WILDLABS logoWildlabs.net : The conservation technology network

WILDLABS logoWildlabs.net : The conservation technology network

Group

Citizen Science / Feed

Anyone can become a citizen scientist - even experts! If you're excited about exploring new areas of conservation tech, contributing to projects, or developing and launching your own citizen science projects or apps, this is the group for you.

discussion

Updates on Mole-Rat Mystery Drone Project 

Sean Hill

10 June 2025 10:21am

THE RESULTS ARE IN!! Two months ago I inquired about information on the Cape Dune Mole Rat on Wildlabs (https://wildlabs.net/discussion/mole-rat-mystery-can-anyone-help). Thanks...

3 1
Samantha Moore

14 August 2025 6:07am

want to join 2025 contest for humpback whale photos in Juneo Alaska of Kelp

 

 

See full post
discussion

Graph of life platform

Navodita Mathur

31 July 2025 5:09pm

For past few months I have been exploring the idea of a platform built around a 'Graph of Life' — where users could query traits (e.g., images, sounds), access phylogenetic data,...

2 0
See full post
discussion

July Geospatial Café Q&A

Elsa Carla De Grandi

25 July 2025 5:53pm

A couple of weeks ago, @ahmedjunaid, @VAR1 and I (with support from @alexrood) hosted the second Geospatial Café and had the pleasure of welcoming speakers who covered topics...

6 0
Elsa Carla De Grandi

25 July 2025 5:57pm

  • I have question. As Dr Muhammad Rais mentioned ArcGis and QGIS for spatial analysis, map creating etc. If we can also done these analysis with python such as spatial analysis etc and sp, sf function in R for spatial analysis. So why everyone recommend ArcGis. And 2nd question about map of life. Can we download data from that for spatial analysis or habitat modeling. 
Elsa Carla De Grandi

25 July 2025 5:58pm

  • Lovely to hear your work curating the Map of life @eliseb227. When uploading shapefiles, is it accurate to create a list of exhaustive species identified within a landscape which could see incidents of conflict. can we include community knowledge in this list?
Vance Russell

28 July 2025 7:43am

Good question. Not sure everyone recommends ArcGIS anymore, but it is commonly used as a desktop GIS. However, it's not free. QGIS, R, and various Python packages are free. But you just need to know how to code to use them. In fact, using R and Python is often cleaner, faster, and puts you in touch with the data and how it's analyzed, much better than the 'clicky clicky' used in desktop packages. Most will use both desktop and code in the workflows. Among others, please see geemap.org, leafmap.org, and FOS geospatial tools for resources to get started and for a deeper dive. Additionally, please see the articles and discussions in this group.

 

See full post
discussion

Tech for Impact Collaboration

Tian Xie

2 July 2025 3:41am

Do you know a nonprofit or organization that is looking to work with students passionate about the environment?  Code the Change Harvey Mudd College is a ...

2
See full post
discussion

🌊 FathomVerse mobile game debuts new features to help gamers participate in ocean exploration

Lilli Wakinekona Carlsen

27 March 2025 1:20am

The ocean is vast, mysterious, and full of charismatic critters that look like they belong in a sci-fi movie. But unlike outer space, you don’t need a rocket to explore it—just a...

1 2
See full post
discussion

I WANT TO TELL YOUR STORY

Barny Dillarstone

29 June 2025 10:22am

I create ocean exploration and marine life content on YouTube, whether it be recording nautilus on BRUVs, swimming with endangered bowmouth guitarfish, documenting reef...

3
See full post
discussion

New Group Proposal: Systems Builders & PACIM Designers

Chad Richardson

18 June 2025 2:52pm

Co-Creating Collective Impact Across the Conservation Technology EcosystemDear WILDLABS Community,I am proposing the creation of a new WILDLABS group focused on...

6 2
Frank van der Most

19 June 2025 9:08am

Hi Chad,

Thanks for the text. As I read it, PACIMs play a role in something else/bigger, but it doesn't explain what PACIMs are or what they look like. Now I've re-read your original post, I'm thinking, maybe I do understand, but then I feel the concept is too big (  an entire system can be part of a PACIM ? ) to get going within a WildLabs group. And you want to develop 10 PACIMS within a year through this group? Don't get me wrong, I am all for some systems change, but perhaps you're aiming too high. 

