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!
- @Tysmucker
- | He/Him
Wildlife Biologist/Conflict Specialist and drone enthusiast in Montana
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Tropical ecologist working on community ecology and citizen science with ants as main research models
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- 5 Groups
- @iska1818
- | iska
nature nerd, leopard and eagle lover
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- 7 Groups
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- 1 Discussions
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- @roboticscats
- | He / him / his
Founder & CEO of RoboticsCats, a machine vision startup. Our AI wildfire detection SaaS is protecting forests & communities in Asia, Europe & LATAM.
- 0 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 3 Groups
- @kalado
- | Kalado
I am Brazilian and a software developer. I have 20 years of experience in the field and I am currently the CTO of Log Nature, a company specialized in creating solutions for the environmental sector.
- 0 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 8 Groups
I work in conservation on integrating the technology out there for custom solutions for partners.
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Postdoc researcher -- engineering for biodiversity conservation
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- @adanger24
- | She/Her
Arribada Initiative
Senior Project Manager and Field Specialist
- 2 Resources
- 16 Discussions
- 10 Groups
- @Samiul
- | He/His/Him
Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)
Working for wildlife conservation in Bangladesh since 2010.
- 0 Resources
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- 2 Groups
- @kklibra
- | He
A biodiversity specialist with a penchant for using data, tools and applications for conservation and management of wildlife. That's IT.
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- 3 Groups
Article
Sustained Effort: Scaling Positivity
Ellie Warren
In this interview with Edge Impulse’s Daniel Situnayake, we discuss how we can achieve that balance for machine learning tools, and how to maximize technology’s potential for good.
2 August 2023
Link
Working with WWF, Vodacom is using cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) technology and infrared cameras to help minimise whale entanglements in mussel farming ropes off the southwest coast...
28 July 2023
Link
Every nature business or wildlife NGO faces 3 obstacles: 💰 Money ⏱️ Time 🤓 Expertise Now I have great news: AI can help your nature venture with all 3 of them. 👉 You can still sign-up https://...
20 July 2023
Careers
Senior Technical Specialist, Monitoring & Technology, ZSL
Anthony Dancer
Exciting opportunity for an experienced biodiversity monitoring expert in ZSL's conservation department
18 July 2023
Link
"Artificial Intelligence could be the solution needed to effectively monitor and safeguard vast landscapes across Africa that, up until now, have been protected solely by patrolling." Read Tusk's latest Medium blog on...
12 July 2023
Funding
Tools for automating image analysis for biodiversity monitoring
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
Apply for funding (£500,000-£750,000) to develop software systems, which will help to improve biodiversity monitoring by automating the analysis of images and videos
12 July 2023
Careers
Kew Research Fellow - Digital Revolution
Stephanie O'Donnell
We are seeking applications from promising early-career scientists and data scientists with interesting, innovative, and viable research ideas for the Future Leader Fellowship
12 July 2023
Link
Here's an interesting new paper in Nature about how new techniques in machine learning and satellite remote sensing are allowing researchers to monitor and count large populations of migratory terrestrial mammals like...
11 July 2023
Article
New Add-ons for Mbaza AI
Marundu Muturi
At Appsilon, we are always working to enable our users to get the most out of our solutions. With this in mind, we are happy to introduce two new add-ons to Mbaza AI.
4 July 2023
Careers
RFCx/Arbimon is Hiring a Data Scientist!
Carly Batist
Apply to work with an absolutely all-star group developing AI/ML techniques and models for acoustic monitoring!
28 June 2023
Article
Request for proposals - Biodiversity + tech solutions
Anna Colquhoun
The GSMA ClimateTech programme
21 June 2023
Careers
PhD opportunity aims at developing novel imaging methods and deep learning algorithms to describe and classify earthworms at Aarhus University.
21 June 2023
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| Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Really interesting, I will take a look |
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AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Data management and processing tools, Emerging Tech | 9 months 3 weeks ago | |
| Great new!! |
+15
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AI for Conservation | 9 months 3 weeks ago | |
| Hi Carly, thank you for the advice! I am only focusing on the two birds for now - my goal is to use part of the iNaturalist data I have pulled to train the model and the rest to... |
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AI for Conservation | 9 months 3 weeks ago | |
| Thank you so much! Now everything is in the hands of amazing organizations and companies! But the first results of the Disaster Management cohort are bringing a very optimistic... |
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AI for Conservation, Climate Change, Early Career, East Africa Community, eDNA & Genomics, Emerging Tech, Ending Wildlife Trafficking Online, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Open Source Solutions | 9 months 3 weeks ago | |
| great! |
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AI for Conservation | 9 months 3 weeks ago | |
| interesting!!! |
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AI for Conservation, Animal Movement, Data management and processing tools | 9 months 3 weeks ago | |
| so great!!! |
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Software Development, AI for Conservation, Animal Movement | 9 months 3 weeks ago | |
| @bluevalhalla thanks for sharing the awesome video, sounds like a great project! |
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AI for Conservation | 9 months 4 weeks ago | |
| Hi everyone, I am conducting a research project as part of my MSc in Environment and Development at the London School of Economics. I... |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Autonomous Camera Traps for Insects, Ethics of Conservation Tech | 10 months ago | |
| @cmwainaina please take a look |
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Animal Movement, AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Connectivity, Data management and processing tools, East Africa Community, Emerging Tech, Ethics of Conservation Tech, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Marine Conservation, Protected Area Management Tools, Geospatial, Sensors, Software Development | 10 months ago | |
| Glad to announce that a new tutorial is available on Firetail: |
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AI for Conservation, Animal Movement | 10 months 2 weeks ago | |
| The use of synthetic training data such as interpolated sequence values is common, but fraught with the issue of your synthetic signal generating features that are not true to... |
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Data management and processing tools, AI for Conservation | 10 months 3 weeks ago |
