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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@affiliatepurna
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Purna Man Shrestha is a program coordinator of mountain spirit, Nepal. He has 6 years of working experience in human wildlife interaction focusing on wildcats, and conflicts. He has a good knowledge on wildlife survey techniques, field survey, stakeholder engagement

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@Ivordamhakilicha

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@mwanikimm

Ol Pejeta Conservancy

Deputy Technology Manager

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@Luisa_Teixeira

working on the digital transformation for environment, climate, and conservation

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@raquelgo
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@sebjwallace

Software Engineer

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@Jaeyoung
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I am a member of the Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability Lab (DESIS Lab) at Yonsei University, where I am pursuing a master's degree in Human Environment and Design. My study is about sustainable HCI, children's connection to nature, and product-service design.

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@nedhorning

American Museum of Natural History

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@tadeotw
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@Tracks_Ecology
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Ecological Consultant focussing on the use of UAV and GIS to advance applied ecological reasearch

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@wkcmark

My main interest is in the application of geospatial technology for ecology and conservation

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@bradnahill
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SEE Turtles

Brad has worked in sea turtle conservation & ecotourism for 20+ years. He is the lead writer of Sea Turtle Research and Conservation and co-author of the Worldwide Travel Guide to Sea Turtles. He has won the President's Award from the International Sea Turtle Society.

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Description	Activity	Replies	Groups	Updated
Conservation tech in Human Wildlife Conflict	Odor based methods would be interesting. Provided they didn't need to be replenished too often.We find varied stimulus prevents habituation.	+6	AI for Conservation, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Emerging Tech, Human-Wildlife Conflict	8 months ago
AI & Illegal Wildlife Trade	Thank you John.		AI for Conservation	8 months ago
New paper and datasets on Raspberry Pi-based AI-powered camera traps for wildlife monitoring	Hello everyone!Check out our new paper on "Reliable and efficient integration of AI into camera traps for smart wildlife monitoring." We...		AI for Conservation	8 months 1 week ago
Camera trap function in heat waves	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...		Camera Traps, AI for Conservation	8 months 2 weeks ago
Global model for Livestock detection in airborne imagery - Data, Applications, and Needs	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,...		AI for Conservation, Open Source Solutions, Protected Area Management Tools, Drones, Geospatial	8 months 2 weeks ago
Spatiotemporal species distribution modeling	Thank you!!		AI for Conservation	8 months 3 weeks ago
efficient methods for labeling clusters of fish in images for segmentation purposes	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...		Data management and processing tools, AI for Conservation	9 months 1 week ago
How do drones help agriculture?	@DibblexLesalon looks like a great question for your team at Expert Drones Africa :)		AI for Conservation	9 months 1 week ago
Enhancing Public/Private Safety and Health Through Toilet Mapping	However, I think it's important to reflect further to determine exactly what needs to be done.	+8	Climate Change, AI for Conservation, Animal Movement, Citizen Science	9 months 2 weeks ago
New frontiers in AI for biodiversity research and conservation with multimodal language models	Congrats on the publication! Great work!		AI for Conservation	9 months 2 weeks ago
AI based forest fire early warning system?	The German start-up Dryad is also working on early fire detection using sensors and AI.		AI for Conservation	9 months 2 weeks ago
ChatGPT for conservation	I found this interesting	+48	AI for Conservation, Emerging Tech	9 months 2 weeks ago

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