for the surveys we want to try.
We will try the Aquarian H1a, attached to the Zoom H1e unit, through a PVC case. This is what Aquarian recommended to me when I contacted them too.
Thanks for the advice, to be honest the software component is what I was most interested in when it came to the AudioMoth- is there any other open source software you would recommend for this?
Best wishes,
Sol
21 April 2024 7:10pm
Hey Sol,
No problem at all. Depending on your configuration, the Audiomoth software would have to work on a PCB with an ESP32 chip which is the unit on the audiomoth/hydromoth, so you would have to make a PCB centered around this chip. You could mimic the functionality of the audiomoth software on another chip, like on a raspberry pi with python's pyaudio library for example. The problem you would have is that the H1A requires phantom power, so it's not plug and play. I'm not too aware with the H1e, but maybe you can control the microphone through the recorder that is programmable through activations by the RPi (not that this is the most efficient MCU for this application, but it is user friendly). A simpler solution might be to just record continuously and play a sound or take notes of when your 10 min deployment starts. I think it should last you >6 hours with a set of lithium energizer batteries. You may want to think about putting a penetrator on the PVC housing for a push button or switch to start when you deploy. They make a few waterproof options.
Just somethign else that occured to me, but if you're dropping these systems, you'll want to ensure that the system isn't wobbling in the seagrass as that will probably be all you will hear on the recordings, especially if you plan to deploy shallower. For my studies in Curacao, we aim to be 5lbs negative, but this all depends on your current and surface action. You might also want to think about the time of day you're recording biodiversity in general. I may suggest recording the site for a bit (a couple days or a week) prior to your study to see what you should account for (e.g. tide flow/current/anthropogenic disturbance) and determine diel patterning of vocalizations you are aiming to collect if subsampling at 10 minutes.
Cheers,
Matt
3 May 2024 12:55pm
Hi Sol,
If the maximum depth is 30m, it would be worth experimenting with HydroMoth in this application especially if the deployment time is short. As Matt says, the air-filed case means it is not possible to accurately calibrate the signal strength due to the directionality of the response. For some applications, this doesn't matter. For others, it may.
Another option for longer/deeper deployments would be an Aquarian H2D hydrophone which will plug directly into AudioMoth Dev or AudioMoth 1.2 (with the 3.5mm jack added). You can then use any appropriately sized battery pack.
If you also connect a magnetic switch, as per the GPS board, you can stop and start recording from outside the housing with the standard firmware.
Alex
WILDLABS AWARDS 2024 - Underwater Passive Acoustic Monitoring (UPAM) for threatened Andean water frogs
30 March 2024 3:54pm
5 April 2024 12:13pm
Congratulations, very exciting! Keep us updated!
7 April 2024 6:09pm
This is so cool @Mauricio_Akmentins - congrats and look forward to seeing your project evolve!
1 May 2024 5:17pm
Congratulations! My first hydromoth was just arrived yesterday and so excited! Looking forward for the update from your project!!!
Elephant Collective Behaviour Project - Principal Investigator
1 May 2024 1:59pm
The Inventory User Guide
1 May 2024 12:46pm
Introducing The Inventory!
1 May 2024 12:46pm
2 May 2024 3:08pm
3 May 2024 5:33pm
17 May 2024 7:29am
Hiring Chief Engineer at Conservation X Labs
1 May 2024 12:19pm
Earth Blox dataset review: Meta Global Canopy Height (1m)
23 May 2024 7:23pm
27 May 2024 8:58am
Program Manager: Integrating movement and camera trap data with international conservation policy
22 April 2024 10:16pm
WILDLABS AWARDS 2024 – MothBox
15 April 2024 5:06am
18 April 2024 10:39am
Already an update from @hikinghack:
19 April 2024 12:00pm
Yeah we got it about as bare bones as possible for this level of photo resolution and duration in the field. The main costs right now are:
Pi- $80
Pijuice -$75
Battery - $85
64mp Camera - $60
which lands us at $300 already. But we might be able to eliminate that pijuice and have fewer moving parts, and cut 1/4 of our costs! Compared to something like just a single logitech brio camera that sells for $200 and only gets us like 16mp, we are able to make this thing as cheap as we could figure out! :)
19 April 2024 12:54pm
Gotcha, well I look forward to seeing future iterations and following along with your progress!!
