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.
Sea Mammal Research Unit Univ' St Andrews
I work in marine bioacoustics with a focus on the conservation of marine mammals. Most of the time I'm developing and using passive acoustic technology to study the underwater behaviour of dolphins and porpoises. I'm also a keen developer on the PAMGuard project.
- 0 Resources
- 23 Discussions
- 6 Groups
BirdLife International
I deliver policy and advocacy components of cross-regional projects and initiatives concerning international site-based conservation, including through international mechanisms such as the Ramsar Convention, Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and World Heritage Convention.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 4 Groups
- @billoxbury
- | he/him
Mathematician and data/AI scientist, interested in environmental applications; wildlife photographer and volunteer.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 1 Groups
- @TheDataEnthusiastic
- | He/Him
Hi, I'm pursuing Master's in Data Science. And I want work help protect nature and wildlife.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 13 Groups
World Wide Fund for Nature/ World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
- 0 Resources
- 12 Discussions
- 15 Groups
- @Alejandro
- | He
This climate crisis does not have to be a story of loss but rather a story of redemption, rebirth, and change. My paintings capture the spiritual nature, the grounding energy of our shared existence with the natural world. AML-ART.COM
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 3 Groups
- @jodirowley
- | she/her
Conservation biologist obsessed with frogs
- 1 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 5 Groups
Sound art and design
- 0 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 2 Groups
- @apcxs
- | He, his, them
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 11 Groups
- 1 Resources
- 5 Discussions
- 9 Groups
I am a Geoscientist interested in using geospatial data science to contribute to solutions of today’s environmental challenges. I mostly worked with land surafce temperature data from satellites and drones to study how high mountain landscapes respond to climate change.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 6 Groups
- @Helga_Kuechly
- | she/her
World Wide Fund for Nature/ World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
I am a Geo-ecologist, who loves to use GIS, remote sensing, citizen science and knowledge transfer to shape for a better future for nature - We are part of nature, so let's act like it!
- 2 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 8 Groups
Careers
The Department of AI and Society (AIS) at the University at Buffalo (UB) invites candidates to apply for multiple positions as Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, or Full Professor. The new AIS department was...
8 July 2025
Article
This is a chance to participate in a short survey about the preferences that conservation practitioners have for evidence. There's a chance to win one of three £20 Mastercard gift cards.
24 June 2025
Article
In this case, you’ll explore how the BoutScout project is improving avian behavioural research through deep learning—without relying on images or video. By combining dataloggers, open-source hardware, and a powerful...
24 June 2025
Link
Drone Imagery and Deep Learning enabling northern gannet counts
Elsa Carla De Grandi
Using Ultra-High-Resolution Drone Imagery and Deep Learning to quantify the impact of avian influenza on northern gannet colony of Bass Rock, Scotland. Would love to hear if you know of any other similar exaples from...
12 June 2025
Careers
La Universidad de Ingeniería y Tecnología (UTEC) está buscando cubrir nuevas vacantes en su Instituto Amazónico de Investigación para la Sostenibilidad (ASRI).
12 June 2025
Link
How AI can protect mangroves
Alex Rood
Shared from WWF: "ManglarIA is a mangrove conservation project, supported by Google.org in 2023, that is deploying advanced technology, including artificial intelligence (AI), to collect and analyze data on the health...
12 June 2025
Careers
Business Intelligence Analyst
Raquel Filgueiras
Rewilding Europe is seeking a Business Intelligence Analyst to support measuring rewilding impact through data automation, dashboards, and cross-domain analysis.
3 June 2025
Careers
The intern will support CI in exploring and implementing AI solutions that address conservation challenges. We are looking for someone familiar with modern AI technologies (genAI, AI agents, LLMs, foundation models, etc...
2 June 2025
Article
HawkEars: a high-performance bird sound classifier for Canada
Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute
HawkEars is a deep learning model designed specifically to recognize the calls of 328 Canadian bird species and 13 amphibians.
13 May 2025
Link
Survey on Earth Observation in Wildlife Ecology
Helena Wehner
Hi together, I am working on detecting causalities between land surface dynamics and animal movement by using satellite-based earth observation data. As this is might be your expertise I kindly ask for your support...
8 May 2025
Link
Weed-AI: Supporting the AI revolution in weed control
Amber Balfour-Cunningham
Weeds, by definition, are plants in the wrong place but Weed-AI is helping put weed image data in the right place. Weed-AI is an open source, searchable, weeds image data platform designed to facilitate the research and...
7 May 2025
Careers
Global Science Data Management and AI Graduate Intern
World Wildlife Fund
The intern will help the Global Science team expand our understanding of nature-based solutions through artificial intelligence (AI) and support our efforts to create a model for data collection and analysis that can...
18 April 2025
August 2025
event
Louisa Richmond-Coggan
September 2025
event
Louisa Richmond-Coggan
event
Louisa Richmond-Coggan
October 2025
event
Lacey Hughey and 3 more
December 2025
event
Alex Rood
March 2026
September 2023
August 2023
event
Charles Stewart
17 Products
Recently updated products
| Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Environment conservation in Great Rift Valley. |
|
AI for Conservation | 1 day 16 hours ago | |
| Hi Chris! Send me a direct message and we can have a chat! |
+5
|
AI for Conservation, Autonomous Camera Traps for Insects, Camera Traps | 2 days 4 hours ago | |
| Hey people of the world. 10 days ago I posted here about our new GUI tool where one could drag-n-drop an image and get animals detected on... |
|
AI for Conservation | 2 days 23 hours ago | |
| Hi @CourtneyShuert We support NOAA with AI for individual ID for belugas (but from aerial and from lateral surface too). If some of our techniques can be cross-applied... |
|
AI for Conservation, Data management and processing tools | 1 week 1 day ago | |
| Hello Eugene, I just tried your service:Was wondering how possible will it be to have the option to upload a second image and have a comparison running to let the user know if... |
|
AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Data management and processing tools, Software Development | 1 week 1 day ago | |
| Kudos for such an innovative approach—integrating additional sensors with acoustic recorders is a brilliant step forward! I'm especially interested in how you tackle energy... |
|
Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Latin America Community, Open Source Solutions | 1 week 1 day ago | |
| Thank you for your reply! It surely helps, we have use exif for a while to read metadata from images, when there is information available. Could be nice to maybe see if we... |
|
AI for Conservation, Camera Traps | 1 week 5 days ago | |
| You could just throw out that data, but I think you'd be doing yourself a disservice and missing out on some interesting insights. Are you training the AI with just pre-COVID... |
|
AI for Conservation, Animal Movement, Data management and processing tools, Human-Wildlife Coexistence | 2 weeks 1 day ago | |
| Would love to collaborate on this we are curently building agents for conservation Kind regardsOlivier |
|
AI for Conservation, Community Base | 2 weeks 1 day ago | |
| This is such a compelling direction, especially the idea of linking unsupervised vocalisation clustering to generative models for controlled playback. I haven’t seen much done... |
|
Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Emerging Tech | 2 weeks 4 days ago | |
| Hello.I am in need of assistance.I need a website for a project I am working on.Thanks 😊 |
|
Software Development, AI for Conservation | 2 weeks 5 days ago | |
| Wow this is amazing! This is how we integrate Biology and Information Technology. |
|
Camera Traps, AI for Conservation, Build Your Own Data Logger Community, Data management and processing tools, Marine Conservation, Protected Area Management Tools, Geospatial | 2 weeks 5 days ago |
