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
- @shannondubay
- | she/her
Panthera
Director of Conservation Technology at Panthera
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- 5 Groups
Adventure Scientists is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in Bozeman, MT that equips scientists and researchers with high-quality data collected from the outdoors that are crucial to addressing environmental challenges around the world.
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- 16 Groups
- @DanielHugelmann
- | He / Him
Hi, I'm the co-founder of OceanLabs Seychelles. We design and build environmental and marine remote sensing devices for conservation NGOs. As an engineer and avid diver, with a love for the environment, connecting conservation and technology was the natural thing to do!
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- 1 Discussions
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Background in Computer Science, Developing Acoustic AI Tech at Synature
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- 1 Discussions
- 4 Groups
- @crazybirdguy
- | Him
Just a birder
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- 6 Discussions
- 12 Groups
- @chmod000
- | he/they
I build sensing and perceiving hardware that is designed to address issues that matter to me. That ranges from assistive technologies, to conservation ecology, and connecting individuals with place and each other.
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- 7 Groups
St. Lawrence University
Professor of Biology at St. Lawrence University
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- 2 Discussions
- 13 Groups
- @SamuelHertz
- | He/Him/His
I'm a PhD researcher at Royal Holloway University of London (Centre for GeoHumanities) researching modalities of sound-sensing technologies across climate and conservation sciences. Interested in ethics and histories of acoustic monitoring as well as new visualization methods.
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- 3 Discussions
- 10 Groups
- @DBayley
- | He/him
Fauna & Flora & University College London (UCL)
I'm a tropical marine ecologist, specialising in coral reefs, MPAs, and blue carbon. Within conservation technology my focus has been around developing underwater imaging techniques, primarily to assist coral reef monitoring
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- 1 Discussions
- 5 Groups
- @EliThore
- | He/Him
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
I am a biologist with a broad interest in how the environment affects the behaviour and ecology of wildlife. I also like seeking creative and practical solutions to reduce our impact on the environment.
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- 5 Groups
PhD student with research focused on using on-site DNA sequencing for rapid species identification. Interested in wildlife forensics, and conservation genomics.
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- 4 Groups
- @Gcharron
- | Mr.
Cofounder of Outreach Robotics, I have a master in mechanical engineering and I thrive on developing new technology for field scientists using remote controlled robots.
- 1 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 4 Groups
Technology to End the Sixth Mass Extinction. Salary: $104k-144K; Location: Washington DC or Seattle WA, potential hybrid; 5+ years of Full stack development experience; Deadline March 15th - view post for full job...
10 February 2023
Frontiers in Conservation Science is calling for submissions for a Research Topic that aims at examining the paradoxical relationship that has been established in recent years between the flagships of new technology...
10 February 2023
Do you have any new methods or examples of practical applications of emerging new technologies that can help solve ecological problems? Submit a proposal to the new OA Special Feature of Ecological Solutions and...
7 February 2023
Are you excited by the potential for new technologies to help monitor the natural world? Do you enjoy communicating your passion for technology and nature with diverse audiences? We are seeking an enthusiastic...
