Despite critical advancements in the tech solutions available to conservationists around the world, many existing tools are cost-prohibitive in the landscapes that need them most. Additionally, those who create low-cost and open-source alternatives to pricey market tech are often operating on tight budgets themselves, meaning they have limited resources for the promotion of their solutions to a wider market. We need increased communication around these solutions to highlight their availability, share lessons learned in their creation, and avoid duplication of efforts.
This group is a place to share low-cost, open-source devices for conservation; describe how they are being used, including what needs they are addressing and how they fit in to the wider conservation tech market; identify the obstacles in advancing the capacity of these technologies; and to discuss the future of these solutions - particularly their sustainability and how best to collaborate moving forward.
Header image: Shawn F. McCracken
I'm a conservationist working in the Vulture conservation space in South Africa with a huge passion for technology.
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Wildlife Entrepreneur | Innovation for Nature Conservation | Systems-thinking | Web3.0 | DAOs | Rewilding & more
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I'm a conservation biologist working with bats and in some ONG's with other animals.
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Passionate and curious about nature and its diversity, I seek to learn more about conservation, new technologies, and the unknown and infinite environmental world.
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- 18 Groups
WILDLABS
I'm the Community Manager at WILDLABS
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- 539 Discussions
- 30 Groups
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- 2 Discussions
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WILDLABS
I'm the WILDLABS Research Lead at WWF-US
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- 48 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.
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- 2 Discussions
- 32 Groups
Princeton University
African ecologist & large mammal biologist
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- 15 Discussions
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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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Data Scientist
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Careers
Software Engineer
Anne Dangerfield
Join the Arribada Initiative! We have a unique opportunity for a software developer to create mobile / desktop applications and intuitive user interfaces that assist researchers and fieldworkers to conserve wildlife.
16 January 2023
Using satellite imagery to detect and classify the severity of cyanobacteria blooms in small, inland water bodies.
15 December 2022
As the FieldKit hardware ecosystem grows, Conservify is seeking a Junior Electrical Engineer to assist with testing, troubleshooting, prototype development, and developing production test fixtures for our growing...
9 December 2022
Careers
Conservify is seeking a hands-on Senior Software Engineer with front end and back end experience developing rich web and mobile applications, and a strong desire to build a best-in-class product that stands out in both...
9 December 2022
Conservify is seeking a hands-on Senior Product and Production Manager with strong interpersonal and organizational skills to remotely lead a small seasoned team of thinkers, designers and engineers who are shaping the...
9 December 2022
Article
New: Satellites for Biodiversity Award
EmmaOldham
Conservation partnership launches new award to advance biodiversity conservation from space
5 December 2022
Boost cons tech capacity at an international NGO! Fauna & Flora International is offering a paid three-month internship to consolidate and share best practices for the application of emerging hardware and software...
26 August 2022
2
Careers
Job opening at ARISE, an innovative program in the Netherlands to build a digital infrastructure for biodiversity data and services
19 August 2022
2
The Earth Species Project (ESP) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to decoding animal communication and translating non-human language.
15 July 2022
1
This article provides a review of deep learning (predominantly ML) used in marine ecology and considerations for its future directions in conservation. In plain language, the authors provide a methodology for training...
20 December 2021
Camera trap wildlife surveys can generate vast amounts of imagery. A key problem in the wildlife ecology field is that vast amounts of time is spent reviewing this imagery to identify the species detected. Valuable...
20 December 2021
The 2021 Ebbe Nielsen Challenge has opened with the aim of recognizing innovative entries that leverage biodiversity data and tools from the GBIF network to advance open science.
