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!
No showcases have been added to this group yet.
I have worked in the vertebrate pest industry for over 11 years and am on the practical, on the ground implementation of AI animal control systems.
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- @steventay
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Dynamique ET PROACTIF, JE SUIS PASSIONNÉ PAR LA PROTECTION DE L'ENVIRONNEMENT, LE TOURISME RESPONSABLE ET LA CONSERVATION DES ÉCOSYSTÈMES.
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- @diego_ellis_soto
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University of California & California Academy of Sciences
Biodiversity |Technology | Socio-Ecological Systems | Wildlife Ecology | Remote Sensing | Conservation | K12STEM-education | Music | diegoellissoto.org
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- @dka32
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I am a highly motivated individual with a background in Natural Resources Management. I am a conservationist who desire to make an impact in the field of conservation using technology.
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Retired Engineer / UAV interests / Photographer
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- @ColleenEarthScape
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- @Alawa
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Passionate wildlife and biodiversity conservationist
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- @mattaudette
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Software Tester and Test Automator at Wildlife Protection Solutions
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- @williams
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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.
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- @ARobillard
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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.
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Careers
The Senior Conservation Technology Specialist will be responsible for providing technical advice and capacity development to GWP project teams on conservation technology, distilling challenges and lessons from project...
22 September 2022
Link
Listen to Tanya Berger-Wolf's conversation about AI for Wildlife Conservation and imageomics with Lauren Burke on the Women In Analytics After Hours Podcast.
21 September 2022
Funding
Amazon Sustainability call for proposals — Fall 2022
Stephanie O'Donnell
Amazon Sustainability is welcoming proposals related to climate risk/resilience, life cycle assessment, circular strategies, and more. Selected PIs receive unrestricted funds, no more than $80,000 USD on average
20 September 2022
Funding
As UNGA begins, Google.org is committing $25M to accelerate progress towards the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. Applications are now open for nonprofits and social enterprises.
16 September 2022
Careers
Research Software Engineer, Climate & Sustainability, IBM
Stephanie O'Donnell
IBM Research Scientists are charting the future of Artificial Intelligence, creating breakthroughs in quantum computing, discovering how blockchain will reshape the enterprise, and much more. Join a team that is...
16 September 2022
Careers
Join my brand new group at MIT in Fall 2023!!
12 September 2022
Careers
Join the BirdNET team!
Holger Klinck
The BirdNet team are seeking to fill three roles, including an Ecologist, Data scientist and an Embedded Systems Engineer based in Germany.
9 September 2022
Careers
At the Inria Sophia Antipolis - Méditerranée center. The project will pursue two different methodological goals: (1) explore the use of natural language bottlenecks describing visible traits or other visual...
1 September 2022
Link
Silva et al - - R package to train convolutional neural networks & employ them to classify sounds - sound event classification pipeline, from annotating recordings to automating trained networks - case...
1 September 2022
Article
This is the first in a series by David Thau on the promise and challenges to using AI and machine learning to create a planetary environmental management system.
31 August 2022
Article
Mara Predators Hackathon
Alessandro Mazzi
APPLY NOW! The Sovereign Nature Initiative has partnered with the Kenya Wildlife Trust to experiment with emerging technologies to support their predators' conservation work.Challenges will focus on:1. Lion...
30 August 2022
Careers
Research Associate in Conservation Ecology at QUT
Carly Batist
This project is part of the Conservation AI Network. We aim to help threatened species & manage invasive species using leading edge analytics and artificial intelligence algorithms. The primary purpose of the...
29 August 2022
August 2025
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Louisa Richmond-Coggan
September 2025
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Louisa Richmond-Coggan
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Louisa Richmond-Coggan
October 2025
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Alex Rood
March 2026
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| Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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| 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... |
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Camera Traps, AI for Conservation | 10 months ago | |
| WildMon, Terra Genesis, The VF Foundation, Thaksin University, and the Wanakaset Symbiosis Network have teamed up on a new project in... |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Community Base | 10 months 1 week ago | |
| Do you use camera traps? If so, we'd love if you could take five minutes to fill out this survey: tinyurl.com/zambasurveyWith our WILDLABS... |
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AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Data management and processing tools, Software Development, Open Source Solutions | 10 months 2 weeks ago | |
| I'm not affiliated, I just happened across it... not sure who is actually leading it. |
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Software Development, Early Career, AI for Conservation, Citizen Science, Climate Change, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Funding and Finance | 10 months 2 weeks ago | |
| Great and difficult question Lisa! I think, yes, we are adding to the problem. We have been already when ML was introduced as a solution to big data problems, and perhaps we have... |
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AI for Conservation | 10 months 3 weeks ago | |
| Odor based methods would be interesting. Provided they didn't need to be replenished too often.We find varied stimulus prevents habituation. |
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AI for Conservation, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Emerging Tech, Human-Wildlife Coexistence | 10 months 3 weeks ago | |
| Thank you John. |
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AI for Conservation | 10 months 3 weeks ago | |
| Hello everyone!Check out our new paper on "Reliable and efficient integration of AI into camera traps for smart wildlife monitoring." We... |
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AI for Conservation | 11 months ago | |
| Hi Karen,Yeah the discharge curves of lithium cells tend to be very stable for a long time and then drop sharply at the end. Akiba and Brett's advice below re: condensation... |
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Camera Traps, AI for Conservation | 11 months 1 week ago | |
| Hi @benweinstein !Surely a general detector might be very useful for detecting objects in aerial imagery! Maybe something similar to what MegaDetector does in camera trap images,... |
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AI for Conservation, Open Source Solutions, Protected Area Management Tools, Drones, Geospatial | 11 months 1 week ago | |
| Thank you!! |
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AI for Conservation | 11 months 2 weeks ago | |
| Agreed. I have recently begun using SegmentAnything as a replacement for Detectron and have been very pleased. However, for a fish school I don't know how well it would do out of... |
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Data management and processing tools, AI for Conservation | 1 year ago |
