Sensors already equip a range of tools to enhance monitoring capacity for conservation. Some of the higher bandwidth technologies, like camera traps and acoustic monitoring systems, have been essential elements of the conservation toolkit for decades, and thus have enough users that we've created dedicated WILDLABS groups to address them. But a whole range of lower bandwidth sensors beyond these core technologies are being increasingly integrated into conservation monitoring systems, and offer rich new insights into the wildlife and ecosystems we're all working to protect. As with many technologies, cost and access have historically been challenges to the adoption of new sensors, but with low-cost and open-source solutions on the rise, we're excited to see what the future of this space holds.
Getting Started with Sensors:
- Watch Shah Selbe's Tech Tutors episode on scaling FieldKit, an open-source conservation sensor toolbox, from a project to a successful conservation tech product.
- Check out our Virtual Meetup about Low-Cost, Open-Source Solutions in conservation tech, including a talk by Alasdair Davies on the Arribada Initiative's work with thermal sensors in early warning systems.
- For a more in-depth introduction, watch the first video in our datalogger mini-series: Freaklabs: How do I get started with Arduino?
In this group, you'll meet others who are using and innovating diverse sensors in their work, discuss ways to make sensors more effective & accessible for conservationists, learn about what sensors are already helping us accomplish in the field, and have the opportunity to ask and answer questions. Join this group to get started!
Header image: Emma Vogel, University of Tromsø
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- @mattaudette
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Software Tester and Test Automator at Wildlife Protection Solutions
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- 24 Groups
- @KathHecht
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I am a biologist/ecologist without concrete specialisation. New Zealand's unique but fragile flora & fauna have taught me the importance of increasing awareness with locals and visitors alike. This is my constant motivator.
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- 10 Groups
- @tmcgrath
- | He / Him
Geographer, Program Manager, Engineering Manager
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- 11 Groups
A Marine Conservationist based in Malaysia
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- 5 Groups
Lecturer and researcher interested in rural applications of Interaction Design. Spent more than a decade teaching in Asia-Pacific (India, China, Singapore, Australia); now based at Glasgow School of Art's rural campus in Forres, Scottish Highlands.
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- 5 Groups
Snow Leopard Trust
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- 44 Discussions
- 6 Groups
- @kricherds
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Technologist. Civic Science Fellow & Data Inclusion Specialist at OEDP.
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- 14 Groups
British-Costa Rican | Interested in transdisciplinary research in Planetary Health amongst other things
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- 1 Discussions
- 13 Groups
- @NinaTuttie
- | She
An avid learner interested in wildlife ecology, conservation technology and community development
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- 8 Groups
Ol Pejeta Conservancy
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- 2 Discussions
- 8 Groups
- @KiaraHaylock
- | She/Her
PhD in Animal Ecology and Behavioural Physiology. Interested in the movement, behavioural and physiological responses of animals to environmental variability.
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- 13 Groups
20+ years traveler and management consultant turned tech founder and conservationist. Founder & CEO of ZAMBEZI ZERØ; super intelligence to safeguard biodiversity.
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- 15 Groups
Article
Eddy Expedition Log: Chasing Eddies
WILDLABS Team
This month, we're following along with the scientists and engineers from the Simons Collaboration on Ocean Processes and Ecology (SCOPE) and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) who working together to...
10 April 2018
Article
Eddy Expedition Log: Setting Off to Explore Eddies
WILDLABS Team
If you have ever flown over the Pacific and looked down from the window seat, the water seems still. Viewed from this distance, the water appears stagnant with unmoving dashes of waves. This picture strikes discordantly...
3 April 2018
Funding
The Plant-Powered Camera Trap Challenge
Alasdair Davies
Are you an architect, engineer, designer or a scientist? Can you design and manufacture a prototype open source plant-BES (bio electrochemical system) to power a camera trap and environmental sensors in tropical forests...
3 April 2018
Article
#Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge 2018: Our Top 10
WILDLABS Team
Hundreds of people joined our #Tech4Wildlife photo challenge this year, showcasing all the incredible ways tech is being used to support wildlife conservation. We've seen proximity loggers on Tasmanian Devils in...