Chad Richardson

19 June 2025 12:19pm

Hello again sir - PACIMs really mean 'projects' is the way I see it. Each part of the acronym can be seen as a project (if you have an assignment to do, you have a project really).

 

As for your query on 10 projects in 'this' group - I should ask for clarification if you mean particularly acoustics or in any group (I see now this is the acoustics thread after I selected all the groups for this post). If you are asking on acoustics, you're right - I am unsure on 10 as I am not too keen on acoustics yet. If you are asking 10 projects as a whole like 10 projects in the funding and finance group - I believe 10 to be a very reasonable number. Our projects we have co-created are for the most part replicable, rapidly deployable, quickly scalable, fundable through blended finance and more. 

 

Thank you again for the feedback.

Frank van der Most

19 June 2025 1:43pm

Thank you for your reply, Chad

I meant 10 as a whole, indeed. Perhaps you see your post in one group, but since it is tagged for all groups, I assumed you meant 10 in total.

In your first post you explain PACIM stands for "Projects, Assignments, Campaigns, Initiatives, Movements, and Systems", so I understood it as more than just projects. Obviously, many things can be packed into a project or called a project, but then, what does it mean that 'Projects' is part of the list?

Well, if you think 10 projects is doable, then don't let me stop you.

See full post
discussion

ICCB 2025 – Let’s Connect!

Stephanie M.

9 March 2025 5:06am

Hi Everyone,I’m excited to be attending my first ICCB 2025 as a student presenter and early-career researcher! My work sits at the intersection of computational epidemiology and...

9 3
Arky

16 June 2025 8:33am

Hey Stephanie, 

I have dropped you couple of links. I believe we also have a booth somewhere. 

 

Fadhilla Golda

16 June 2025 8:41am

Hi Stephanie,

It’s great to hear about your exciting work and that you’ll be attending ICCB 2025 — congratulations on presenting!

The Savannah Tracking team is participating at the exhibition, and we’d love for you to stop by our booth 15.

Given your previous interest in collaring domestic dogs and collecting high-resolution GPS data, it might be a great opportunity for us to connect in person and dive deeper into how our lightweight collar solutions — like those currently deployed on Dingoes — could support your project. We'd be happy to show you how our satellite-enabled collars work, demo our data platforms, and explore a potential fit for your needs.

See full post
discussion

How drones, AI & Open Source Software are being used to combat Alien Invasive Plants in South Africa

Sean Hill

2 June 2025 10:08am

Alien Invasive Plants (AIP) have become a major threat to South Africa's sensitive Fynbos biome. In 2017 and 2018, fires in the Western Cape region killed 8 people and destroyed...

4 3
Sean Hill

7 June 2025 9:36pm

Hi Ginevra, thank you! Its such a huge advantage to have tech tools available to us in conservation. Not just from an analysis point of view but also from a practical application view😊

Chris

17 June 2025 1:26am

Aloha, this is a great project. Thanks for sharing. I have been looking for ideas to integrate machine learning with some of the conservation work we are engaed in here on Kauai. Thank you

Sean Hill

17 June 2025 11:00am

Thank you for your comment Chris! Using these tools has made a huge difference in the way we can monitor and manage Invasive Alien Vegetation. I hope you are able to integrate similar systems with your projects there. If you need any help, feel free to reach out!

See full post
discussion

A crazy new feature on eBird - Uploading media at the list level

Adrien Pajot

23 May 2025 10:26am

Calling all birders!Not sure if you’ve noticed, but eBird has recently added a crazy new feature: you can now upload media, like photos and audio recordings at...

2 2
Frank van der Most

27 May 2025 7:50am

Thanks for the heads up, Adrien. I've put my birdwatching on hold but will reboot it again this summer and start using eBird.

