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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- @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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- @tmcgrath
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A Marine Conservationist based in Malaysia
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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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Snow Leopard Trust
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- @kricherds
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Technologist. Civic Science Fellow & Data Inclusion Specialist at OEDP.
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British-Costa Rican | Interested in transdisciplinary research in Planetary Health amongst other things
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- @NinaTuttie
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An avid learner interested in wildlife ecology, conservation technology and community development
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Ol Pejeta Conservancy
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- @KiaraHaylock
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PhD in Animal Ecology and Behavioural Physiology. Interested in the movement, behavioural and physiological responses of animals to environmental variability.
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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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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
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From artificial “sniffer” technologies to portable DNA sequencers, the Wildlife Crime Tech Challenge received hundreds of innovative ideas to help stamp out wildlife crime. Now, the Challenge is proud to announce 16...
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24 December 2015
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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
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The Impact of the Internet of Things
WILDLABS Admin
Gary Atkinson, Director of Emerging Technologies at ARM, explains why we should be interested in the Internet of Things. Could it be a game changer for conservation?
10 December 2015
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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...
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| Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Will your startup be involved in sensor networks for conservation? I'm very interested. Currently we create sensor networks for developmental infrastructure and agriculture... |
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Sensors | 6 years 5 months ago | |
| Hi everyone. I'm Akiba and I'm an engineer by trade specializing in wireless sensor networks and communications. I generally work with groups like World Bank on... |
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Sensors | 6 years 5 months ago | |
| Subcutaneous pittags that also read temperature (frustratingly) read only a limited range of temperatures - however, I hear that can be... |
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Sensors | 6 years 6 months ago | |
| Hi Ted, This is all very interesting. The solution you describe seems eminently doable and in fact quite cheap. So doable and cheap that it may behoove one to... |
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Sensors | 6 years 6 months ago | |
| Yes, I agree it's a tough problem - i'm certainly stumped ;) but thanks so much for your reply and counter question - the goal is to find these gillnets and... |
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Sensors | 6 years 8 months ago | |
| Hi Tony, I'm leading a cross disciplinary group of researchers at Deakin University in Australia to build new technology for monitoring wildlife and engage citizen scientists... |
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Sensors | 7 years 4 months ago | |
| The current project is in open plains. From a handler perspective the distance will be from 20m -100m. I will be working at night so it will be looking for me target, the Plains... |
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Sensors | 7 years 4 months ago | |
| @hikinghack used twitter to flag a thread on hackteria that members of this group might be interested in about DIY time-lapse soil... |
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Sensors | 7 years 4 months ago | |
| Also if you are still looking for a solution this was published earlier this year and gives recommendations for soundscape microphones : http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10... |
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Sensors | 7 years 9 months ago | |
| If anything belongs in the 'have you seen this' group, it's this project: Researchers at Binghamton University have created... |
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Sensors | 7 years 10 months ago | |
| The University of Washington is reporting that they've shattered the long-range communications barrier for devices that consume almost... |
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Sensors | 7 years 11 months ago | |
| My own experience is with the FLIR iphone attachment, just informal testing, but hasn't been that great at finding animals. I also think it would work better in the... |
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Sensors | 7 years 11 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