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
Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior
Behavioral Ecologist
- 1 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 14 Groups
Wildlife Drones
Wildlife Drones has developed the world’s most innovative radio animal-tracking system using drones so you can track your radio-tagged animals like never before.
- 18 Resources
- 8 Discussions
- 32 Groups
International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
Key Biodiversity Areas Programme Officer, IUCN
- 0 Resources
- 89 Discussions
- 8 Groups
- @raquelgo
- | (she/her/hers)
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 17 Groups
American Museum of Natural History
- 1 Resources
- 8 Discussions
- 10 Groups
- @Andrew_Hill
- | He/Him
Open Acoustic Devices
I am co-founder of Open Acoustic Devices, the creators of AudioMoth and HydroMoth. My background is Electronic Engineering and Computer Science.
- 0 Resources
- 10 Discussions
- 2 Groups
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 17 Groups
PhD Candidate at University College London. Research and develop wireless sensor networks for biodiversity monitoring. Currently working on a software package for AI bioacoustics classifiers on edge device.
- 0 Resources
- 2 Discussions
- 9 Groups
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 1 Groups
Saint Louis Zoo
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 13 Groups
- @alex_rogers
- | He/him/his
University of Oxford
I am a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Oxford where I work on developing novel low-cost conservation technology (including AudioMoth and SnapperGPS).
- 0 Resources
- 21 Discussions
- 3 Groups
- @PshemekZ
- | he/him/his
IT + nature
- 0 Resources
- 7 Discussions
- 8 Groups
Article
David Gruber, a National Geographic Emerging Explorer, is a marine biologist working to develop fluorescent proteins into modulatable probes with neurobiological and medical applications. In his talk for the WWF Fuller...
24 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
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
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
November 2023
16 Products
Recently updated products
117 Products
1 R&D Projects
81 Organisations
Recently updated products
Recently updated R&D Projects
Recently updated organisations
| Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Would certainly be cool to see a tutorial on this! Looking forward to that! |
|
Marine Conservation, Sensors | 3 years 8 months ago | |
| Almost done with the trap alarms. I added an additional buzzer (with internal circuitry) to get more noise. The added benefit is that the slightly different tunes creates... |
|
Sensors | 4 years ago | |
| Hi Barry, I am tinkering with similar edge devices and aspirations! I recently acquired the Jetson Nano to start testing some aspects of the BearID Project software pipeline.... |
|
Connectivity, Sensors | 4 years 2 months ago | |
| Thanks for the paper Harold, this looks like a possibility. Especially if there's a way to make bespoke detectors |
+22
|
Sensors | 4 years 2 months ago | |
| Hi everyone, I'm building some small audio attachments to pop onto Vectronics collars. Does anyone have dummy or... |
|
Sensors | 4 years 2 months ago | |
| Really interesting chat. I was looking at this "eTape" to measure inundation on marine turtle nests. https://www.adafruit.com/product/463 Will give you water presence... |
+10
|
Sensors | 4 years 6 months ago | |
| Have you ever wanted to get a sample from the top of a tree, without having to climb it or shoot it out with a shotgun? Would it... |
|
Sensors | 4 years 6 months ago | |
| Hello Rob, I have seen the bracelet style used on large mammals with mixed success and failure. The main considerations are terrain the animal uses, and fitting the bracelet... |
|
Sensors | 4 years 6 months ago | |
| Amazing stuff Andrew! The dips in light idea made me think of exoplanet hunting straight away! Such a cool idea!! |
|
Sensors | 4 years 7 months ago | |
| Hi Akiba No worries, thanks for responding! I'd love to delve into more detail on this once the new series has started and I have an idea of the tools and kit required!... |
|
Open Source Solutions, Sensors | 4 years 8 months ago | |
| Hi Maxine, There are pros and cons to switching regulators and linear regulators. Linear regulators "throw away" the excess voltage in order to maintain a... |
|
Open Source Solutions, Sensors | 4 years 8 months ago | |
| Hi. I've been following the opencollar initiative and was wondering what the current status is. The project looks amazing! |
|
Sensors | 4 years 9 months ago |
Text Messages from Teenage Gannets
25 April 2016 12:00am
Eggs Eggs and more Eggs
2 March 2016 1:05pm
Underwater sensors
18 March 2016 12:39am
Could Big Data Have Saved Cecil the Lion?
4 January 2016 12:07pm
12 February 2016 7:16pm
It's very interesting what you say about the strength of a name. I do think that anthropomorphism can be a good thing in the case of conservation. By giving Cecil a name and a life story (incidentally a very cosy British name, which is interesting in itself), it brings the issue into emotional focus. We are attracted to characters and stories, not data. The plight of a named lion strikes a stronger chord than the numbing statistic of 600 "un-named" lions dying every year.
So do we care more about nature if we make anthropomorphise it? I think yes, as it creates a relatable personal connection with our own lives.
I'd like to get in touch with you next week as this is an area I am very interested in exploring and I hope I can be of help. Paul
14 March 2016 4:37pm
We're just starting to look a lot at Storytelling in Wildbook (http://www.wildbook.org).
This is what a data profile looks like in Wildbook:
http://www.whaleshark.org/individuals.jsp?number=A-001
While we allow for basic anthropomorphism via nicknaming, it's still a very data centric view of what a combined group of reserchers knows about the animal.
We have experimented with social media profiles which interestingly have an analogous data schema as mark-recapture:
http://fb.wildme.org/wildme/public/profile/WS-A-001
But we want to go ever further with storytelling mediums (e.g., story maps?) that can be automated from scientific data input, especially where cit sci data and reserch data can be reliably mixed.
So in addition to a name, we want to build a relationship through a portrayal of its life history and even potentially a view of the social network of the animal participates in (if such data can be shared safely.).
16 March 2016 7:22am
That's great Jason. I think your approach can be very successful. I'm a little bit familiar with Wild Book through my contacts at IBEIS, who I believe you work with quite closely. I'd love to see how the work we are doing at Internet of Elephants can incorporate whale shark data. I'll message you separately to discuss.
An Internet of pigeons?
14 March 2016 4:16pm
Ecotech Grants from the Captain Planet Foundation
18 February 2016 12:00am
Bringing Conservation Technology to Life
17 February 2016 12:00am
Wildlife Crime Tech Challenge: Winners Announced!
22 January 2016 12:00am
Deep Coral Reef Exploration and Discovery: Two-way Technological Flow
24 December 2015 12:00am
Cheap Space, DIY Imaging and Big Data
21 December 2015 12:00am
The Impact of the Internet of Things
10 December 2015 12:00am
The Social Lives of Conservation Technologies and Why They Matter
2 November 2015 12:00am
24 March 2016 4:42pm
Latest news about this project was picked up by the BBC world service for a short interview
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03nwl8g
You can also read more here:
http://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/hands-on/build-an-electronic-vulture-egg