With new technologies revolutionizing data collection, wildlife researchers are becoming increasingly able to collect data at much higher volumes than ever before. Now we are facing the challenges of putting this information to use, bringing the science of big data into the conservation arena. With the help of machine learning tools, this area holds immense potential for conservation practices. The applications range from online trafficking alerts to species-specific early warning systems to efficient movement and biodiversity monitoring and beyond.
However, the process of building effective machine learning tools depends upon large amounts of standardized training data, and conservationists currently lack an established system for standardization. How to best develop such a system and incentivize data sharing are questions at the forefront of this work. There are currently multiple AI-based conservation initiatives, including Wildlife Insights and WildBook, that are pioneering applications on this front.
This group is the perfect place to ask all your AI-related questions, no matter your skill level or previous familiarity! You'll find resources, meet other members with similar questions and experts who can answer them, and engage in exciting collaborative opportunities together.
Just getting started with AI in conservation? Check out our introduction tutorial, How Do I Train My First Machine Learning Model? with Daniel Situnayake, and our Virtual Meetup on Big Data. If you're coming from the more technical side of AI/ML, Sara Beery runs an AI for Conservation slack channel that might be of interest. Message her for an invite.
Header Image: Dr Claire Burke / @CBurkeSci
Explore the Basics: AI
Understanding the possibilities for incorporating new technology into your work can feel overwhelming. With so many tools available, so many resources to keep up with, and so many innovative projects happening around the world and in our community, it's easy to lose sight of how and why these new technologies matter, and how they can be practically applied to your projects.
Machine learning has huge potential in conservation tech, and its applications are growing every day! But the tradeoff of that potential is a big learning curve - or so it seems to those starting out with this powerful tool!
To help you explore the potential of AI (and prepare for some of our upcoming AI-themed events!), we've compiled simple, key resources, conversations, and videos to highlight the possibilities:
Three Resources for Beginners:
- Everything I know about Machine Learning and Camera Traps, Dan Morris | Resource library, camera traps, machine learning
- Using Computer Vision to Protect Endangered Species, Kasim Rafiq | Machine learning, data analysis, big cats
- Resource: WildID | WildID
Three Forum Threads for Beginners:
- I made an open-source tool to help you sort camera trap images | Petar Gyurov, Camera Traps
- Batch / Automated Cloud Processing | Chris Nicolas, Acoustic Monitoring
- Looking for help with camera trapping for Jaguars: Software for species ID and database building | Carmina Gutierrez, AI for Conservation
Three Tutorials for Beginners:
- How do I get started using machine learning for my camera traps? | Sara Beery, Tech Tutors
- How do I train my first machine learning model? | Daniel Situnayake, Tech Tutors
- Big Data in Conservation | Dave Thau, Dan Morris, Sarah Davidson, Virtual Meetups
Want to know more about AI, or have your specific machine learning questions answered by experts in the WILDLABS community? Make sure you join the conversation in our AI for Conservation group!
- @fshort
- | He / Him
Boston University PhD Candidate, Biological Anthropology. Engaging in passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) of Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii), Bornean white-bearded gibbons (Hylobates albibarbis), and red leaf monkeys (Presbytis rubicunda)
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- 2 Discussions
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- @Gabonia
- | He/him
GABriel ONIfade A. (GABONIA / mrGab), is an educator, a CS and AI advocate, a Data Engineer, an AI Engineer, an Entrepreneur, and curriculum developer based in Brooklyn, New York (NYC DOE District 19). With a background in Systems Engineering, Gabriel specializes in CS & AI Edu.
- 1 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 4 Groups
- @siddharth119
- | He/Him
Co-founder of Habitat Robotics, a conservation-tech non-profit
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- 3 Groups
- @Kwabs22
- | He
I'm a dynamic environmental conservationist driving change through research and innovation. I merge farming experience with agroforestry skills and drone technology, fueled by a passion for sustainable agriculture, championing a greener future for a sustainable food system.
