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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@ryanhuang
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Conservation scientist based in Pretoria, South Africa

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@jsstamn
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PhD student at the University of Mississippi; research interests include predator/prey dynamics, particularly the landscape of fear in relation to species conservation. Rookie at using arduino

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@mkm4884

Neuroscientist & engineer looking for a data/R&D role in conservation.

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@zhongqimiao

I am a research scientist from the AI for Good Lab at Microsoft, working on AI applications in environmental science and ecology, including camera traps, bioacoustics, and overhead imagery.

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@loveness

An Environmental sciences and Management graduate from SUA, passionate and eager to drive change to the Environment, making World a better place for present and future generations.

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@hyodopenguin
| she/her

I am currently a rising junior at UC Berkeley studying data science. I hope to apply data with biodiversity, especially by utilizing camera traps for species classification. People in conservation tech are truly living my dream careers, and I can't wait to get even more inspired!

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@AngelikaNocon
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I am a Nonprofit Relations Manager at Tech To The Rescue - a global platform connecting nonprofit organizations with tech companies.

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@Slater
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I am the Conservation Science Director at HawkWatch International, where I've worked since 2006. My work focuses mainly on conservation and research of Golden Eagles, including nesting, tracking, and winter ecology.

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@philmitchell

Mobile developer w/ a passion for nature and conservation

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@charlz_wild

I'm a researcher in aquatic sciences, studying connections between fish biology and endocrine systems that govern growth and reproduction, contributing to fisheries management, conservation efforts and aquaculture innovations.

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Description	Activity	Groups	Updated
Monitoring Otters using FIT: Challenges and Discoveries!	Hi Ellie, thanks for your interest. So I have two possible explanations why the camera traps I used did not release, even though I found otter droppings directly in front of my...	AI for Conservation, Animal Movement	4 years 11 months ago
Development of Non-Invasive Techniques for Identifying Eurasian Otter Populations in Lebanon	Samara P. El-Haddad Wildlife Conservation Junior Specialist at Lebanon Reforestation Initiative (LRI)...	AI for Conservation, Community Base	5 years ago
Thinking Outside the Box: Using FIT for Box Turtle Shell ID	How neat, thanks for sharing! We'd love to hear more about your drone project once it's underway, please keep us updated on that one!	AI for Conservation, Emerging Tech	5 years 1 month ago
Tech Tutors: How do I get started using ML for my camera traps? Building Accurate Project-Specific Models	Great talk! I thoroughly enjoyed it. Some high schoolers have done small AI projects(s) and have interest in the wildlife. What resources would you all suggest to further...	AI for Conservation, Camera Traps	5 years 1 month ago
Advancing Monitoring of Endangered Forest Carnivores using Footprint Identification Technology (FIT)	Author: Jody Tucker, U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region Carnivore Monitoring ProgramFigures below text in order (Fig 1...	AI for Conservation, Emerging Tech	5 years 1 month ago
Endangered Species Day Friday 15th May!	What better way to celebrate Endangered Species Day 2020 than try a new technology to protect them? If you're planning to be out and...	AI for Conservation, Emerging Tech	5 years 3 months ago
Webinar 11PST 3/20 - Deep Learning for Airborne Tree Detection	DeepForest docs are here. https://deepforest.readthedocs.io/ Welcome to have a look. My experience is that individual trees cannot be distinguished in satellite...	AI for Conservation	5 years 4 months ago
Open, challenging dataset for audio classification	Steph, thank you so much for this, this is wonderful :) Really, really apreciate you sharing this with me :) Diving into all of the wonderful resources from you, thank you so very...	AI for Conservation	5 years 4 months ago
Help collate list of Ecology/Conservation Data Sets for grad students	A call put out over on Twitter by Jesse Alston might be of interest here - both for conservationists and grad students. Looks like...	AI for Conservation	5 years 4 months ago
Automated species detection from camera traps	This can be done, happy to help :) But I think I need to understand the situation a little bit more. Do you already have the data for training / inference? Do you have any...	AI for Conservation	5 years 4 months ago
Team for Building of ML app for horse identification and conservation	Hi there this post on Conservation X labs recently came up on designing softwarre for individual horse recognition: https://...	AI for Conservation	5 years 5 months ago
AI for camera trap public data	Wildlife Insights launched their online platform hosting over 4 million camera trap images. They use AI to automatically classify the...	AI for Conservation	5 years 8 months ago

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