With experts across the WILDLABS community working with every type of technology and in every imaginable environment, our platform is a great place to find advice and resources on choosing what tools are right for your conservation project. Whether you're in the market to try a new camera trap model, want to experiment with drones for the first time, or need help weighing the pros and cons of data management tools, there's someone in the WILDLABS community who can help you make a smart and informed choice!
The Community Base is our general gathering group. It's the place where we cover more general, big picture topics in conservation technology - ones that don't fit neatly into our other groups. If you don't know where to post something, just post it in this group. Our moderators will move it if needed!
At our Community Base, you'll find updates from the WILDLABS team on upcoming events and opportunities, and have the chance to shape our programs and platform with your opinions. And most importantly, the Community Base is also home to our Welcome to WILDLABS thread, the best place to introduce yourself to us and the community. Stop by and tell us what you're working on!
Whether you're new to WILDLABS and want to know where to begin, or you're a longtime member looking for a handy bank of resources, our Getting Started on WILDLABS thread will be your one-stop guide to getting the most out of our platform.
Want to find out more about WILDLABS? Check out our recent community call:
Header image: Ana Verahrami/Elephant Listening Project
Group curators
- @TaliaSpeaker
- | She/her
WILDLABS & World Wide Fund for Nature/ World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
I'm the Executive Manager of WILDLABS at WWF



- 23 Resources
- 64 Discussions
- 31 Groups
- @alexrood
- | she/her
WILDLABS & World Wide Fund for Nature/ World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
I'm the WILDLABS Communications and Community Management Associate Specialist at WWF-US





- 149 Resources
- 95 Discussions
- 6 Groups
No showcases have been added to this group yet.
- @Britneecheney
- | her/she
My name is Britnee Cheney. I am a keeper and trainer for three North American River Otters at an aquarium in Utah. I have recently started a conservation program for this species in the wild and am looking for resources and mentors to help me with my camera trapping.


- 0 Resources
- 13 Discussions
- 7 Groups
- @Robincrocs
- | He/Him//El//Ele
Wildlife biologist, works with Caimans and Crocodiles
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 15 Groups
PhD student at the University of Wuerzburg, working on the influence of climate change on animal migration, especially the Northern Bald Ibis.
- 1 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 6 Groups
- @jstalker
- | she/her
Herpetologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

- 0 Resources
- 5 Discussions
- 2 Groups
- @StephODonnell
- | She / Her



- 196 Resources
- 676 Discussions
- 31 Groups
- @Rob_Appleby
- | He/him
Wild Spy
Whilst I love everything about WILDLABS and the conservation tech community I am mostly here for the badges!!





- 1 Resources
- 315 Discussions
- 11 Groups
- @CathyNj
- | She
Catherine Njore is a seasoned Cartographer with over 18yrs experience and specializing in children cartography. She recently designed a Cartography: Fun with Maps Program(CFMP); a program that assists children to learn how to draw, read and use maps effectively.

- 7 Resources
- 56 Discussions
- 6 Groups
Robotic engineer, working on environmental and biodiversity monitoring.

- 0 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 3 Groups
I work in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. The focus of my NGO is to facilitate the scientific study of the natural and cultural resources of the cenotes and underground rivers of our region.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 3 Groups
Octophin Digital
Director at Octophin, building software for wildlife conservation. Including WILDLABS.



- 2 Resources
- 24 Discussions
- 2 Groups
- @DeepakSathyanarayan
- | he/his
Deepak is an experienced professional who has served in multiple leadership roles in technology, science, product development, and engineering programs. He has proven expertise in shaping and executing technology strategies across defense, space, health, and environment sectors.


