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.
- @ImaniWilson
- | She / Her
Zoology with a placement year graduate from Bangor University. Interested in large African mammal movement and behaviour in response to climate change, particularly African elephants
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 13 Groups
- @Fatuma
- | She/Her
I aim to transition my career towards conservation technology after gaining two years of experience in the tech industry.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 13 Groups
- @Heloise
- | She / Her
Bio-acoustician, marine biologist, marine mammal specialist, drone enthusiast
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 9 Groups
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 1 Groups
- @Ferrugem
- | They/Them
Latin American environmental scientist.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 2 Groups
- @TempleB
- | she
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 1 Groups
- @katja
- | she/her
AI/ML consultant for climate/environment solutions industry
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 5 Groups
- @karinnacvijanovich
- | she/her
- 0 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 7 Groups
- @amklovrza
- | she / her
Hello! My name is Anabelle Marques Klovrza and I am a Ph.D. student at Dawson's lab. I am studying community assembly of island-like environments, and in trying to connect it with the vulnerability and fragility of the ecosystem.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 8 Groups
- @Giu.Appel
- | Her
Brazilian biologist, PhD in Ecology and 10 yrs of experience in the Amazon with bat bioacoustics
- 0 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 5 Groups
- @Dominik
- | He/Him
PhD Student on bio- and ecoacoustics at the University of Freiburg (GER)
- 0 Resources
- 3 Discussions
- 2 Groups
I am nature lover and now lost the tolerance to just be an admirer watching its destruction. Hence joining this crew to contribute my supportive work much lesser than a penny worth
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 3 Groups
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
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
February 2023
event
Stephanie O'Donnell
January 2023
17 Products
Recently updated products
| Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| We're seeking training data for AI for wolf ID - we at T4C manage 3 Wildbook platforms: Wild North, Whiskerbook and the... |
|
AI for Conservation | 1 year 3 months ago | |
| Hi Phani,An entry point might be to participate in a challenge related to conservation on:KaggleDrivenDataFruitPunchMax Planck Institute of Animal BehaviorYou could also reach out... |
|
AI for Conservation | 1 year 3 months ago | |
| [oops, the same reply got submitted twice and there doesn't seem to be a "delete" button] |
|
AI for Conservation, Camera Traps | 1 year 3 months ago | |
| Hi @zhongqimiao ,Might you have faced such an issue while using mega detectorThe conflict is caused by:pytorchwildlife 1.0.2.13 depends on torch==1.10.1pytorchwildlife 1.0.2.12... |
+6
|
AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Open Source Solutions | 1 year 3 months ago | |
| Hi, this is pretty interesting to me. I plan to fly a drone over wild areas and look for invasive species incursions. So feral hogs are especially bad, but in the Everglades there... |
|
AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Open Source Solutions, Software Development | 1 year 3 months ago | |
| Gotcha, well I look forward to seeing future iterations and following along with your progress!! |
|
Autonomous Camera Traps for Insects, AI for Conservation, Emerging Tech, Open Source Solutions, Latin America Community | 1 year 3 months ago | |
| Hi everyone!@LashaO and @holmbergius from the Wild Me team at ConservationX Labs gave a superb talk at last month's Variety Hour,... |
|
AI for Conservation, Camera Traps | 1 year 4 months ago | |
| We could always use more contributors in open source projects. In most open source companies Red Hat, Anaconda, Red Hat and Mozilla, people often ended up getting hired largely... |
|
Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Early Career, Marine Conservation | 1 year 4 months ago | |
| Hi @timbirdweather I've now got them up and running and winding how I can provide feedback on species ID to improve the accuracy over time. It would be really powerful to have a... |
|
Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Citizen Science, Emerging Tech | 1 year 5 months ago | |
| Really interesting project. Interesting chip set you found. With up to around 2mb sram that’s quite a high memory for a ultra low power soc I think.It might also be... |
+8
|
Acoustics, AI for Conservation | 1 year 5 months ago | |
| Thank you so much for your encouraging words! I'm thrilled to hear that you enjoyed our conversation, and I truly appreciate your support in spreading the word about my survey... |
|
Acoustics, AI for Conservation | 1 year 5 months ago | |
| Perfect thanks! I am still a novice using Python but my wife can help me! |
+6
|
AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Human-Wildlife Coexistence | 1 year 5 months ago |
