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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@PiaHoff

Working in relation to ecosystem services

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@jdomingo
| He/Him

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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@RafaelCampos

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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@HayleyWhyte

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
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MSc Marine Biologist and Data Scientist, Co-Founder and CSO & CTO of Galene Pathways

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@lgovs

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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Description	Activity	Replies	Groups	Updated
WILDLABS AWARDS 2024 – MothBox	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 1 month ago
Faces, Flukes, Fins and Flanks: How multispecies re-ID models are transforming Wild Me's work	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 1 month ago
AI for Conservation!	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 2 months ago
BirdWeather \| PUC	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 2 months ago
Labelled Terrestrial Acoustic Datasets	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 2 months ago
Needing help from the community: Bioacoustics survey	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 2 months ago
Tools for automating image augmentation	Perfect thanks! I am still a novice using Python but my wife can help me!	+6	AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Human-Wildlife Conflict	1 year 3 months ago
Exploring an ethical reflection tool for animal-focused tech (Survey)	Hi everyone! My name is Leah Govia and I am a PhD candidate at the University of Guelph, Canada. My research explores what people...		Ethics of Conservation Tech, Conservation Tech Training and Education, AI for Conservation	1 year 3 months ago
Passionate engineer offering funding and tech solutions pro-bono.	Hi Danilo. you seem very passionate about this initiative which is a good start.It is an interesting coincidence that I am starting another project for the coral reefs in the...		Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Animal Movement, Camera Traps, Citizen Science, Climate Change, Community Base, Connectivity, Drones, Emerging Tech, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Open Source Solutions, Sensors, Software Development, Wildlife Crime, Funding and Finance	1 year 3 months ago
Jupyter Notebook: Aquatic Computer Vision	Am working on similar AI challenge at the moment. Hoping to translate my workflow to wolves in future if needed. We all are little overstretched but it there is no pressing...		Camera Traps, AI for Conservation, Build Your Own Data Logger Community, Data management and processing tools, Marine Conservation, Protected Area Management Tools, Geospatial	1 year 3 months ago
Monitoring setup in the forest based on the wifi with 2.4 GHz frequency.	I would recommend going with Ubiquity 2.4Ghz devices which have performed relatively well in dense foliage of the California Redwood forests. It took a lot of tweaking to...		Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Connectivity, Open Source Solutions	1 year 4 months ago
Using "motion extraction" for animal identification	Very nice video in the link you posted btw:Here is another less artistic one:		Camera Traps, AI for Conservation	1 year 4 months ago