In recent years, drone technologies have been explored for a range of applications in conservation including (but not limited to) mapping, biodiversity inventories, antipoaching patrols, wildlife tracking, and fire monitoring. The rise of customizable, open-source drones like those of ArduPilot and OpenROV hold promise for more effective conservation applications, and combined with other monitoring sensors and devices, they are capable of collecting high-resolution data quickly, noninvasively, and at relatively low cost.
However, challenges remain in putting these tools to use. A recent paper reviewing 256 conservation drone projects highlighted some of these major obstacles, ranging from unintended social and ecological consequences of drone operations to still prohibitive costs, both in terms of hardware and in terms of storing and processing large volumes of data. The longstanding challenge of power/battery life remains as well.
If you're considering trying out drones for yourself, and want to explore the possibilities and understand the major conversations happening around this technology, check out these beginner's resources and conversations from across the WILDLABS platform:
Three Resources for Beginners:
- Conservation Technology User Guidelines Issue 5: Drones, World Wildlife Fund | Drones, best practices, ethics, regulations, case studies
- WILDLABS Virtual Meetup Recording: Drones, Craig Elder, Dr. Claire Burke, and Gabriel Levin | Drones, thermal camera, wildlife crime, ML, biologging
- New Paper: Drones and Bornean Orangutan Distribution, Sol Milne | Drones, data analysis, citizen science, community science, primates
Three Forum Threads for Beginners:
- Curious about radio-tracking with drones? | Wildlife Drones, Biologging (5 replies)
- Drones for GIS Best practice Document | Adrian Hughes, Drones (10 replies)
- WWF Conservation Technology Series: Drones in Conservation | Aurélie Shapiro, Drones (7 replies)
Three Tutorials for Beginners:
- How do I use a drone to capture radio-tracking data? | Debbie Saunders, Tech Tutors
- How do I choose the right drone for my conservation goals? | Shashank Srinivasan, Tech Tutors
- How do I strategically allocate drones for conservation? | Elizabeth Bondi, Tech Tutors
Want to know more about using drones, and learn from experts in the WILDLABS community? Make sure you join the conversation in our Drones group!
*Header photo: Parker Levinson, Point Blue Conservation Science
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University of British Columbia
Postdoc at UBC, exploring how drones enhance wildlife conservation using thermal cameras & AI tools to refine monitoring of large mammal populations in Canada & compare these approaches to traditional methods.
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- @Fatuma
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I aim to transition my career towards conservation technology after gaining two years of experience in the tech industry.
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- @Heloise
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Bio-acoustician, marine biologist, marine mammal specialist, drone enthusiast
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- @DibblexLesalon
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Dibblex Lesalon is the visionary force behind the captivating podcast, Boots on the Ground, he is the Creative Lead, embracing the power of one-on-one conversations to amplify the voices for conservation. A masterful host, he orchestrates compelling dialogues and seamlessly navig
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Researcher interested in waterbird ecology and conservation
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Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB)
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University of Salford
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- @ryanhuang
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Conservation scientist based in Pretoria, South Africa
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Neuroscientist & engineer looking for a data/R&D role in conservation.
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- @hyodopenguin
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I am currently a rising junior at UC Berkeley studying data science. I hope to apply data with biodiversity, especially by utilizing camera traps for species classification. People in conservation tech are truly living my dream careers, and I can't wait to get even more inspired!
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- @Slater
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I am the Conservation Science Director at HawkWatch International, where I've worked since 2006. My work focuses mainly on conservation and research of Golden Eagles, including nesting, tracking, and winter ecology.
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Careers
Computer Vision Developer
Ben Weinstein
We are hiring a computer vision developer at the University of Florida!
20 November 2024
Link
Great use of drones from Fauna&Flora's team
7 November 2024
Link
deadtrees.earth is an open-access platform hosting more than a thousand centimeter-resolution orthophotos, more than 300,000 ha. Combined with Earth observation data and machine learning it will enable to uncover tree...
2 November 2024
Careers
Seeking expressions of interest from PhD candidates to join the MAVE Lab at the University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia
26 August 2024
Funding
The Resilient Futures Technology Grant Program by DroneDeploy.org is dedicated to fostering radical inclusion in urgent solutions. Our mission is to enhance outcomes for underresourced populations by prioritizing...
26 August 2024
Article
Join us in celebrating this year’s Judging Panele Award winners!
19 August 2024
Article
Join us in celebrating this year’s Community Choice Award winners!
15 August 2024
Article
Vote for your favorite submissions that best demonstrate conservation impact, novel innovation/discovery, and strong storytelling of the work and the sector.
12 August 2024
Article
Handbook 'Drones in Biomonitoring & Nature Conservation'
Steffen Döring
The use of drones can contribute in various ways to increase the effectiveness of monitoring, reduce costs, and minimize disturbances. This manual has been specifically developed to support conservation efforts and to...
27 June 2024
Link
Handbook 'Drones in Biomonitoring & Nature Conservation'
Steffen Döring
The use of drones can contribute in various ways to increase the effectiveness of monitoring, reduce costs, and minimize disturbances. This manual has been developed to support conservation efforts and to help make the...
27 June 2024
Article
Enter to win a free thermal camera!
Alex Rood
WILDLABS is partnering with FLIR to give away a FLIR ONE Edge Pro to 5 community members.
26 June 2024
September 2025
event
Louisa Richmond-Coggan
March 2026
November 2023
33 Products
Recently updated products
| Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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| Hi all, I'm thinking about going for my license. In doing so, I'll do a writeup of my experiences for you all so that way those of you in the... |
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Drones | 8 years 10 months ago | |
| Ups, it's true :( I hope that you can try to apply anyway. Regards |
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Drones | 8 years 11 months ago | |
| Anyone want to work on Elephants (in natural habitat) ? At Pah Muang Wildlife Sanctuary (along to road Chiang Mai to Lampang) there are... |
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Drones | 8 years 11 months ago | |
| Unfortunately, I could not see the full article, but the executive summary makes a lot of sense. I think there might be a couple of other considerations. 1) As... |
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Drones | 9 years ago | |
| For anyone interested in an overview of how drones are being deployed for conservation, this piece by Serge Wich (of ConservationDrones.org) provides a... |
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Drones | 9 years ago | |
| In April, the Cambridge Conservation Tech Group held its second meetup, which brought together colleagues from RSPB, Birdlife, FFI,... |
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Drones | 9 years 3 months ago | |
| Interesting. A case in point is the viral video making the rounds about drone fishing: We've seen an array of inventive uses for drones of late across a whole range... |
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Drones | 9 years 3 months ago | |
| I agree that it is likely that a dirigible would probably struggle in a lot of common mapping settings. People do use kites though. If you are interested in developing the flight... |
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Drones | 9 years 4 months ago | |
| Hi Lot, great to see you here too. |
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Drones | 9 years 4 months ago | |
| Hi Sean, Thanks for sharing your survey - is there a specific date you'll be closing the survey? It'd be great if you could share the results of the... |
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Drones | 9 years 4 months ago | |
| Hi Daniel Thanks for the interest in the project. The load carrying capacity will be a few kgs. The battery I've sized at this stage is around 2kgs and should allow it... |
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Drones | 9 years 5 months ago | |
| http://www.esri.com/products/drone2map#beta ESRI is developing the means of putting UAV imagery into ArcGIS. Sign up to keep... |
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Drones | 9 years 6 months ago |