- 0 Resources
- 5 Discussions
- 7 Groups
- @sam.cope.king
- | she/her
ProtectedSeas
Marine Monitor (M2) Senior Scientist



- 0 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 5 Groups
The Crowder-Messersmith Conservation Fund supports small, local conservation and education projects in developing countries.
31 October 2024
The International Climate Initiative opens this call once per year, to allow what they call "smaller-scale civil society actors in developing and emerging countries" to initiate projects addressing the Paris agreement...
31 October 2024
Funding
The European Outdoor Conservation Association will soon open its half-annual call for project applications. Applications must protect a threatened species or habitat ( including marine habitats ), be related to outdoor...
31 October 2024
Careers
Princeton University seeks an ambitious, highly motivated, and experienced individual for a leadership role in its office of international affairs and operations. Reporting to the Vice Provost for International Affairs...
16 October 2024
Article
From October 22 to 31, our team will be attending COP16 in Cali, Colombia. Connect with us at various events, visit our innovation booth, attend the side-events we are hosting, or find us between the Green and Blue...
16 October 2024
The Schmidt Ocean Institute (SOI) and the National Geographic Society have a joint call for "early career scientists who can lead ship-based research, technology, or conservation projects aboard SOI’s Falkor (too)"
13 October 2024
The Fonseca Species Conservation Fund supports early career conservationists working on projects regarding threatened amphibians, freshwater fish, primates, small mammals, tortoises and freshwater turtles 'in urgent...
3 October 2024
The Connected Conservation is thrilled to announce our award's third round in collaboration with the Airbus Foundation. This award champions the use of cutting-edge satellite imagery to tackle biodiversity loss and...
30 September 2024
We are thrilled to start a brand new group, the Latin America Community, and introduce the new Group Leaders for the 2024-2025 term: Vanesa Reyes and Juan Sebastián Ulloa Chacón. // Estamos muy contentos de iniciar un...
27 September 2024
Article
The story of the Boring Fund and why we're so excited to have it out in the world 🚀
26 September 2024
Join the team at FieldKit, an open-source software and hardware sensor platform, and help us validate the quality and usability of the FieldKit platform.
25 September 2024
Shape the future of the WILDLABS network. Take our network survey to input your thoughts, ideas, and feedback for the future of WILDLABS.
19 September 2024
October 2025
event
event
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November 2025
February 2026
April 2026
event
September 2024
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Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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Hi everyone, Conservation International and The Biodiversity Consultancy are conducting an online survey about the use,... |
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Community Base | 6 years 4 months ago | |
Hi everyone, So a quick update on this. We've had 100+ responses so far which lots of really interesting feedback coming through. We're going to close this year... |
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Community Base | 6 years 5 months ago | |
Hi, I am trying to convince my country's nature protection agency to run a conservation hackathon (on a specific issue or problem of... |
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Community Base | 6 years 5 months ago | |
ICCB 2019 Travel Reimbursement Awards – Applications Open The deadline to submit an application for ICCB 2019 Travel Awards is 15 March at 11:59 p.m US Eastern... |
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Community Base | 6 years 5 months ago | |
Fantastic. Thank you Naomi. Will share and try to put together an abstract to submit. |
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Community Base | 6 years 5 months ago | |
Hi Everyone, If you've received your February Community Digest today, some of you might have had an error in the First Name info in... |
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Community Base | 6 years 5 months ago | |
The course focuses on the role that natural resources, environmental degradation and climate change play in conflict and peacebuilding... |
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Community Base | 6 years 5 months ago | |
Hi everyone, I get a lot of members dropping me an email to get some time in for a chat and to get feedback/advice. These... |
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Community Base | 6 years 6 months ago | |
Hey Wildlabbers! I just quit my job as a professor, moved to Gamboa, bought a house, and am starting up my own jungle hacking lab down here... |
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Community Base | 6 years 6 months ago | |
Thanks David, I understand your point, but we are now collaborating with University research that will be examining (amongst other things) the microbial level, especially in... |
