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!
- @ColleenEarthScape
- | She/her/hers
- 0 Resources
- 7 Discussions
- 7 Groups
- @Alawa
- | She/Her
Passionate wildlife and biodiversity conservationist
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 24 Groups
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 5 Groups
- @CourtneyShuert
- | she/her
I am a behavioural ecologist and eco-physiologist interested in individual differences in marine mammals and other predators
- 0 Resources
- 7 Discussions
- 9 Groups
- @mattaudette
- | he, him, his
Software Tester and Test Automator at Wildlife Protection Solutions
- 0 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 24 Groups
- @Rutwik
- | Mr
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 13 Groups
- @williams
- | He/Him
I am a conservationist specializing in endangered species, particularly vultures. As the Endangered Species Conservation Coordinator/Co-Founder at Biota Conservation Hub Foundation (BiotaCHF), I have conducted extensive research/conservation of vultures and other water birds.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 14 Groups
- @ARobillard
- | He/Him
A conservation data scientist and field ecologist with broad interest in the application of machine learning and population genetics to the conservation of threatened species. Alex has conducted field studies throughout central and south America, the Caribbean, and North America.
- 2 Resources
- 2 Discussions
- 8 Groups
- @Joynyamshangi
- | she/her
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 2 Groups
MSc in AI for Sustainable Development at UCL
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 1 Groups
- @aniyaz533
- | Niyaz
A keen willdlife biologist looking forward to work on Otters ecology in Himalayan landscape
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 5 Groups
I'm a computer engineer with a master's degree in Artificial Intelligence, I love nature and wildlife
- 0 Resources
- 4 Discussions
- 2 Groups
Careers
Do you want to be the next Product & Community Manager of a thriving non-profit? Join Wildlife.ai!
2 September 2024
Article
Join us for Season Five of the WILDLABS Virtual Meetup Series, tuning in to the world of Bioacoustics! Laying the groundwork for our new horizon scan research, each event will convene cross-sector experts to explore a...
22 August 2024
Article
Join us in celebrating this year’s Judging Panele Award winners!
19 August 2024
Article
Vote for your favorite submissions that best demonstrate conservation impact, novel innovation/discovery, and strong storytelling of the work and the sector.
12 August 2024
Funding
Climate Change AI Innovation Grants 2024 (<$150k)
Frank van der Most
Climate Change AI calls for applications for Innovation Grants regarding AI/ML research projects. Eligible applicants are principal investigators at accredited universities in OECD member countries.
12 August 2024
Link
AI Based Animal Detection Demo App for iPhone
Robert (Bob) Zak
In this post, I describe an animal recognition demonstration app I developed for the iPhone. The “MegaDetector-Demo” app uses the latest “MegaDetector” animal detector model from PyTorch-Wildlife to identify animals,...
11 August 2024
Article
To celebrate our 9th Annual #Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge happening this week, we’re taking a look at past and current submissions that feature the fastest growing areas of conservation tech: movement ecology, AI,...
7 August 2024
Article
Listen to the Future: A Bioacoustics Horizon Scan
Vanesa Reyes
We are thrilled to introduce our new horizon scan, which will chart the future of bioacoustics. By collectively prioritizing emerging innovations that could transform the field, we aim to build consensus, facilitate...
5 August 2024
Link
Rapid Camera Trap labeling with ChatGPT
Sara Olsson
Hi all, I've published a blog post on rapidly labeling camera trap data using ChatGPT for species identification and a simple object detection model to get the bounding boxes. While presented in Edge Impulse, this...
17 July 2024
Careers
We are recruiting an (extendable) 2-year postdoc in my group to develop new technologies (cameras, microphones, deep learning, etc) to track earthworm activity in the field.
16 July 2024
Careers
REDAA is hiring a consultant to explore AI - DEADLINE EXTENDED
REDAA Programme
The Reversing Environmental Degradation in Africa and Asia (REDAA) Programme is seeking a consultant to look into current issues with AI to develop a better shared understanding of how AI and related technologies could...
11 July 2024
Aerial seeding with drones has great potential in forest restoration but faces enormous challenges to be efficient and scalable. Current protocols use blanket seeding throughout the area to be restored, meaning a high...
