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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@DanielHugelmann
| He / Him

Hi, I'm the co-founder of OceanLabs Seychelles. We design and build environmental and marine remote sensing devices for conservation NGOs. As an engineer and avid diver, with a love for the environment, connecting conservation and technology was the natural thing to do!

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@olistaehli

Background in Computer Science, Developing Acoustic AI Tech at Synature

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@chmod000
| he/they

I build sensing and perceiving hardware that is designed to address issues that matter to me. That ranges from assistive technologies, to conservation ecology, and connecting individuals with place and each other.

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@nick56swim
| He

I am an IoT and embedded ML developer. I am also a nature enthusiast with keen interest in conserving the endangered species

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@DBayley
| He/him

Fauna & Flora & University College London (UCL)

I'm a tropical marine ecologist, specialising in coral reefs, MPAs, and blue carbon. Within conservation technology my focus has been around developing underwater imaging techniques, primarily to assist coral reef monitoring

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@nicoboenisch
| He / him / his

Co-Director FOS Europe, Conservation Strategist and Technical Advisor to the Miradi Software Team, Improving Conservation through Adaptive Management and Evidence-based Learning

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@ggmelone
| she/her

University of Wisconsin-Madison

I am an ecologist and entomologist interested in the effects of climate-change driven stressors on plant-pollinator interactions. I use computer vision camera traps to collect high quality data on insect activity!

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@EliThore
| He/Him

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

I am a biologist with a broad interest in how the environment affects the behaviour and ecology of wildlife. I also like seeking creative and practical solutions to reduce our impact on the environment.

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@Kimaru

I am a budding engineer doing Electrical and Telecommunications Engineering and I am passionate about innovation and technology and how I can use it to make an impact in society.

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@laurent

Siren Project Executive @ African Marine Mammal Conservation Organization (AMMCO). 20+ year in technology. Polyglot. Divemaster.

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@tsgouvea

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@celesteleroux

Co-founder and CEO of Goldfish.io

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Description	Activity	Replies	Groups	Updated
Mau Consavation	Environment conservation in Great Rift Valley.		AI for Conservation	1 day 16 hours ago
Mini AI Wildlife Monitor	Hi Chris! Send me a direct message and we can have a chat!	+5	AI for Conservation, Autonomous Camera Traps for Insects, Camera Traps	2 days 4 hours ago
API endpoint to detect & classify animals	Hey people of the world. 10 days ago I posted here about our new GUI tool where one could drag-n-drop an image and get animals detected on...		AI for Conservation	2 days 23 hours ago
Tracking Individual Whales in 360-degree Videos	Hi @CourtneyShuert We support NOAA with AI for individual ID for belugas (but from aerial and from lateral surface too). If some of our techniques can be cross-applied...		AI for Conservation, Data management and processing tools	1 week 1 day ago
Free online tool to analyze wildlife images	Hello Eugene, I just tried your service:Was wondering how possible will it be to have the option to upload a second image and have a comparison running to let the user know if...		AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Data management and processing tools, Software Development	1 week 1 day ago
🐸 WILDLABS Awards 2025: Open-Source Solutions for Amphibian Monitoring: Adapting Autonomous Recording Devices (ARDs) and AI-Based Detection in Patagonia	Kudos for such an innovative approach—integrating additional sensors with acoustic recorders is a brilliant step forward! I'm especially interested in how you tackle energy...		Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Latin America Community, Open Source Solutions	1 week 1 day ago
What metadata is used from trail camera images?	Thank you for your reply! It surely helps, we have use exif for a while to read metadata from images, when there is information available. Could be nice to maybe see if we...		AI for Conservation, Camera Traps	1 week 5 days ago
How do you tackle the anomalous data during the COVID period when doing analysis?	You could just throw out that data, but I think you'd be doing yourself a disservice and missing out on some interesting insights. Are you training the AI with just pre-COVID...		AI for Conservation, Animal Movement, Data management and processing tools, Human-Wildlife Coexistence	2 weeks 1 day ago
What questions would you ask an AI agent for conservation tech?	Would love to collaborate on this we are curently building agents for conservation Kind regardsOlivier		AI for Conservation, Community Base	2 weeks 1 day ago
A technical and conceptual curiosity... Could generative AI help us simulate or decode animal communication?	This is such a compelling direction, especially the idea of linking unsupervised vocalisation clustering to generative models for controlled playback. I haven’t seen much done...		Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Emerging Tech	2 weeks 4 days ago
Offering free help for ocean conservation projects (tech, UX, automation, AI)	Hello.I am in need of assistance.I need a website for a project I am working on.Thanks 😊		Software Development, AI for Conservation	2 weeks 5 days ago
Jupyter Notebook: Aquatic Computer Vision	Wow this is amazing! This is how we integrate Biology and Information Technology.		Camera Traps, AI for Conservation, Build Your Own Data Logger Community, Data management and processing tools, Marine Conservation, Protected Area Management Tools, Geospatial	2 weeks 5 days ago

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