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Community Base | 6 years 6 months ago | |
We are hiring engineers, marketing specialists, and an operations director! For those who are passionate about technology and its potential... |
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Community Base | 6 years 7 months ago | |
Hi Kieran, We should connect and have a chat! Ross. |
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Community Base | 6 years 8 months ago |
Let's save our environment
31 January 2024 12:52pm
Power managment/Recharging System and Communication System
2 January 2024 4:06pm
26 January 2024 9:03am
Power usage for microcontrollers with solar is much more manageable. For Raspberry Pi's and higher it gets expensive and big.
I'm quite impressed by the specs from the Goal Zero Yeti devices. This can have high capacity and be charged with Solar. Not small though. And the price is not in proportion to the Pi's.
So this 200x model for example, would be close to 16 days running the audio recorder. Let's say 10. without solar. Add solar? Depends on the size of the panels I guess. Power usage for mobile networking? Depends on how much you transmit.
Probably some well documented experiments would be really nice for people here. Sounds like something nice for the next set of grants :)
26 January 2024 2:11pm
Real nice video. I'll have another look in the weekend in detail.
Need advice - image management and tagging
12 January 2024 7:55pm
15 January 2024 8:47pm
Interesting, Iʻll give it a shot. Looks like this could save me some time.
Thanks for the explanation @wade!
24 January 2024 5:16pm
I have no familiarity with Lightroom, but the problem you describe seems like a pretty typical data storage and look up issue. This is the kind of problem that many software engineers deal with on a daily bases. In almost every circumstance this class of problem is solved using a database.
In fact, a potentially useful analysis is that the Lightroom database is not providing the feature set you need.
It seems likely that you are not looking for a software development project, and setting up you own DB would certainly require some effort, but if this is a serious issue for your work, you hope to scale your work up, or bring many other participants into your project, it might make sense to have an information system that better fits your needs.
There are many different databases out there optimized for different sorts of things. For this I might suggest taking a look at MongoDB with GridFS for a couple of reasons.
- It looks like you meta data is in JSON format. Many DBs are JSON compatible, but Mongo is JSON native. It is especially good at storing and retrieving JSON data. Its JSON search capabilities are excellent and easy to use. It looks like you could export your data directly from Lightroom into Mongo, so it might be pretty easy actually.
- Mongo with the GridFS package is an excellent repository for arbitrarily large image files.
- It is straightforward to make a Mongo database accessible via a website.
- They are open source (in a manner of speaking) and you can run it for free.
Disclaimer: I used to work for MongoDB. I don't anymore and I have no vested interest at all, but they make a great product that would really crush this whole class of problem.
25 January 2024 8:32am
Hi!
I would take a look at
Although developed for camera trap imagery, it is by no means restricted to such.
Cheers,
Lars
How are Outdoor Fire Detection Systems Adapted for Small Forest Areas, Considering the Predominance of Indoor Fire Detectors?
8 January 2024 4:27pm
22 January 2024 6:35pm
Fire detection is a sort of broad idea. Usually people detect the products of fire, and most often this is smoke.
Many home fire detectors in the US use a radioactive source and measure the absorption of the radiation by the air. More smoke means more absorption.
For outdoor fire detection, PM2.5 can be a very good smoke proxy, and outdoor PM2.5 sensing is pretty accessible.
This one is very popular in my area.
Classic - Air Quality Monitor | AQI PM2.5 Indoor/Outdoor Sensor – PurpleAir
The PurpleAir Classic air quality monitor is the original and popular PurpleAir sensor. It measures real-time PM2.5 concentrations for residential, commercial, or industrial use and can be installed indoors or outdoors. Built-in WiFi enables the air quality measurement device to transmit data to the real-time PurpleAir AQI Map, which is stored and made available to any smart device. The PA-II is available in two editions. The SD edition includes an onboard SD logger to record and store data without a WiFi connection. Please note: This sensor does not come with a power adaptor. Find a suitable OUTDOOR-rated adaptor here or use your own USB power source (any 5V, 1.2 to 2.4 amp adaptor will work).
Kenya Forest Club, Central Region – Kenya Forest Club
20 January 2024 2:53pm
Happy New Year WILDLabbers! What are you looking forward to in 2024?
2 January 2024 11:31am
2 January 2024 4:01pm
Excited for COP16 later this year in Colombia!
Other events of potential interest -
- World Biodiversity Forum
- European Congress on Conservation Biology
- North American Congress for Conservation Biology
- World Ecoacoustics Congress