20 January 2021
February 2023
event
Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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Hi everyone. Titus here from the Philippines. We are currently working on creating a deep-sea dropcamera similar to Pau Anta's but... |
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Camera Traps, Emerging Tech, Open Source Solutions | 1 week 3 days ago | |
No, I was never able to figure out how to send these to anyone on here. I was hoping to learn how to clear these videos up if possible! |
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Camera Traps, Data management and processing tools , Open Source Solutions, Software and Mobile Apps | 1 month 1 week ago | |
As an update from us, we are playing around with two alternatives:Banana PI BPI-M5 M5 4GB 4 x 2GHz Radxa Rock 4 SE I'll update once we have results! |
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Acoustic Monitoring, Build Your Own Data Logger Community, Camera Traps, Emerging Tech, Open Source Solutions | 2 months 1 week ago | |
Hi all, one of the 8 MozFest 2023 spaces is 'Tech & Biodiversity', and the organisers seek input for an event on the intersection of... |
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AI for Conservation, Ethics of Conservation Tech, Open Source Solutions | 2 months 2 weeks ago | |
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... |
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Drones, Emerging Tech, Open Source Solutions | 2 months 2 weeks ago | |
The open-source program Audacity can show the spectrograms and histograms and has quite a lot of other useful features, e.g. playing ultrasound calls slower, so it can be heard by... |
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Acoustic Monitoring, Citizen Science, Data management and processing tools , Open Source Solutions, Software and Mobile Apps | 3 months 2 weeks ago | |
Oh, that looks so good, and some heavy hitting design firms too! |
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Biologging, Build Your Own Data Logger Community, Open Source Solutions | 3 months 4 weeks ago | |
Thanks so much!! |
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Acoustic Monitoring, AI for Conservation, Biologging, Camera Traps, Community Base, Data management and processing tools , Drones, eDNA & Genomics, Emerging Tech, Open Source Solutions, Remote Sensing & GIS, Software and Mobile Apps | 4 months 1 week ago | |
I've been working with a current visiting scholar who's from China and has been interested in getting started with some acoustic monitoring studies when he goes back to China... |
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Open Source Solutions | 7 months ago | |
If you're looking to identify collaborators - probably lots of organizations listed in the Conservation Tech Directory would be interested (quick prelim search yields orgs like... |
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Marine Conservation, Open Source Solutions | 7 months 2 weeks ago | |
Hey all!I'm well into my journey into the field of conservation now, after volunteering and freelancing for a couple of different... |
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Biologging, Community Base, Open Source Solutions | 7 months 2 weeks ago | |
Dear Community,Together with Hackster.io, Seeed Studio is very happy to jointly organize “IoT Into the Wild Contest for Sustainable Plant... |
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AI for Conservation, Connectivity, Emerging Tech, Open Source Solutions, Sensors | 7 months 3 weeks ago |
Deep Sea BRUVS Development
28 January 2023 1:41am
Western Section of The Wildlife Society 2023
25 January 2023 2:09am
Software Engineer
16 January 2023 12:26pm
New paper - Real-time alerts from AI-enabled camera traps using the Iridium satellite network: A case-study in Gabon, Central Africa
13 January 2023 12:12am
Sending real-time alerts from ecological sensors such as camera traps in areas with poor data connectivity is complex and involves integrating a large number of potentially complex hardware and software components. Our results demonstrate that these components can be successfully integrated to achieve reliable, near real-time alerts from camera traps under challenging field conditions.
Otter video help!
5 September 2022 6:57pm
21 December 2022 7:46pm
Did you get any further with this Britnee?
26 December 2022 6:54pm
No, I was never able to figure out how to send these to anyone on here. I was hoping to learn how to clear these videos up if possible!
Join NASA’s harmful algal bloom ML challenge and win prizes!
15 December 2022 7:56pm
Junior Electrical Engineer (Hardware)
9 December 2022 5:04pm
Senior Software Engineer
9 December 2022 5:01pm
Senior Product & Production Manager (Maternity Cover)
9 December 2022 3:07pm
New: Satellites for Biodiversity Award
5 December 2022 2:08pm
Global shortage of Raspberry Pis - What are the alternatives
3 November 2022 10:27am
18 November 2022 7:27pm
Hi @tom_august this is a very important topic given the global shortages we are seeing. I tend to use really low power micros rather than Pis for my stuff if I can, but I'd be very interested to hear about alternatives. I take it you are doing some reasonably heavy processing given the need for 4Bs? I have a few old 3s you are welcome to. A great list from @PshemekZ there. I don't know much about these:
But didn't see them in the list.
@Freaklabs will likey have some ideas too. Looking forward to hearing more.
Cheers,
Rob
21 November 2022 12:11am
Unfortunately not much to add. I think there was an assumption that Raspberry Pi's would always be available and it's turning out that it's unfortunately not the case. I'm guilty of this for standard chips. I didn't think there'd be such a huge shortage that spread across so many chip families which left us scrambling. I'm sure the supply crunch will ease up soon so the RasPi shortage should ease. It should be considered thought that should something happen to the Raspberry Pi Foundation, there's a possibility that the production could end. Since Raspberry Pi's are not open source, this would be devastating to many projects that rely on them.
