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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@BioPhonia

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@JO973

Tropical ecologist working on community ecology and citizen science with ants as main research models

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@iska1818
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nature nerd, leopard and eagle lover

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@sheila_holmes

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@roboticscats
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Founder & CEO of RoboticsCats, a machine vision startup. Our AI wildfire detection SaaS is protecting forests & communities in Asia, Europe & LATAM.

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@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.

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@djoachim

I work in conservation on integrating the technology out there for custom solutions for partners.

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@Delia

Postdoc researcher -- engineering for biodiversity conservation

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@adanger24
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Arribada Initiative

Senior Project Manager and Field Specialist

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@Samiul
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Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)

Working for wildlife conservation in Bangladesh since 2010.

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@kklibra
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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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@kateumbers
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alpine ecology, insect conservation, evolutionary ecology, behavioural ecology.

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Description	Activity	Replies	Groups	Updated
Rapid Camera Trap labeling with ChatGPT	Really interesting, I will take a look		AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Data management and processing tools, Emerging Tech	9 months 2 weeks ago
Successfully integrated deepfaune into video alerting system	Great new!!	+15	AI for Conservation	9 months 2 weeks ago
Beginner Bird Classification Project Question	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...		AI for Conservation	9 months 2 weeks ago
AI accelerator for nonprofits working in the Climate area	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...		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
Indigenous communities and AI for Conservation	great!		AI for Conservation	9 months 3 weeks ago
Firetail 12.2 released	interesting!!!		AI for Conservation, Animal Movement, Data management and processing tools	9 months 3 weeks ago
Tutorial: model quality estimation with Firetail 12	so great!!!		Software Development, AI for Conservation, Animal Movement	9 months 3 weeks ago
Bringing BearID to Ecuador	@bluevalhalla thanks for sharing the awesome video, sounds like a great project!		AI for Conservation	9 months 3 weeks ago
Looking for interview participants for research on AI Conservation & the CBD	Hi everyone, I am conducting a research project as part of my MSc in Environment and Development at the London School of Economics. I...		Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Autonomous Camera Traps for Insects, Ethics of Conservation Tech	9 months 4 weeks ago
Move BON Development: Follow up discussion	@cmwainaina please take a look		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
Tutorial: Interactive movement pattern analysis with Firetail	Glad to announce that a new tutorial is available on Firetail:		AI for Conservation, Animal Movement	10 months 2 weeks ago
Question About Interpolation	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...		Data management and processing tools, AI for Conservation	10 months 3 weeks ago