Phil Mitchell

30 May 2025 3:17pm

My first thought was that these were bird photos and eBird would automatically populate your checklist, but now I see these are habitat photos! That is very cool ... eBiome! From the website:

Habitat photos hold tremendous promise for improving bird occurrence models and understanding long-term changes to habitat conditions. We encourage users to document habitats during their visits and continue tracking changes over time. Tagging observed species in habitat photos may help reveal important connections between birds and their environments. These can also offer finer-scale insights that improve our approaches to assessing habitats, which currently relies on satellite imagery.

Soundscape recordings hold similar promise, capturing the broader soundscape of a site and how it may change. They will also play a key role in training Merlin Sound ID to recognize individual species within busy dawn choruses and environmental recordings.

See full post
discussion

iNaturalist tips & tricks?

Amber Balfour-Cunningham

28 April 2025 5:33am

iNaturalist (iNat) may be the most successful citizen science venture ever. Now at over 230 million verifiable reports, 290 000 active users and 5000 publications. It is easy to...

2 1
Manish Gadhvi

2 May 2025 3:43pm

I'm new to iNaturalist but I did a personal project recently that made use of it's awesome API.



I used it to fetch only research-grade, open-location spider sightings, then performed a spatial join with Wildlife Trust regional boundary data (via an ArcGIS REST service) using GeoPandas. I visualised the results on an interactive Folium map with clustering, and set up a Prefect workflow to keep the data updated monthly. Final outputs include a clean CSV for analysis and the live map. You can see the project here 

Read "GitHub - mgadhvi/spider-project: This project uses iNaturalist spider sightings and Wildlife Trust boundary data to create an interactive map, helping visitors identify spider species they might encounter in different Wildlife Trust regions across the UK." on GitHub

GitHub - mgadhvi/spider-project: This project uses iNaturalist spider sightings and Wildlife Trust boundary data to create an interactive map, helping visitors identify spider species they might encounter in different Wildlife Trust regions across the UK.

This project uses iNaturalist spider sightings and Wildlife Trust boundary data to create an interactive map, helping visitors identify spider species they might encounter in different Wildlife Trust regions across the UK. - mgadhvi/spider-project

GitHub

Coming from a developer looking to change to nature tech, I found it a well document and easy API to work with :)

See full post
discussion

A broken discussion thread ?

Kim Hendrikse

2 April 2025 1:50pm

Just want to point out, that there appears to be a discussion thread here that fails to render. It just hangs.It's the one called "Detecting animals' heading and body orientation...

3 0
Kim Hendrikse

2 April 2025 1:52pm

Ah in the meantime my mail box is functional again. But this thread still seems broken.

Jake Burton

2 April 2025 2:17pm

Hi Kim, thanks for flagging this. It's likely caused by a bad external link. We will investigate!

Jake Burton

2 April 2025 2:52pm

Hi Kim, the website linked in the body text of the post was not working with our link preview embed system and somehow causing a crash. Clearing the site cache and changing the embed link to a hyperlink instead of a link preview embed has seemingly fixed the issue for now.

The devs will investigate further what was causing this to try and stop this happening again.

Thanks for the report!

See full post
discussion

Nature Tech Unconference - Anyone attending?

Elsa Carla De Grandi

8 March 2025 12:11pm

Hi all, anyone planning to attend the Nature Tech Unconference on 28th March at the London School of Economics Campus in London, UK? (the event is free to attend but...

8 1
Matt Rogers

21 March 2025 12:07pm

The Futures Wild team will be there :)

See full post
discussion

United Nations Open Source Principles

Pen-Yuan Hsing

13 March 2025 4:13pm

FYI, I just came across the United Nations Open Source Principles, which was recently adopted by the UN Chief Executive Board’s Digital Technology Network (DTN): It has been...

1 5
Vance Russell

25 March 2025 11:54am

All sound, would be nice if there were only 5, though!

See full post
discussion

Mole-Rat Mystery. Can anyone help?

Sean Hill

19 March 2025 3:25pm

Good afternoon everyone! I am currently doing a personal study on Cape Dune Mole-Rat (Bathyergus suillus) activity in my free time along an estuary. I do not know...