2 February 2023
The role of no-code geospatial software in the fight against climate change
24 January 2023
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
December 2023
event
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This is an interesting discussion and something we've been grappling with at Conservation Evidence. We have begun a project to build an AI-assisted evidence synthesis pipeline... |
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AI for Conservation, Emerging Tech | 6 hours 22 minutes ago | |
Congratulations! My first hydromoth was just arrived yesterday and so excited! Looking forward for the update from your project!!! |
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Acoustics, Biologging, Climate Change, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Data management and processing tools, Emerging Tech, Open Source Solutions, Protected Area Management Tools, Sensors, Software and Mobile Apps | 19 hours 21 minutes ago | |
SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR WILL ALSO DETECT AND LOCATE CHAINSAWS, MOTORBIKES, BICYLCLES, FIREARMS, MACHETES in fact anything metal. I have been concentrating on trying to get... |
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AI for Conservation, Drones, Emerging Tech, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Wildlife Crime | 1 week 1 day ago | |
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/... |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Data management and processing tools, Emerging Tech, Sustainable Fishing Challenges | 1 week 3 days ago | |
Gotcha, well I look forward to seeing future iterations and following along with your progress!! |
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Autonomous Camera Traps for Insects, AI for Conservation, Emerging Tech, Open Source Solutions | 1 week 5 days ago | |
'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! |
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Acoustics, Biologging, Emerging Tech, Open Source Solutions, Sensors | 2 weeks 2 days ago | |
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... |
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Emerging Tech, Camera Traps, Conservation Tech Training and Education | 1 month ago | |
Hello everyone, I'm interested in gathering insights on how the behavior of different species impacts the development and efficacy of... |
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Biologging, Acoustics, Camera Traps, eDNA & Genomics, Emerging Tech, Marine Conservation | 1 month 1 week ago | |
Hi @timbirdweather I've now got them up and running and winding how I can provide feedback on species ID to improve the accuracy over time. It would be really powerful to have a... |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Citizen Science, Emerging Tech | 1 month 2 weeks ago | |
Thank you for the help! |
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Biologging, Emerging Tech | 2 months 2 weeks ago | |
Hi Danilo. you seem very passionate about this initiative which is a good start.It is an interesting coincidence that I am starting another project for the coral reefs in the... |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Biologging, Camera Traps, Citizen Science, Climate Change, Community Base, Connectivity, Drones, Emerging Tech, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Open Source Solutions, Sensors, Software and Mobile Apps, Wildlife Crime | 2 months 4 weeks ago | |
Hi!I would take a look at Although developed for camera trap imagery, it is by no means restricted to such.Cheers,Lars |
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Camera Traps, Community Base, Data management and processing tools, Drones, Emerging Tech, Remote Sensing & GIS, Software and Mobile Apps | 3 months 1 week ago |
Conservation Technology Intern (Vietnam)
11 January 2023 5:00pm
PhD position (m/f/d) in Insect Ecology and Conservation
9 January 2023 12:53pm
Education Paper on Computer Vision for Ecology
9 January 2023 5:30am
Job: maker / workshop technician
5 January 2023 10:53am
Conservation Design Project Recruitment
19 December 2022 5:52pm
FULL STACK DEVELOPER (FOREST COMMUNITIES MONITORING SYSTEM)
19 December 2022 10:40am
Opportunity: networking, funding and more...
15 November 2022 4:35pm
24 November 2022 3:56pm
Hi Liz,
A bit of both - we certainly have people from both sides of that equation. The event will be very multi-disciplinary and aims specifically to bring together a broad range of people!
Hope that helps,
Thanks
Alice
2 December 2022 3:08pm
Super interesting! I registered immediately.
Perhaps good to know is that if one registers, it is not only to apply for the upcoming symposium but also for future ones. So even if the coming symposium is not a perfect fit, one may register anyways.
16 December 2022 3:06pm
Thanks Alice, it does!
Help - Innovative ways to track elephant movement
28 October 2022 4:50pm
4 November 2022 5:24pm
Why would you want to avoid alerting the rangers ?
You don't need high tech for this; elephants leave very obvious tracks and sign.
7 November 2022 12:52am
Hi Tyler,
Would like to introduce you to Ceres Tags products
- Ceres Tags products come in boxes of 5, 10 and 24.
- There are some software partners such as Earthranger, Mapipedia and possibly CiboLabs that would be able to assist you with your mapping vegetation requirements
- Ceres Tag does not require any towers, base stations and infrastructure. This allows you to see any movements from the heard outside of their normal herd (boundary alerts), and you will not be disturbing any of the flora and fauna with infrastructure set up.
- For the timing you are looking at, Ceres Wild pings directly to satellite 24 times a day. For Ceres Trace and Ceres Ranch there are 4 within 24 hours. Taking into consideration, when you set up alert areas, you will get them directly to your phone/laptop via your software of choice
- Ceres Ranch is a reusable tag that has just been launched. Use it on this project, remove the tag and then use the tag on your next project
- The software you choose will assist with the history of your animal movements. Ceres Tag is integrated with 11 software partners and in-development with 18 software partners https://cerestag.com/pages/software-partners
- Understanding it is a short-term project, you would be able to use Ceres Tags products without the additional expense of setting up and removing infrastructure- towers, gateways
- With Ceres Tag, you are purchasing the box of tags and picking a suitable software to deliver the information you require. On average, a box of 10 Ceres Trace Tags, is the same as 1 LoRaWAN tower.