3 March 2018
Funding
Landsense Innovation Challenge
WILDLABS Admin
Empowering communities to monitor & report on their environment
19 February 2018
Article
‘The Field’… Say the words ‘The Field’ to a group of conservationists and it will immediately conjure up vivid memories of everything from sticky wet rainforests to burning dusty deserts. What’s more, it’s almost...
17 January 2018
Article
Congratulations to Zoohackathon winners, team ODINN!
Zoological Society London (ZSL)
Following the UK Government’s landmark announcement of plans to introduce a complete ban on the domestic trade in ivory, it was fitting that a new machine learning product designed to tackle the supply end of this...
6 December 2017
Article
FIT Cheetahs
Larissa Slaney
A new research project is looking to investigate whether technology combined with the ancient skills and knowledge of Namibian trackers can help save cheetahs from extinction. Called FIT Cheetahs, the research project...
4 December 2017
Article
With Arctic sea ice disappearing, can advanced sensor technologies provide insights into an ecosystem on the brink?
30 November 2017
Article
HWC Tech Challenge Winners Announced
WILDLABS Team
We are delighted to announce that British conservation technologist Alasdair Davies and the Dutch team of Laurens de Groot and Tim van Dam from the ShadowView Foundation are the winners of the first international Human...
1 November 2017
Article
HWC Tech Challenge Update: Meet the Judges
WILDLABS Team
Our panel of international experts has been hard at work reviewing the 47 proposals we recieved for innovative technological tools to address human wildlife conflict. The panelists have systematically been assessing the...
20 October 2017
Article
Download New Conservation Tech Guidelines: Camera Traps, Acoustics and LiDAR
Paul Glover-Kapfer
The inherent complexity of not only deploying technologies in the field but also doing so in a scientifically rigorous manner can prove a substantial barrier for the effective use of conservation technologies, and clear...
11 October 2017
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| Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Not sure exactly how your telemetry will be deployed, but if it's going to be attached to an animal in a relatively non-invasive way, you might check with zoos or aquariums that... |
+3
|
Animal Movement, Marine Conservation, Sensors | 2 years 4 months ago | |
| Very cool, @BrettMargoSupplies ! Will keep an eye out for that wireless electrical fence! |
+13
|
Sensors | 2 years 4 months ago | |
| Hi Jeremy, With a quick search I've found the paper linked below. It looks like equipments such as Livox MID are sufficient for plot-level analyses, but not for individual... |
|
Drones, Earth Observation 101 Community, Emerging Tech, Geospatial, Sensors | 2 years 4 months ago | |
| Hi @ShwetaMukundan,this could be interesting for you:https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scirobotics.abb0839https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwiHf2T9bLUhttps://edition.cnn.com/2020... |
|
Autonomous Camera Traps for Insects, Sensors | 2 years 4 months ago | |
| Our project in very short is, setting up a sensor network for monitoring airborne biomass, mainly insects, birds and bats in near realtime, and to develop a forecast model to be... |
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Autonomous Camera Traps for Insects, Animal Movement, Geospatial, Sensors | 2 years 4 months ago | |
| I couldn't agree more with both of these comments tom! I'm reading hundreds (literally hundreds) of applications for open WILDLABS roles at the moment, and the ones that stand out... |
+2
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AI for Conservation, Drones, Early Career, Sensors | 2 years 5 months ago | |
| Oh good call! I'll add that to our events calendar as well :) |
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Geospatial, Sensors | 2 years 6 months ago | |
| Rainforest Connection's (RFCx) Guardian devices may be of interest. They are solar-powered and have connectivity options for Wifi, GSM and satellite transfer. They've previously... |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Connectivity, Data management and processing tools, Protected Area Management Tools, Sensors | 2 years 6 months ago | |
| Hey Tom,Since the output is dependent on a couple of factors such as the solar irradiance of the place, shading from the canopy, the type of solar panels (mono, poly or amorphous... |
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Autonomous Camera Traps for Insects, Build Your Own Data Logger Community, Camera Traps, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Sensors | 2 years 6 months ago | |
| My original background is in ecology and conservation, and am now in the elected leadership of the Gathering for Open Science Hardware which convenes researchers developing open... |
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AI for Conservation, Animal Movement, Camera Traps, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Data management and processing tools, Drones, Emerging Tech, Sensors | 2 years 6 months ago | |
| I just came across this interesting paper in which seismic monotoring of animals like elephants was mentioned. This is the study refered to:Cheers,Lars |
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AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Emerging Tech, Ethics of Conservation Tech, Human-Wildlife Coexistence, Geospatial, Sensors | 2 years 8 months ago | |
| Awesome! it would be great to hear how you get on, maybe you can share your results here when you have them. Is the camera only for the Pi? That could be a problem for scaling as... |
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Autonomous Camera Traps for Insects, Sensors | 2 years 8 months ago |
Enter the Zooniverse: Try Citizen Science for Yourself!