- African Bioacoustics Conference
- (virtual) World Species Congress
- UNFCCC COP29
3 January 2024 8:48am
Some really great events to look forward to, thanks so much @carlybatist for sharing these!
Anyone going/presenting/talking at SICB?
1 January 2024 9:11pm
Apply to Beta test Instant Detect 2.0
11 May 2023 10:55am
21 December 2023 3:48am
Will you accept personal/hobbyist focused on conservation on their small plots of land (10-100 acres)?
I would, and know others, who would happily pay more than the official conservationists rate for the service, which could help to further subsidize the project. (Referring to your statement here: https://wildlabs.net/discussion/instant-detect-20-and-related-cost)
Seeking Host Organisations for Travel Scholarship Application
19 December 2023 12:54am
20 December 2023 3:07am
Hi Eva,
Me and my colleagues run a small NGO based on Yogyakarta in Indonesia, although our projects are spread around the country. One of our active project is working with the movement ecology of Sunda gharials in Berbak-Sembilang National Park. One of the other is for Malayan Giant Turtle conservation using one-plan approach, which we are planning to start in situ phase. We can't give you promise about anything, but are able to be the host organization and would love to talk the opportunity!
Cheers,
Dhanu
WILDLABS Colorado Conservation Tech Meetup
19 December 2023 12:04am
Watch now - The State of Conservation Technology: 3 Year Trends
13 December 2023 5:25pm
WILDLABS.net Scheduled Website Maintenance
Conservation of Kikuyu Escarpment Forest
1 December 2023 12:38pm
WILDLABS Awards 2024: Further Information
1 December 2023 11:00am
WILDLABS Awards 2024: Supporting accessible, affordable, and effective innovation for nature
1 December 2023 11:00am
WILDLABS AWARDS 2024 Webinar
30 November 2023 12:17pm
Wishlist for kit in a field-based Research Station or tech testing space?
27 November 2023 10:41am
28 November 2023 3:25am
Regine Weckauf over on linkedin:
'Little to do with research and tech development, but given how hard it is to attract and retain experienced staff to field based positions, I know it makes a difference how nice the space is. Just because it's the "field", shouldn't mean staff living in basic conditions, regardless of how many times we've been told to see it as a badge of honor. If you have the money, put in nice bathrooms, kitchen, living spaces, and private accommodation. Maybe even a nursery? It creates more local employment opportunities and people genuinely want to visit.'
28 November 2023 2:25pm
Love the idea for in-house gear/supplies! It can be SOO difficult to travel with batteries, electronics parts with airline regs, country policies, etc. and shipping recorders/trail cams/etc. gets VERY (prohibitively) pricey in some countries with customs and taxes. Would be great to have an in-country place to source that kind of equipment.
Housing educational resources related to that tech (in the form of people, print materials, computer tutorials) in-house would be similarly awesome. Particularly/especially in local languages.
Having in-country wet labs as well helps the eDNA/genetics folks, since sample import/export permitting can be (always seems to be?!) a nightmare, so if you can even just do PCR and/or extractions in-country that helps a ton.
In terms of overall field-station-wishlist - honestly, just the promise of continued funding and staff. Every field station I've been to or worked at is in a constant search for enough money to get through the next month/year, because the funding comes in the establish a station but then not to maintain it long-term. It's not sexy for a wishlist per se, but boy is it over-looked and much-needed.
@hikinghack from Dinalab would probably have lots of good insights on this!
29 November 2023 7:59pm
My suggestion would probably be a 3D printer and Solder Station with a stock of common components. With those two things you can solve most problems.
NSERC-CREATE Graduate Programs
27 November 2023 10:36am
Atos and WWF partner up to leverage technology to support biodiversity conservation
27 November 2023 9:32am
Freshwater and Community Conservation Remote Externship
27 November 2023 8:31am
ICOTEQ launch TAGRANGER® system of products
23 November 2023 1:25pm
Catch up with The Variety Hour: November 2023
16 November 2023 12:59pm
Have your say: Take the 2023 WILDLABS State of Conservation Technology Survey
15 November 2023 9:20am
The State of Conservation Technology 2023: Five Key Findings
15 November 2023 9:20am
The Ultimate Biodiversity Fact Sheet. 14 stats to convince people about the importance of nature.
9 November 2023 5:10pm
Insight; a secure online platform designed for sharing experiences of conservation tool use.
7 November 2023 1:01pm
A SPOTLIGHT ON CUTTING-EDGE BIOMONITORING TECHNOLOGIES
31 October 2023 9:09am
15 November 2023 6:10pm
31 January 2024 7:17pm
Takeaways from the First-ever Africa Climate Summit: Conservation Technology is Still New(ish)
27 October 2023 11:54am
Introducing The Debrief: Season 1
27 October 2023 10:48am
26 January 2024 8:49am
"Seychelles and South Africa did not allow Starlink to operate"
This is not good, has implications for anti-poaching measures.