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
Michigan Natural Features Inventory (MNFI)
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Southern African Wildlife College
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PhD candidate studying drone flight planning for enabling tracking and identification of individual characteristics of wildlife; member of the WildDrone, an MSCA Doctoral Network funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research
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- @amykukulya
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Amy Kukulya is an ocean tech innovator and conservationist from the US. She has captured thrilling footage of megafauna using novel biologger and oceanrobotCams—SharkCam, TurtleCam featured across the globe on mainstream media outlets.
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Environmentalist and Python developer working in the realm of Remote Sensing. Fascinated by the intersection of technology and nature, with a focus on machine learning, ecological modeling, and biodiversity monitoring. 🌍
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| Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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| Hi all! I recently did a little case study using RGB drone data and machine learning to quantify plant health in strawberries. I wanted to... |
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Citizen Science, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Drones, Geospatial | 1 week 1 day ago | |
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Latin America Community, Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Drones, Early Career | 2 weeks 6 days ago | ||
| Hi Adam! Sounds like you have your work cut out for you. I have not used radar systems or AI systems for this sort of detection, but there are methods using change detection... |
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AI for Conservation, Drones, Wildlife Crime | 1 month ago | |
| True, the US ecosystem is a challenging space right now, for basically all sectors. We should not let the US chaos prevent us from engaging with opportunities in other... |
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AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Connectivity, Drones, Emerging Tech, Ethics of Conservation Tech, Marine Conservation, Sensors | 1 month 1 week ago | |
| 15 years ago I had to rebuild the dams on a game reserve I was managing due to flood damage and neglect. How I wished there was an easier,... |
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Drones, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Data management and processing tools, Emerging Tech, Geospatial, Open Source Solutions | 1 month 1 week ago | |
| My organization has been using our Autel EVO Ⅱ Dual 640T drone, equipped with a FLIR Long Wave Infrared (LWIR) sensor to map temperature... |
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Drones | 1 month 1 week ago | |
| Hi @skirchgeorg , thanks for the additional info. We discuss again about this with my colleague and we were still hesitating with the drone, as it will still make some noise that... |
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Drones, eDNA & Genomics | 1 month 3 weeks ago | |
| Good morning JocelynThank 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!!... |
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Animal Movement, Citizen Science, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Marine Conservation, Drones, Community Base, Geospatial | 1 month 4 weeks ago | |
| Hi Nikita, If you haven't already, I'd recommend reaching out to the folks at the Cornell Ornithology lab. They're really glued into all things bird. In particular, I... |
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Animal Movement, Drones, Emerging Tech, Human-Wildlife Conflict | 2 months ago | |
| How much does it cost to incorporate machine learning into your conservation drone geospatial analysis? How does it speed up your workflow... |
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Conservation Tech Training and Education, Drones, Geospatial, Open Source Solutions, Sensors, Software Development | 2 months 3 weeks ago | |
| We just wanted to share this news outside the core robotics community - hoping to connect more with conservationists, researchers,... |
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AI for Conservation, Drones | 3 months 1 week ago | |
| @cmwainaina check this out |
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Drones, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Geospatial | 4 months ago |