18 March 2020 12:00am
Webinar: IIED Community-Based Approaches to Tackling Poaching and Illegal Wildlife Trade
IIED
17 March 2020 12:00am
Tutorial: Train a TinyML Model That Can Recognize Sounds Using Only 23 kB of RAM
16 March 2020 12:00am
Testing an Early Warning System to Mitigate Human-Wildlife Conflict on the Bhutan-India Border
11 March 2020 12:00am
Proximity Data - Analysis methods
10 March 2020 2:44pm
3 Ways Your Conservation Technology Could Become a Shiny Pile of Junk, and How to Avoid It
9 March 2020 12:00am
#Tech4Wildlife 2020 Photo Challenge In Review
4 March 2020 12:00am
sound loop device
3 March 2020 1:59am
Call for Nominations: Tusk Conservation Awards
3 March 2020 12:00am
Competition: Plastic Data Challenge
Ellie Warren
3 March 2020 12:00am
Hawai'i Conservation Conference
Hawaiʻi Conservation Alliance
28 February 2020 12:00am
Fence-Based Elephant Early Warning System
25 February 2020 12:00am
Workshop: Using Bioacoustics for Field Survey
CIEEM
20 February 2020 12:00am
Hacking Climate Change - Coaction on Climate Crisis
COACT
20 February 2020 12:00am
HWC Tech Challenge Update: Thermal Elephant Alert System
17 February 2020 12:00am
ICEI2020: 11th International Conference on Ecological Informatics
ICEI 2020
14 February 2020 12:00am
Seafood fund seeks ideas for innovation projects up to £250k
11 February 2020 12:00am
WILDLABS Virtual Meetup Recording: Acoustic Monitoring
WILDLABS Team
5 February 2020 12:00am
Open source, low cost proximity loggers
17 December 2019 10:45am
WILDLABS Virtual Meetup Recording: Drones
WILDLABS Team
9 November 2019 12:00am
Plant-Powered Camera Trap Breakthrough
15 October 2019 12:00am
How do you weigh a live whale?
9 October 2019 12:00am
Instant Detect 2.0 emerges
3 September 2019 12:00am
ESA Kickstarter: Environmental Crimes
22 August 2019 12:00am
ICCB 2019: 5 Key Discussions about the Future of Conservation Tech
21 August 2019 12:00am
Conservation and Technology Conference
Bat Conservation Trust
29 July 2019 12:00am
From the Field: Melissa Schiele
10 June 2019 12:00am
Technology companies, FCO, and conservation NGOs come together to scale technology solutions to end wildlife crime
4 June 2019 12:00am
Technology lab focused on wildlife protection opens on Ol Pejeta Conservancy
31 May 2019 12:00am
FLIR Conservation Discount Program
24 May 2019 4:39pm
25 May 2019 1:18am
Hi Montanamud,
Thanks so much for posting this. I'm Alasdair from the Arribada Initiative, working on the WWF / Wildlabs Asian Elephant Human Wildlife Conflict Challenge to develop an early warning system using thermopiles / microbolometers. We use the Lepton range of FLIR products. Do you know if Lepton modules will be eligable within the Conservation Discount Programme too?
Kind regards,
Alasdair
16 November 2023 1:11am