4 0
Jocelyn Stalker

20 March 2025 4:17pm

Hi Sean! I love that you are naturally curious and are pursuing really cool projects in your free time. I know absolutely nothing about cape dune mole rats (in fact, never heard of them prior to this post, but I will confess I was interested in the concept of a mole-rat mystery), but I did have some thoughts about where you might find more information-

It seems like the types of questions you are asking are pretty specific and niche. My first thought on how to find someone with expertise in these specific rodents was to go to their iNat page- there you can see the top observer and top identifier. Both individuals are active researchers, so I think reaching out to them on iNat or finding their e-mails from their respective organizations' sites might be a good way to get in touch.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1986.tb03570.x

I also did a quick search in Google Scholar in which I typed in only the scientific name and hit go. The two publications linked above caught my eye as potentially helpful in your search- particularly the first one. They excavated burrows and noted things like home range size, that males have more burrows than females, etc. I didn't go much beyond the abstracts but these seem like they might get you on the right tracks!

Happy ratting!

Sean Hill

25 March 2025 8:36am

Good morning Vance

Thank you very much! I am looking into some papers that I was kindly directed to by Jocelyn Stalker ( her comment below) and am looking for ways to establish population dynamics just by looking at the mounds. Once I have figured this part out I should be able to correlate the information to the drone data. The Ground Sampling Distance (GSD) for this project is very small, 1.3cm per pixel. This has proven to be very useful because I am able to use the very fine 3D models to run change detections that pick up new heaps and vegetation reductions (which may be due to feeding) on a weekly basis. It helps not only visualise but also quantify where the most activity has occurred. I will keep you posted!    

Sean Hill

25 March 2025 8:47am

Good morning Jocelyn

Thank you very much for your comment, this is proving to be very useful advice and thank you so much for setting me on the right path!! This is very exciting!!

They are the most extra ordinary little creatures and as I don't know much about them either, I thought I'd try learn as much as I can (not just through literature, but through my own observations as well). I walk past these mounds daily and am always intrigued when I see more mounds and really enjoy watching them actively push the dune sand up to the surface (you don't see the wee fellas but you can watch the sand move as they burrow away). One afternoon while flying my drone (I was quantifying the changes in sediment deposition and erosion volumes in the estuary after a flood that was soon followed by a super high tide), I had a heap between my legs and all of a sardine it starts moving! So that sparked my curiosity even further. 

I will keep you posted on my findings and thank you again for the papers and the direction! It is greatly appreciated!!

See full post
discussion

Sensors to Add to Avid Kayaker in Florida?

Andrew Quitmeyer

10 March 2025 12:13pm

My friend is an engineer and an avid kayaker in florida rivers. He wants some kind of mission while he goes around kayaking. He's a computer vision expert and one of his ideas is...

1 0
Phil Bresnahan

21 March 2025 12:55pm

Love this idea! I have spent some time thinking about similar things and have built some rather expensive (~ $20K) pH and oxygen sensors to use on paddlecraft as well as much less expensive (~ $500) simpler devices for geolocated temperature measurement. Neither of these is readily available, but I do have a couple ideas for your friend if he is up for a little reading and exploring options: 

  • Check out the Testing the Waters site and paper (links below). Eric Compas and others used Atlas Scientific water quality instrumentation on a kayak.
  • SciStarter.org might have some good ideas for kayak-based participatory science, even with just a mobile phone.
  • Check out Blue Robotics hardware and forums (one example below). They make all sorts of cool fully packaged and OEM hardware for this sort of thing. I once saw a nice DIY surfboard + Blue Robotics echosounder project (can't find the link at the moment—sorry) which would be easy to adapt to kayaking. 

Happy to chat more if any of these leads or related stuff is of interest (more of my contact info available at coast-lab.org).

Read "Help im a noob but I work with seabed survey - Blue Robotics Products - Blue Robotics Community Forums" on Blue Robotics Community Forums

Help im a noob but I work with seabed survey - Blue Robotics Products - Blue Robotics Community Forums

Hi, I have been thinking about a project i wanna build for some time. A special kind of survey boat. To do it i need a complete set up as the blueboat has with the long range directional antenna. But I will not be needi…

Blue Robotics Community Forums • 07 Jun 2023
See full post