- 0 Resources
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- 3 Groups
Conservation X Labs
Inventor/Engineer at Parula Innovations, Hardware Engineer for Sentinel at Conservation X Labs, (Recovering) Field Biologist
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- 0 Discussions
- 6 Groups
Research software engineer working in computer vision for animal behaviour
- 1 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 13 Groups
Xeno-canto
Co-founder and admin of Xeno-canto.
- 0 Resources
- 2 Discussions
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- @annavallery
- | she/her
Seabird biologist experienced in research and applied conservation. Dedicated to conducting and using innovative research to inform conservation decisions.
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- 2 Discussions
- 5 Groups
- @yvetteehlers
- | she
I am the regional ecologist for South-Eastern KwaZulu-Natal at Ezemvelo KZN Wildllife and a honorary research fellow at the Centre for Functional Biodiversity at the School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal.
- 0 Resources
- 5 Discussions
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I help conservation scientists spend less time on boring stuff.
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- 53 Discussions
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- @mlamb2
- | she/her
PhD Student working on a computer vision model to detect colonial waterbirds along the Texas coast in aerial imagery
- 0 Resources
- 3 Discussions
- 3 Groups
- @ppalencia
- | Dr
I am Pablo Palencia, a postdoctoral researcher at Biodiversity Research Institute (IMIB). I am interested on develop and fine-tuning cutting-edge tools for wildlife management and conservation, wit a special mention of camera trapping ;)
- 0 Resources
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- 7 Groups
Careers
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Just had this in my inbox, thought I'd share!
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| Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| We are working on the identification of the threats along the flyway of the Egyptian vulture, endangered vutlure species migrating from... |
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AI for Conservation | 8 years 11 months ago | |
| Hi Jason, Thanks for sharing this demo, it's interesting to see the fluke id process in action. Is this part of the flukebook project? How do you see the project... |
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AI for Conservation | 8 years 11 months ago | |
| Hi folks! The team at Skytruth (responsible for Global Ocean Watch) are looking for a machine learning developer. It might be of... |
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AI for Conservation | 9 years 3 months ago | |
| Hi, I am jason Holmberg from WildMe.org. I am one of the developers of Wildbook (wildbook.org), an open source data management platform for wildlife research. I'm... |
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AI for Conservation | 9 years 4 months ago | |
| I'd like to suggest our open source package Wildbook (http://www.wildbook.org) as a base data management platfor for this. I agree with the above that there are a number of... |
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AI for Conservation | 9 years 4 months ago | |
| Over the past year the open data GDELT Project (http://gdeltproject.org/), which monitors local news coverage worldwide in... |
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Can deep learning identify seabirds? (species, within-species, individual)
25 May 2022 8:24pm
21 June 2022 4:55pm
Update: I asked the same question on twitter so I'm sharing answers I got there:
Let's chat! We've been training models to run on trail cameras as images/videos are captured, and have worked on migratory birds along coastlines (more info: https://t.co/NzW4GO2Wqp)
— Henrik Cox (@henrik_cox) June 1, 2022
21 June 2022 5:41pm
Hi Yvan,
I dropped this into the AI for Conservation slack group as well, you got this reply this morning:
Steph
8 August 2022 11:12am
Hi Yvan,
If you find something which reaches your expectation and especially the ability to identify individual with plumage patterns I will be intereted.
In the same idea that Ultralytics, there is :
Lobe · GitHub
Machine Learning Made Easy. Lobe has 11 repositories available. Follow their code on GitHub.
Which could probably answer your first and second requirements.
And find here a great website showing all the IA-based camera software, you may find solutions or contact throw this list:
Tiger, Tiger, in the Night... Now Visible in Real Time
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Identify animal from Image
2 August 2022 1:37am
2 August 2022 2:54am
Hi Jitendra.
If they are still images, many people are using Megadetector to analyze their images. I'm not sure how it will do in species classification, but it can tell you if there are images of interest in the shots. Others here can probably give you more detailed instructions on how to use it to batch process camera trap images.
2 August 2022 10:24am
Have you considered creating a Kaggle competition? If you already have lots of images, and some that have been labelled, then this could be a good way to get people working on a solution
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