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
- @adamsteer
- | Dr/He/Him
Researcher and consultant focused on snow, ice and landscapes, drone pilot, lidar and airborne remote sensing analyst. Based in Australia, thinks a lot about connected systems in mountain and polar landscapes. Open source geospatial specialist.
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- 2 Discussions
- 4 Groups
- @Adwait
- | He
Postdoc at Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour
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Holder of BSc in Applied Zoology. Assistant Ecologist at Ruaha National park.
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- 7 Discussions
- 12 Groups
- @sarah_dalrymple
- | she/her
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB)
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- 9 Discussions
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- @jenlaw
- | She/Her
Biodiversity scientist specialising specialising in the study of tropical ecosystems and their biodiversity using multiple forms of technology, including acoustics, images and robotics.
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- 0 Discussions
- 14 Groups
- @lampros
- | He/Him
I am a Data and Remote Sensing Analyst specializing in programming (R, Python) at Monopteryx, contributor to open-source projects related to machine-, deep-learning, remote sensing and interested in Biodiversity
- 0 Resources
- 4 Discussions
- 10 Groups
- @Riley
- | she/they
I'm a Data Scientist at Western EcoSystems Technology. I am interested in AI processing and statistical modeling of acoustic data and camera trap and drone imagery.
- 2 Resources
- 2 Discussions
- 5 Groups
- 9 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 4 Groups
- @parlaynu
- | he/him
software engineer
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- 0 Discussions
- 11 Groups
Arribada Initiative
Director at Arribada, a UK-based conservation technology research & development organisation
- 2 Resources
- 98 Discussions
- 12 Groups
- @Arjun_Viswa
- | S
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- 27 Groups
Article
As a visiting research scholar with UNODC, Isla Duporge asked wildlife crime experts about their experiences using remote sensing technologies to combat illicit wildlife and forest activities. In this article, Isla...
7 November 2016
Article
Can Drones Live up to the Hype?
Paul Glover-Kapfer
Drones are being explored for a spectrum of applications in conservation that include mapping, biodiversity inventories, antipoaching patrols, wildlife tracking and fire monitoring. However, questions remain about...
8 July 2016
Article
Can UAVs be Used to Measure Forest Quality?
Tom Swinfield
A team of researchers is using UAVs to photograph tropical forest canopy with the aim of developing low-cost methods for measuring forest quality and directing restoration management. In this case study for the Drones...
27 April 2016
Article
SnotBots: Can drones transform whale conservation?
WILDLABS Admin
By flying through a whale's spray, a SnotBot can collect samples of mucus and DNA which researchers are hoping will offer insights into whales' stress levels. After a successful Kickstart campaign, Ocean Alliance has...
25 February 2016
Article
Bringing Conservation Technology to Life
Shah Selbe
We are living in the midst of a pretty exciting era. Never before has humanity been more educated, more connected, more enabled, or more empowered than we are today. There are many reasons to be optimistic about the...
17 February 2016
Article
Katherine Chou, Product Lead at Google[x] Labs, sees technology as a way to make the impossible, possible. She explores differences in how wildlife NGOs and the tech sector think and plan, and what the conservation ...
22 December 2015
Article
Cheap Space, DIY Imaging and Big Data
WILDLABS Admin
John Amos, President of SkyTruth, explores how remote sensing is being used in conservation today and the importance of sky-truthing. He examines the role that citizen scientists can play in increasing transparency in...
21 December 2015
Article
New technologies offer a lot of potential for conservation, but are there potential risks to deploying these new technologies? In this first thought piece for the Ethics of Conservation Tech Group, Dr Chris Sandbrook...
2 November 2015
April 2024
event
Wildlife Drones
December 2023
33 Products
Recently updated products
| Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hello, I'm new here. I thought I would share an article that I wrote a couple of years ago about my work with using drones for... |
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Drones | 5 years 3 months ago | |
| Hi everyone, I have a LIDAR sensor (LIDAR USA-Fagerman Technologies-Velodyne puck) and a DJI M-600 drone. I would like to use... |
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Drones | 5 years 4 months ago | |
| Cheers Al, and looking forward to hearing more about them. I am, as we speak, editing some thermal videos of wallaby behaviour near roads, specifically in relation to devices... |
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Drones | 5 years 4 months ago | |
| Really useful to know about that package, thanks |
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Drones | 5 years 5 months ago | |
| Hi WILDLABbers! We're looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow in the drones meetup. It's on Wednesday,... |
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Drones | 5 years 6 months ago | |
| The next event in Season Three of the WILDLABS Virtual Meetup Series will focus on Drones. It is scheduled for Wednesday,... |
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Drones | 5 years 6 months ago | |
| Dear all, Next November 2019 I will hold a aerial sowing workshop with Drones in Brazil, in Rondonopolis, in collaboration with the... |
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Drones, Latin America Community | 5 years 8 months ago | |
| Hello everyone, I am applying to a call to create an online ecological restoration platform that incorporates drone images to facilitate... |
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Drones | 5 years 8 months ago | |
| It is indeed. You can watch it here: https://consbio.org/products/webinars/scgis-webinar-promises-and-pitfalls-conservation-drones I'll also see if we can add it... |
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Drones | 5 years 9 months ago | |
| Hi everyone, I am selling a drone and 3 sensors... The drone is a 178 WingCopter Heavylift :https://wingcopter.com/technology/... |
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Drones | 5 years 11 months ago | |
| Thank you for the tip! Shall try and pick up a set soon. |
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Drones | 5 years 11 months ago | |
| Hi Sophie, Sorry- I only just saw your reply! It took about 3 months to get it through the department of civil aviation, but this doesn't mean much, because the... |
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Drones | 5 years 11 months ago |
SnotBots: Can drones transform whale conservation?
25 February 2016 12:00am
Bringing Conservation Technology to Life
17 February 2016 12:00am
PhD Positions: UAVs and Wild Animal Tracking Systems
2 February 2016 10:13pm
DJI and Ford launch a competition with $100,000 prize
12 January 2016 2:59pm
Achieving Moonshots: Advancing Humankind and Preserving Nature
22 December 2015 12:00am
Cheap Space, DIY Imaging and Big Data
21 December 2015 12:00am
Drones as elephant deterrent (herding device)
24 November 2015 6:32pm
17 December 2015 6:43pm
True, but ideal the navigation system would need to be more interactive to be able to respond to the elephant movements in real-time.
The Social Lives of Conservation Technologies and Why They Matter
2 November 2015 12:00am
17 December 2015 6:39pm
Hi Dave,
I believe with any DJI drones you can plot out the course of a drone and let it fly along the route with you controling the speed and height of the drone. The limitation is that it has to eb within a mile of the pilot.
Regards,
John