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
A Wildlife Biologist interested in Environment Assessment and Restoration, In-situ and Ex-situ strategies, Technologies used in Conservation and Illegal Wildlife Trade.
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- @otgonbayartm
- | He / His
Thanks to WILDLABS. This community is what exactly matches to my interest in Nature Conservation as IT professional.
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- 7 Groups
- @Markbowler
- | He/Him
University of Suffolk
Wildlife distributions and the effects that human activity has on populations. Spatial ecology of Amazonian mammals through audio and camera surveys. Hunter and gun tracking in Peru. Bats in suburban and agricultural landscapes in the UK
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- 1 Discussions
- 9 Groups
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- @RHugtenburg
- | He/They
Student at Aberystwyth University. Bug Fanatic🪲. Worked at Octophin Digital for my industrial year placement 🐙.
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- 20 Groups
- @nancyalice
- | she/her
Conservation Communicator | Technology for Wildlife Foundation (TfW)
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- 10 Groups
- @mbkowalski11
- | he/him
University of California Santa Cruz
PhD Student (UCSC, Wilmers Lab) interested in large carnivores, behavioral ecology, human-wildlife coexistence, and biologging
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- 1 Discussions
- 11 Groups
University of Suffolk
Researcher on the 8 Primates Project, building a library of primate calls for bioacoustic surveys
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- 7 Groups
- @kara_birk
- | She/Her
Advancing the international partner engagement work of ABALOBI, a tech platform aimed at integrating small-scale fishers into information and resource networks.
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- 8 Groups
- @LucyD
- | She/Her
Software developer and wildlife ecologist
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- 2 Discussions
- 5 Groups
- @Robincrocs
- | He/Him//El//Ele
Wildlife biologist, works with Caimans and Crocodiles
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- 14 Groups
- @kadambarid
- | she, her, hers
Dr. Kadambari Devarajan is an engineer-turned-ecologist working on biodiversity monitoring. (Website - http://kadambarid.in/)
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- 14 Groups
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
WILDLABS community member Thomas Gray from Argos has given us a preview of an upcoming grant program to develop open-source tags. Three years ago, Argos worked with the Arribada Initiative to develop an open-source...
17 August 2020
Creating bold conservation tech solutions requires each of us to find the intersection between our skills and passions. In this case study on the new Aqualink reef monitoring system, a unique citizen science project...
9 June 2020
Funding
The 2020 Hackaday Prize competition has begun! This year, Conservation X Labs has partnered with the Hackaday Prizes as one of four nonprofits seeking tech-based solutions to urgent challenges. Conservation X Labs'...
26 May 2020
December 2022
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Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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Hi Wildlabbers! Tomorrow Shah Selbe will be our Tech Tutor and guide us through how to turn an innovative conservation tech... |
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Open Source Solutions, Sensors | 2 years 7 months ago | |
Hi Akiba, Just found out from the marketing dept at my work the cost to host multiple specs - very expensive [$NZ 7K-10K]. Host it on GitHub for starters then. I... |
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Open Source Solutions | 3 years 1 month ago | |
Amazingly nice offer! Thanks! I know how projects can sometimes be stressful. I had a bit of that feeling lately when having to figure out how to code a trap alarm my... |
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Open Source Solutions | 3 years 1 month ago | |
Hi skatewing, I'm not a domain expert like most people in this forum, but I have created XML schemas using object oriented (OO) principles in the past; the same capability... |
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Open Source Solutions | 3 years 3 months ago | |
Hi Akiba No worries, thanks for responding! I'd love to delve into more detail on this once the new series has started and I have an idea of the tools and kit required!... |
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Open Source Solutions, Sensors | 3 years 8 months ago | |
Hi Maxine, There are pros and cons to switching regulators and linear regulators. Linear regulators "throw away" the excess voltage in order to maintain a... |
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Open Source Solutions, Sensors | 3 years 9 months ago | |
Hi Luci. Did you ever get a response on this? I'd be interested in collaborating and helping develop out the system. We can probably assist in the manufacturing and... |
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Open Source Solutions | 3 years 9 months ago | |
Hello, Ours is the SensorStation: https://github.com/cellular-tracking-technologies/SensorStation/ It is a multi-channel radio receiver based on Raspberry Pi for a variety... |
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Open Source Solutions | 4 years 9 months ago | |
Hi Marysia, Naturebytes is a good start, there are a number of projects running using their Raspberry Pi wildlife camera traps. Kind regards, Alasdair |
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Open Source Solutions | 5 years ago | |
Daaaamn! That's a great list. Akiba |
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Open Source Solutions | 5 years 1 month ago | |
Excellent Akiba, Thank you for your detailed thoughts and for sharing your experiences. |
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Open Source Solutions | 5 years 1 month ago | |
Hi jlahoz. In reply to your questions: "I find commercial open source conservation technology to be a very exciting space, plenty of challenges but also opportunities.... |
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Open Source Solutions | 5 years 1 month ago |