AI for Conservation

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Artificial intelligence is increasingly being used in the field to analyse information collected by wildlife conservationists, from camera trap and satellite images to audio recordings. AI can learn how to identify which photos out of thousands contain rare species; or pinpoint an animal call out of hours of field recordings - hugely reducing the manual labour required to collect vital conservation data.

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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!

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@nsitoula

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@Thorondor
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AI engineering working on cutting edge AI research and product for detecting objects. Big wildlife and conservation enthusiast and amateur wildlife photographer.

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@beaverdome

finding ecological solutions using sound and conservation tech

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@lmwall

Currently a data scientist in industry working on mechanistic models of risk, previously worked on modeling coral reefs. I am interested in the potential for emerging technologies and new ideas to help us solve environmental crises.

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Fauna & Flora

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PhD researcher standardising machine learning approaches for behaviour classification in free-roaming wild animals.

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Game Rangers International

Kasi Amor Kalande is a young conservationist with experience in elephant movement research, GIS, and conservation technology.

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I’m a nature enthusiast who loves exploring wildlife and ecosystems. Through my research in ecology, I channel this passion into protecting and preserving biodiversity.

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@Kari

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Founder of Life on Purpose Detroit, we work with Detroit Youth to learn about technology and conservation.

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I'm a conservationist working in the Vulture conservation space in South Africa with a huge passion for technology.

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Computer Scientist

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Description	Activity	Replies	Groups	Updated
Mass Detection of Wildlife Snares Using Airborne Synthetic Radar	Hats off to your team for this absolute game-changing technology! We rescue stray and wild animals in Taiwan, and the bulk of our work is saving animals maimed by wire snares...	+37	AI for Conservation, Drones, Emerging Tech, Human-Wildlife Coexistence, Wildlife Crime	8 months 3 weeks ago
Instant Detect 2.0 and related cost	There's quite a few diy or prototype solutions described online and in literature - but it seems none of these have made it to market yet as generally available fully usable...		AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Human-Wildlife Coexistence, Sensors	8 months 4 weeks ago
AI Animal Identification Models	As others have said, pretty much all image models at least start with general-subject datasets ("car," "bird," "person", etc.) and have to be refined to work with more precision...	+20	AI for Conservation, Camera Traps	9 months ago
+1 Q&A - AI for Conservation Office Hours 2025	This is a thread for anyone who has questions about AI for Conservation Office Hours 2025.We're once again teaming up with Dan Morris from...		Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Community Base, Geospatial	9 months ago
What new languages, tools, and frameworks are you excited about?	One thing I love about software is that in an ever-changing landscape of languages, frameworks, and tools, you can never stop learning....		Software Development, AI for Conservation	9 months ago
Looking for feedback & testers for Animal Detect platform	Hi Eugene!Interesting project!I already signed up to test it!Cheers,Lars		AI for Conservation, Camera Traps	9 months 1 week ago
What AI object detectors really see	I am certainly a somewhat vertical thing with a lump on top, so I get it...		AI for Conservation	9 months 2 weeks ago
Getting a Software Job in Conservation	Hi all! I wanted to open a discussion on a topic that I've been thinking about ever since I entered the job market-- how to get a...		Software Development, AI for Conservation, Early Career, Open Source Solutions	9 months 3 weeks ago
Training datasets for counting Grey Seals in UAV imagery	That's great, thanks Lars!		AI for Conservation	9 months 3 weeks ago
PolarBearWatchdog! Advancing Arctic Safety with an AI-driven Polar Bear Detection System	I did a short presentation on our work with the polar bear alarm in the Wildlabs Variety Hour October 30th.It can be found here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr2Q8bUJZ8U...		Human-Wildlife Coexistence, AI for Conservation	9 months 3 weeks ago
Wildlife data from autonomous vehicles	Comma.ai would be your best bet. Not sure if it's officially open source but was started by a noteable hacker with an open source ethos. Could try reaching out to them.		AI for Conservation	10 months ago
Deepfaune v1.2!	For the record now that this is here:This error typically occurs when the wrong number of classes is given to timm.create_model. You should try to specify num_classes=30...		Camera Traps, AI for Conservation	10 months ago

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