As for porting to another platform, I guess the question would be which platform to bet on for the Raspberry Pi alternate and possibly eventual successor. It would probably need to be open source, widely available, and have enough community around it to support itself. Nothing immediately comes to mind (Jetson possibly but not open source and subject to whims of nVidia).
And perhaps this could turn into a community project to come up with an open platform that conservation communities can standardize on where availability could also be guaranteed. There's a lot of exciting things happening with the RISC-V architecture, which could be a good candiate.
24 November 2022 9:46am
As an update from us, we are playing around with two alternatives:
- Banana PI BPI-M5 M5 4GB 4 x 2GHz
- Radxa Rock 4 SE
I'll update once we have results!
MozFest 2023 call for proposals on Tech & Biodiversity
22 November 2022 11:10am
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?
Software to aid acoustic sound files visualization/labelling + Software to syncronize video/acoustic sonograms
23 September 2022 1:01pm
8 October 2022 12:44am
I would also recommend Arbimon. It is well set up to handle Audiomoth recordings. Being cloud based, you will need a good internet connection for sound file upload. I'm just starting to investigate its use for Song Scope recordings. Setting up the call recognisers will be a slow process, but they can be made available to all users once done.
8 October 2022 7:33am
You could try using a video editor like DaVinci for looking at your video and audio together. I don't think DaVinci displays sonograms by default (just waveform) but I think it will open your selected audio in an external editor which would allow you to see the sonograms and make measurements with something like Audacity or Kaleidoscope.
20 October 2022 11:01am
The open-source program Audacity can show the spectrograms and histograms and has quite a lot of other useful features, e.g. playing ultrasound calls slower, so it can be heard by people.
Open-source Argos satellite tag for bears - available now
7 October 2022 4:49pm
9 October 2022 5:14am
Oh, that looks so good, and some heavy hitting design firms too!
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!!
Ecological Forecasting Initiative's data analysis webinar series
26 September 2022 6:50pm
Crypto funding for ecosystem and conservation science
8 September 2022 1:48pm
How To Use An Arduino – Beginners Guide
1 September 2022 10:02pm
For anyone interested in WILDLABS' Build Your Own Data Logger course, this beginner's guide to Arduino may be a valuable resource! This page also includes links to other relevant resources on Arduino language and getting started with Arduino software for the first time.
Conservation Technology Research Internship
26 August 2022 4:58pm
Lead Software Engineer for ARISE
19 August 2022 8:22am
Earth Species Project - Senior AI Research Scientist
15 July 2022 6:40pm
How can open source tools make conservation tech more sustainable and accessible?
30 June 2022 6:56pm
1 July 2022 4:14pm
I've been working with a current visiting scholar who's from China and has been interested in getting started with some acoustic monitoring studies when he goes back to China later this year. I've been working with him to try to figure out some options (with some help from folks met through Wildlabs!) but the name-brand stuff from Wildlife Acoustics is more than double what it would be in the states once customs and imports and exchange rates are taken into account. Open-source solutions that can be manufactured on the ground in countries where we're trying to do work can avoid many of those costs, support local economies, and even be good for the environment to the extent that you're avoiding the (minimal but non-zero) emissions of shipping stuff all over the place.
Self-powered Buoy collecting vital sensor data -- Looking for conservation projects to collaborate with
18 May 2022 6:28am
3 June 2022 7:19am
Hello Aadithya,
Excited to hear about your marine acoustics outreach. I am interested to explore the possibilities of collaborative work on this line.
One of my doctoral scholars is about to submit his thesis on terrestrial acoustic studies. Please respond to [email protected] (as I may likely miss responses if any, send to this group).
Regards
Jaishanker
14 June 2022 11:46am
Hi Jaishanker, I just reached out to over email, apologies for the delay. We are interested in working with underwater hydrophones and this might be of use in your specific case study. Bristlemouth's timeline is still being created, but we're hoping to have devkits ready closer to the end of this year. I'm happy to chat more to learn about the specific research you are doing and how we can best help!
21 June 2022 10:49pm
If you're looking to identify collaborators - probably lots of organizations listed in the Conservation Tech Directory would be interested (quick prelim search yields orgs like Echospace, European Tracking Network, FACT network, IMOS, IOOS, other tracking networks like that, USA's NEON, eOceans, Oceans+)! Also org's like Blue Ventures, Save our Seas (run acoustic tracking array), MBON (run Biotrack) come to mind.
7 September 2022 6:12pm
Thank you for the response! I'm not sure how to find that out. It says MP4. Is that what you're looking for?