14 December 2022 10:49am
I just came across this interesting paper in which seismic monotoring of animals like elephants was mentioned.
This is the study refered to:
Cheers,
Lars
Workshop Invite: Building Partnerships between Conservation Tech and the UK Space Sector
22 September 2022 3:50pm
5 December 2022 3:10pm
Hi Steph,
If it's not too late, I'm very interested in this workshop.
Best,
V
6 December 2022 5:52pm
Hey Vance! We hosted the workshop a few weeks ago, but we're doing follow up calls and future meetings. I'll loop you into the next call!
Steph
12 December 2022 12:03am
Hi Steph. Would be interested also.
PhD - Sensory ecology of vespine wasps
8 December 2022 12:47pm
Full-stack developer - Consultancy
6 December 2022 11:01am
New: Satellites for Biodiversity Award
5 December 2022 2:08pm
The force is strong with space lasers helping researchers map the Amazon in 3D
2 December 2022 1:16am
The International Space Station's GEDI instrument uses lasers to gather data on deforestation and impacts on atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide to highlight key areas to conserve.
Picking up signal of GPS tag
10 November 2022 11:29am
16 November 2022 10:54am
Thanks Carly! I've been in awe of what Wildlife Drones is doing, but as you say my work at the moment is focussed on existing GPS units rather than telemetry for tracking. I'll still reach out & ask though. Thanks for your help! :)
16 November 2022 10:55am
Hi Kim! Thanks for sharing, this is really interesting! I'll check out the website & see what I can find out about the mechanics of the device. Thanks again!
21 November 2022 5:25pm
Hey Sol,
The only way for you to collect information from a GPS tag attached to a FAD is if that tag transmits that data to the drone. Unfortunately most receiver packages are a bit too large for hobbyist-style drones (from what I've seen).
Depending on the range/distance from shore, you might be able to have a shore-based receiver system?
Tech and Biodiversity Conference, London
15 November 2022 2:07pm
Tech to Track: Harnessing thepotential of spatial data & digital technologies to prioritise nature and climate action
28 October 2022 10:14am
ConservationAI
20 October 2022 2:41pm
20 October 2022 7:32pm
Out of curiosity, what are the similarities/differences between your platform and other image classification ones such as Wildlife Insights, WildID, ZambaCloud? I don't mean that in like a "what's best" way, just would be great to better understand the the details so that people can assess what to try for their specific use cases & applications!
It would be great to have a comparative specs sheet of sorts! Peter Gyurov started something like that: https://www.notion.so/Camera-Trap-Pipeline-Solution-Comparison-2eac80825c4941b0b2b5fad3daea1cc3. Would be great to add ConservationAI to this list!
Conservation Technology Intern (Vietnam)
19 October 2022 9:22am
Rainforest SigFox available for use
26 August 2022 6:09pm
26 September 2022 10:20pm
Hi Roland,
This is really amazing, great to hear about your set-up! I'm just wondering what the overall cost was to set up this system? Just thinking in terms of setting up something similar in other parks and what they should expect with regard to price. Would also be great to hear about the overall effort, e.g., hours/team members required. It would be great to have this act as a blueprint for other organizations/research stations wishing to deploy a similar system within their respective national parks/areas/etc.!
10 October 2022 8:33am
Hi Rolland,
Interested too, but why did you choose SigFox (a private network) rather than LoRa (open network)?
Sigfox currently has some financial troubles that, don't know what it will become in the long term.
18 October 2022 11:55am
Hi Everyone,
We chose sigfox becuase it seems to have better range and is plug-play, whereas LoRa requires more custom programming and updating. Getting a gateway cost us $2000 for a year's lease + deposit. We covered solar power. There are also some 'minigateways' you can purchase but I don't know how they compare in range (plan to test). So far we are happy with the performance, in that it has worked consistency with no outages (once we stabilized the power supply). I think the annual costs are about $10 per tag. We are working on a paper that will describe this in more detail. So far just using for tracking tags but also looking at a trap sensor.
cheers
Roland
Using NFTs for Charity
10 October 2022 3:09pm
Connecting the Dots: A discussion on Private and Public Partnership and driving impact for our world
10 October 2022 12:32pm
What's on your technology wish list?