Technology Trends that Would Drive Business Innovation in 2024
19 April 2024 9:27am
The rapidly evolving digital landscape and its fusion with business operations has given rise to a new buzzword: Digital Transformation. Therefore, there’s been an urgent imperative for organizations to adopt digital technologies to stay competitive. The link provides insights into technological advancements that organizations should embrace
Early Warning Systems for Human-Wildlife Conflict, Zoonotic Spillover, and Other Conservation Challenges
17 April 2024 5:43pm
WILDLABS AWARDS 2024 - TimeLord: A low-cost, low-power and low-difficulty timer board to control battery-powered devices
5 April 2024 3:29pm
16 April 2024 9:34am
Thanks @Freaklabs, I think you'll really enjoy getting involved with this too as we're looking for input from makers in the community to get the most from the approach and to capture features and usability ideas from a large number of people.
I've a new modular drop-off tag build using @Rob_Appleby's original SensorDrop board that I think would be great for this project too to see if we can drop different compartments, or do various different timed events with the one TimeLord board.
Most importantly, we have to make it play a MIDI version of the DoctorWho theme song when you arm the device. That has to be the #1 feature if you ask me!
16 April 2024 9:35am
Reminds me that we should look at both terrestrial and marine applications when we get stuck in to the demo builds to make sure we cover use cases
16 April 2024 10:22am
'Most importantly, we have to make it play a MIDI version of the DoctorWho theme song when you arm the device. That has to be the #1 feature if you ask me!'
Seconded!
Underwater advertisement call of the threatened Telmatobius rubigo (Anura: Telmatobiidae
6 April 2024 9:56pm
Blind Spots in Conservation Tech Management in Remote Landscapes: Seeking Your Input
20 March 2024 10:51am
22 March 2024 9:48am
Hi @lucianofoglia
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with the community. What you've touched on resonates with a number of users and developers (looking at you @Rob_Appleby) who share similar concerns and are keen to address these issues.
As a beliver in open sourcing conservation technologies, to mitigate issues you've noted (maintenance of technologies / solutions, repairability, technical assistance to name but a few), really the only way to achieve this in my eyes is through the promotion of openness to enable a wide range of both technical and non-technical users to form the pool of skills needed to react to what you have stated. If they can repair a device, or modify it easily, we can solve the waste issue and promote reusability, but first they need access to achieve this and commerical companies typically shy away from releasing designs to protect against their IP that they keep in house to sell devices / solutions.
I would think for an organisation to achieve the same the community would need to help manufacturers and developers open and share hardware designs, software, repairability guides etc, but the reality today is as you have described.
One interesting conversation is around a kitemark, i.e a stamp of approval similar to the Open Source Hardware Association's OSHWA Certification), but as it's not always hardware related, the kitemark could cover repairability (making enclosure designs open access, or levels of openness to start to address the issue). Have a look at https://certification.oshwa.org/ for more info. I spent some time discussing an Open IoT Kitemark with http://www.designswarm.com/ back in 2020 with similar values as you have described - https://iot.london/openiot/
You may want to talk more about this at the upcoming Conservation Optimism Summit too.
Happy to join you on your journey :)
Alasdair (Arribada)
30 March 2024 3:57pm
Hi @Alasdair
Great to hear from you! Thanks for the comment and for those very useful links (very interesting). And for letting @Rob_Appleby know. I can't wait to hear from her.
Open source is my preference as well. And it's a good idea. But, already developing the tech in house is a step ahead from what would be the basic functional application of an organization that could manage the tech for a whole country/region.
I have witnessed sometime how tech have not added much to the efficiency of local teams but instead being an tool to promote the work of NGOs. And because of that then innovative technologies are not developed much further that a mere donation (from the local team's perspective). But for that tech to prove efficient, a lot more work on the field have to be done after. The help of people with expertise in the front line with lots of time to dedicate to the cause is essential (this proves too expensive for local NGOs and rarely this aspect is consider).
I imagine this is something that needs to come from the side closer to the donors and International NGOs. Ideally only equipment can be lend within a subscription model and not just donated without accountability on how that tech is use. Effectively the resources can be distributed strategically over many projects. Allowing to tech to be repurposed.
Sorry that I step down the technical talk, the thing is that sometimes the simplest things can make the most impact.
It would be good to know if any in the community that have spent considerable time working in conservation in remote regions, and have observed similar trends.
Thanks! Luciano
Announcing the WILDLABS Awards 2024 awardees!
26 March 2024 9:52am
11 April 2024 8:35am
12 April 2024 9:28am
15 April 2024 9:24am
How does behavior influence the use of technology for animal detection ?
22 March 2024 7:49pm
The Variety Hour: 2024 Lineup
22 March 2024 4:30pm
5 June 2024 4:14pm