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!
Working in relation to ecosystem services
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- @jdomingo
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I am an enthusiast for nature, technology development, biodiversity conservation and nature inspired design. I posses a technical and environmental background, and I am looking to explore the potential that advance technology has to empower the field of nature conservation.
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- @och3k
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CIBIO-InBio
I am a PhD student working on wolf bioacoustics. I am combining Audiomoths and Deep Learning into more efficient wolf monitoring protocols. My main field of interest is population ecology.
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- @nadyam
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Michigan State University
Conservation geneticist at Michigan State University. Co-founder of iCatch. Solving problems in monitoring, traceability, and enforcement through rapid species identification tech.
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Passionate advocate for nature and experienced communicator, looking to explore opportunities to leverage technology in wildlife and marine conservation
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- @nlubcker
- | Dr
Results-Driven R&D Project Manager | Data scientist | I'm a versatile professional with 10 years of global experience in conservation and research.
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- @mariahmeek
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Michigan State University
Dr. Mariah Meek is the PI and co-founder of iCatch, an Associate Professor at Michigan State University, and the Director of Research at The Wilderness Society.
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- @Alex.S
- | She/Her
MSc Marine Biologist and Data Scientist, Co-Founder and CSO & CTO of Galene Pathways
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PhD candidate studying the ethics of tech in human-animal interactions.
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- @Hansa
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- @valeria
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Studio Pixel
AI integration architect, AI product manager. I've built the front-end of this website 😁
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Link
New paper - "acoupi integrates audio recording, AI-based data processing, data management, and real-time wireless messaging into a unified and configurable framework. We demonstrate the flexibility of acoupi by...
7 February 2025
Careers
SPOTS Internship Programme
Georg Strunck
Strategic Protection Of Threatened Species (NGO) is looking for engineering interns at the Dinokeng Game Reserve, South Africa
6 February 2025
Careers
Live and work in sunny San Diego for the summer, contributing to engineering projects as they relate to conservation technology.
6 February 2025
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SDZWA Conservation Tech Summer Fellowship
Kyra Swanson
The Conservation Technology Laboratory within the Population Sustainability department is seeking two fellows for summer 2025
5 February 2025
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Are you a data scientist interested in developing AI to help wildlife conservation?
3 February 2025
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Software Developer - Key Conservation
Megan Cromp
Key Conservation is seeking an experienced Software Developer to join our team.
28 January 2025
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Senior Firmware & Systems Engineer
Alex Rood
Arribada is looking for a proactive Senior Firmware & Systems Engineer to join Arribada's experienced and passionate team of field conservationists and engineers. You will write and develop firmware and advise on...
15 January 2025
Careers
The Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Environmental Studies (WFE), SLU, Umeå, is looking for a postdoc with strong interests in wildlife conservation technology.
15 January 2025
Careers
I am thrilled to share that we are hiring for an AI Innovation Manager to help us build out CI's Nature Tech & Innovation Portfolio. You don't need to be a software engineer or AI expert to apply! We are seeking an...
7 January 2025
Careers
We are seeking a highly motivated person with an excellent academic record, a good understanding of ecology and/or conservation and an interest in contributing to cutting-edge research on kākā conservation
6 January 2025
Careers
Seeking a highly motivated person with an excellent academic record, a good understanding of artificial intelligence and computer vision/deep learning, and an interest in contributing to cutting-edge AI research on kākā...
6 January 2025
Careers
New PhD - Drones, seaweeds & climate change
Chris Yesson
A PhD opportunity for anyone interested in coastal drone surveys, seaweeds, climate change and the chance to do a whole bunch of different computer modelling including AI-driven species distribution modelling to assess...
30 December 2024
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| Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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| If you are considering EduGenie for your school assignments, it is useful to read the detailed review on the website. The article at https://nocramming.com/edugenie-review... |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Marine Conservation | 1 day 6 hours ago | |
| MIT has this Moo Deng-based fun challenge! More seriously it relates to AI and human-nature interaction. I imagine people on Wildlabs would... |
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AI for Conservation | 2 days 8 hours ago | |
| Hi Ethan, It's indeed a competitive area. My advice for you (and anybody else seeking a PhD supervisor)...Do background research on each individual potential supervisor and always... |
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Early Career, AI for Conservation, Animal Movement, Climate Change | 6 days 4 hours ago | |
| Hi Nick,At Wildlife.ai, from the other side of the world, we would be happy to chat with you. PM if interested Victor |
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AI for Conservation, Emerging Tech | 4 days 5 hours ago | |
| Hi everyone,What should we share or demo about Software Quality Assurance? Alex Saunders and I, the two Software QA people at Wildlife Protection Solutions (WPS) are going to... |
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Software Development, AI for Conservation, Open Source Solutions | 5 days 23 hours ago | |
| My name is Frank Short and I am a PhD Candidate at Boston University in Biological Anthropology. I am currently doing fieldwork in Indonesia using machine-learning powered passive... |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Animal Movement, Data management and processing tools, Early Career, Emerging Tech, Ethics of Conservation Tech, Protected Area Management Tools, Software Development | 2 weeks 2 days ago | |
| This looks like a great application, thank you! I wonder if they are planning to run this study in future years. |
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AI for Conservation | 2 weeks 5 days ago | |
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Latin America Community, Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Drones, Early Career | 3 weeks 1 day ago | ||
| @LukeD, I am looping in @Kamalama997 from the TRAPPER team who is working on porting MegaDetector and other models to RPi with the AI HAT+. Kamil will have more specific questions. |
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AI for Conservation, Camera Traps | 3 weeks 2 days ago | |
| Super happy to finally have Animal Detect ready for people to use. We are open for any feedback and hope to bring more convenient tools :) |
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AI for Conservation | 3 weeks 2 days ago | |
| Hi Ștefan! In my current case, I am trying to detect and count Arctic fox pups. Unfortunately, Arctic fox does not seem to be included in the training data of SpeciesNet but... |
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AI for Conservation, Camera Traps | 3 weeks 3 days ago | |
| Interesting. Thanks for the explanation. Nice to hear your passion showing through. |
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AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Data management and processing tools, Open Source Solutions, Software Development | 3 weeks 5 days ago |