30 August 2022 5:34pm
8 September 2022 6:01am
Forever sensors are certainly possible. So many concepts out there. Just need a few to make it to market. Between conventional/quantum chips dramatically reducing in power consumption and novel power options. Rovers are already powered with radioactive materials. Perhaps something like diamond batteries could make that safe for human use. I've also read a paper on using glucose to power devices. Could maybe just tap a tree and add a sensor. There's always a way. Humans are so clever.
23 September 2022 9:10pm
Hello Isobel,
This is still on-going (developing open-source tag tech)
Argos satellite tag open-source grant | WILDLABS
Hello everyone, I hope everyone is doing well in light of the global and local issues we all deal with on a regular basis. (Not fun!) I am working on announcing a “grant” program later this month in our monthly newsletter (sign up link) related to developing open-source technologies with the Argos satellite system. We have completed the agreement (for those whose proposals are accepted) which I am happy to provide you should you be interested. In short, the results of your development will be open-sourced (non negotiable for the grant giveaway, but you can certainly buy the kits instead). We will be requiring a two-page proposal for the open-source Argos transmitter that will be developed. Within that proposal you will need to: • explain how you will address the technical challenges • provide an estimated timeline of completion • include CAD drawings (or similar) fully illustrating the completed transmitter and device • provide details regarding the funding development source(s) used for your internal expenses beyond what we will cover* *The agreement provides more detail, but we will give away the Arribada kit (https://arribada.org/product/arribada-horizon-artic-r2-developers-kit/), 1yr of service fees for that kit, and 5 additional chips once the new transmitter is certified. We don’t cover the power supply for the kit or the antenna (less than $10 from DigiKey, etc). You do not need to wait for the email newsletter to work on or submit a proposal. You can reach out to me direclty if you are interested (tgray at woodsholegroup.com). I would be delighted to receive proposals sooner :) I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have...and by all means, feel free to share this (pre)announcement.
wildlabsnet8 October 2022 1:07am
I'd be ecstatic if a nest box or natural tree hollow (or burrow) monitoring device could be developed. Infrared images/video and sound recording, either triggered by motion detection or time schedule. File download/transfer without having to physically access the device and connection via standalone Wi-Fi or Bluetooth well away from any networks. I want to monitor inside nest boxes and have been trying domestic security cameras, but these usually require a wifi network to connect and can be too large for inside nest boxes. I have recently purchased a different model to test, but It's still not ideal (the camera is JUST small enough for a nest box)
Roddenberry Foundation’s Catalyst Fund
4 October 2022 11:13am
New paper: Battery-free wireless imaging of underwater environments
29 September 2022 3:22pm
'The low-power camera uses power from harvested acoustic energy and communicates colour images wirelessly via acoustic backscatter.' - https://twitter.com/NaturePortfolio/status/1574863768714100738?s=20&t=d…
Conservation Tech Directory - new update!
29 August 2022 2:38pm
23 September 2022 5:26pm
Congrats on the milestone Carly and Gracie!
26 September 2022 10:07pm
Thanks so much!!
The planet matters. People matter. Location matters.
23 September 2022 12:16pm
Movement Ecology Field Team and Data Coordinator: Osa Conservation [Open until filled)
22 September 2022 11:55pm
Workshop: Building UK Partnerships for Conservation Technology
22 September 2022 3:02pm
WIA After Hours: Episode #5 - AI for Wildlife Conservation and Imageomics with Dr. Tanya Berger-Wolf
21 September 2022 6:53pm
Listen to Tanya Berger-Wolf's conversation about AI for Wildlife Conservation and imageomics with Lauren Burke on the Women In Analytics After Hours Podcast.
HeroX Challenge: Better Call Trawl
21 September 2022 6:50pm
4 January 2023 10:48am
intrested.