20 June 2024
June 2025
event
Nalini
July 2025
October 2025
event
Lacey Hughey and 3 more
November 2023
event
Stephanie O'Donnell
73 Products
Recently updated products
16 Products
Recently updated products
| Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I'm also here for this. This is my first comment... I've been lurking for a while.I have 20 years of professional knowledge in design, with the bulk of that being software design... |
|
AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Data management and processing tools, Software Development | 1 year 4 months ago | |
| Hi folks! Happy 2024 and thanks in advance for your patience in case I over-used tags. If you’re using any form of natural language... |
|
AI for Conservation, Citizen Science, Climate Change, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Data management and processing tools, Early Career, East Africa Community, Emerging Tech, Ending Wildlife Trafficking Online, Ethics of Conservation Tech, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Open Source Solutions, Software Development, Wildlife Crime, Women in Conservation Tech Programme (WiCT) | 1 year 4 months ago | |
| BTW. I found out that the Jetson Orin NX 16GB module is drawing around 20W when running continuous inference, processing streams from 6x cameras at 6 fps.I'll try and find out... |
|
AI for Conservation | 1 year 5 months ago | |
| If you are considering an external microphone and a towed system, then you would also be in a position to consider a raspberry pi with an external microphone with sbts-aru.... |
|
Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Marine Conservation, Sustainable Fishing Challenges | 1 year 5 months ago | |
| @dmorris joined Variety Hour to give us 'a bunch of lightning talks inside a lightning talk'. Check out the recording to get a whirlwind... |
|
AI for Conservation, Drones, Geospatial | 1 year 5 months ago | |
| Also, take a look at TrapTagger. It has integration with WildMe. |
+4
|
AI for Conservation, Camera Traps | 1 year 5 months ago | |
| We are writing a methodology to measure Biodiversity density in habitats.Examining lots of different options but very keen to hear from... |
|
AI for Conservation | 1 year 6 months ago | |
| Hi @GermanFore ,I work with the BearID Project on individual identification of brown bears from faces. More recently we worked on face detection across all bear species and ran... |
|
AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Data management and processing tools, Software Development | 1 year 6 months ago | |
| Hey Wildlabbers! Is anyone planning to go to the Academic Data Science Alliance (ADSA) annual meeting next week in San Antonio? I'll be... |
|
AI for Conservation, Community Base | 1 year 7 months ago | |
| This is super cool! Me and @Hubertszcz and @briannajohns and several others are all working towards some big biodiversity monitoring projects for a large conservation project here... |
|
AI for Conservation, Autonomous Camera Traps for Insects, Camera Traps, Funding and Finance | 1 year 8 months ago | |
| Hello! If you were interested in the DSAIL Tech4Wildlife Workshop last week exploring how AI can be used to aid conservation efforts, you... |
|
AI for Conservation, Conservation Tech Training and Education | 1 year 8 months ago | |
| Very helpful, thank you. One more thing, are there any broad skills that apply to all areas of conservation tech that may be helpful to learn/improve, e.g data analysis? |
|
AI for Conservation, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Early Career | 1 year 8 months ago |
Seafood fund seeks ideas for innovation projects up to £250k
11 February 2020 12:00am
WILDLABS Virtual Meetup Recording: Acoustic Monitoring
WILDLABS Team
5 February 2020 12:00am
AI for camera trap public data
17 December 2019 9:20pm
A New Cloud Platform Unveils the Most Diverse Camera Trap Database in the World
17 December 2019 12:00am
[ARCHIVED] Workshop on Deep Learning Methods and Appliocations for Animal Re-Identification
25 November 2019 6:24pm
WACV2020 AI for Animal Re-ID: Deep Learning Methods and Applications for Animal Re-Identification
25 November 2019 12:00am
WILDLABS Virtual Meetup Recording: Drones
WILDLABS Team
9 November 2019 12:00am
Camera Trapping: Incredibly Useful Resources List
5 November 2019 12:00am
Who wants to learn Python? Courses to get you started coding
2 May 2016 3:13pm
1 March 2019 9:20am
Hello everyone what are you wating for..
All US, UK, India users can enroll courses from Intellipaat (the largest IT trainng company)
check some of thier superb training list:
29 October 2019 4:52pm
Chuck's Python for Everyone course is available these days at www.py4e.com, and he's also created a course called Web Apps for Everyone www.wa4e.com. Both excellent resources, and he's a strong proponent for (and creator of) open source educational tools in general.
Lucy
Plant-Powered Camera Trap Breakthrough
15 October 2019 12:00am
Using Artificial Intelligence to Track Birds’ Dark-of-Night Migrations
9 October 2019 12:00am
Camera Trap Technology Symposium (Recordings): Bringing Developers and Users Together
2 September 2019 12:00am
ICCB 2019: 5 Key Discussions about the Future of Conservation Tech
21 August 2019 12:00am
Conservation biologists find new applications for AI tools
5 August 2019 2:57pm
Automated Identification of Indonesian Rhinos
27 July 2019 12:00am
[ARCHIVED] Position: UI/UX Machine Learning Engineer
8 July 2019 11:27pm
[ARCHIVED] Position: Senior Computer Vision Research Engineer
8 July 2019 10:42pm
Hello buzzing World!
7 July 2019 6:55pm
ML at the Edge
28 June 2019 8:16am
Meetup: Machine Learning/AI on Earth Observation Data (23 July, London)
21 June 2019 12:00am
New open data site for fisheries
10 June 2019 7:17pm
Workshop & Challenges on Computer Vision for Wildlife Conservation (CVWC) at ICCV 2019
5 June 2019 6:51am
Technology companies, FCO, and conservation NGOs come together to scale technology solutions to end wildlife crime
4 June 2019 12:00am
AI for Earth Innovation Grant (extended)
4 June 2019 12:00am
CogX Festival of AI and Emerging Technology - free tickets for WILDLABS members
16 May 2019 12:12pm
28 May 2019 12:02pm
UPDATE: We've had quite a few members emailing us for tickets, so I'm looking forward to meeting everyone in person! We've now been allocated some extra tickets, so if you are interested you're in luck, there is still a chance to come along.
3 June 2019 4:53pm
Are there any free tickets left for CogX?
I am on anthony.peake@agiledatum.com
3 June 2019 5:04pm
yep! Drop me an email at stephanie.odonnell@wildlabs.net and I'll get you a link.
Steph
How machine learning can help fight illegal wildlife trade on social media
31 May 2019 12:00am
GWP Webinar Recording: Using SMART at scale for effective wildlife protection
21 May 2019 12:00am
WILDLABS TECH HUB Showcase
WILDLABS Team
17 May 2019 12:00am
Meet the WILDLABS TECH HUB Winners
13 May 2019 12:00am
Huge appetite for data trusts, according to new ODI research
15 April 2019 12:00am
31 August 2017 9:06am
A couple of years ago I completed the Coursera course Programming for Everybody (Getting Started with Python) with Charles Severance. I found it really well paced and well taught. He's a very personable tutor, and has also written a free book Python for Everybody, available as a PDF.
I found the Coursera course on R Programming with Roger Peng to be more difficult to follow, but I'm not sure whether that was down to the teaching style or the language itself. For R, I'd definitely recommend the best place to get started is swirl - Learn R, in R!
Happy coding