Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Researchers from the University of Florida have uncovered the largest known nesting site for the threatened giant South American river turtle (Podocnemis expansa). How did they find over 41,000 nesting reptiles? The turtles were found gathered along the Amazon's Guaporé River between Brazil and Bolivia. This innovative use of drones opens up new avenues for conservationists, as detailed in a study recently published in the Journal of Applied Ecology.

The rapid decline in global biodiversity demands innovative conservation strategies. This paper examines the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in wildlife conservation, focusing on the Conservation AI platform. Leveraging machine learning and computer vision, Conservation AI detects and classifies animals, humans, and poaching-related objects using visual spectrum and thermal infrared cameras. The platform processes this data with convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and Transformer architectures to monitor species, including those which are critically endangered. Real-time detection provides the immediate responses required for time-critical situations (e.g. poaching), while non-real-time analysis supports long-term wildlife monitoring and habitat health assessment. Case studies from Europe, North America, Africa, and Southeast Asia highlight the platform's success in species identification, biodiversity monitoring, and poaching prevention. The paper also discusses challenges related to data quality, model accuracy, and logistical constraints, while outlining future directions involving technological advancements, expansion into new geographical regions, and deeper collaboration with local communities and policymakers. Conservation AI represents a significant step forward in addressing the urgent challenges of wildlife conservation, offering a scalable and adaptable solution that can be implemented globally.

The video above represents one of the first times that a pangolin, one of the world's most critically endangered species, was detected in real time using artificial intelligence. A U.K.-based nonprofit called Conservation AI made this possible with the help of NVIDIA technology. Such use of AI can help track even the rarest, most reclusive of species in real time, enabling conservationists to protect them from threats, such as poachers and fires, before it's too late to intervene. The organization was founded four years ago by researchers at Liverpool John Moores University -- Paul Fergus, Carl Chalmers, Serge Wich and Steven Longmore. In the past year and a half, Conservation AI has deployed 70 AI-powered cameras across the world.

The phone is not lost, quite the opposite. Incongruous but invaluable, the phone is part of a network of devices placed throughout the forest to listen for the telltale sounds of illegal logging. Amidst the rustle of leaves, the scampering of critters, and the steady drip of moisture, the sound of a lorry or chainsaw is an alarm bell that can bring forest rangers hurrying to the scene. It's just one of the ways that technology is helping conservationists in the fight to protect wildlife and the planet. The advance of technology is often seen as a risk for the environment: From the invention of the plough to carve the landscape, through the industrial revolution, to the electronic age's thirst for Earth's limited resources.

Off the coast of Southern California, amid a literal sea of troubles--warming waters, microplastic pollution, overfishing--is a 96-square-mile conservation success story. Santa Cruz Island once teemed with feral pigs and invasive Argentine ants until the Nature Conservancy unleashed a coordinated campaign of eradication. That's allowed the adorable island fox to bounce back from the brink of extinction. The battle was won, but the war wasn't over, because the Nature Conservancy now has to defend that territory from yet another invader: rats. The scourge of islands everywhere, rats get ashore and breed like crazy, devouring just about everything in their paths--native plant seeds, bird and reptile eggs, local people's crops.

While AI is making a big impact in pretty much every business area, it is also important to note some of the ways it is helping to save our planet. Conservationists are increasingly turning to AI as an innovative solution to overcome various biodiversity crises. It helps protect a diverse set of species and assists law enforcement agents who are often short-staffed, and it is almost impossible for them to cover a vast stretch of land, such as a national park. This is one of the reasons why AI is so useful because it can take a lot of the time-consuming work off the shoulders of human workers, such as constantly monitoring surveillance data. In this article, we will talk about some of the interesting ways AI is being used to protect endangered species and the data annotation that is required to create it.

I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of Maryland, and my area of research/academic focus is "Disaster Resilience." My research involves the application of machine learning and statistical methods in coastal and climate hazard assessment. My research goal is to leverage data science and engineering to enhance the prediction and assessment of natural hazards in support of more robust risk analysis and decision-making.

There's a strand of thinking, from sci-fi films to Stephen Hawking that suggests artificial intelligence (AI) could spell doom for humans. But conservationists are increasingly turning to AI as an innovative tech solution to tackle the biodiversity crisis and mitigate climate change. From camera trap and satellite images to audio recordings, the report notes: "AI can learn how to identify which photos out of thousands contain rare species; or pinpoint an animal call out of hours of field recordings – hugely reducing the manual labour required to collect vital conservation data." AI is helping to protect species as diverse as humpback whales, koalas and snow leopards, supporting the work of scientists, researchers and rangers in vital tasks, from anti-poaching patrols to monitoring species. With machine learning (ML) computer systems that use algorithms and models to learn, understand and adapt, AI is often able to do the job of hundreds of people, getting faster, cheaper and more effective results.

Using drones and artificial intelligence to monitor large colonies of seabirds can be as effective as traditional on-the-ground methods, while reducing costs, labor and the risk of human error, a new study finds. Scientists at Duke University and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) used a deep-learning algorithm--a form of artificial intelligence--to analyze more than 10,000 drone images of mixed colonies of seabirds in the Falkland Islands off Argentina's coast. The Falklands, also known as the Malvinas, are home to the world's largest colonies of black-browed albatrosses (Thalassarche melanophris) and second-largest colonies of southern rockhopper penguins (Eudyptes c. chrysocome). Hundreds of thousands of birds breed on the islands in densely interspersed groups. The deep-learning algorithm correctly identified and counted the albatrosses with 97% accuracy and the penguins with 87%.

Scientists at Duke University and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) used a deep-learning algorithm--a form of artificial intelligence--to analyze more than 10,000 drone images of mixed colonies of seabirds in the Malvinas/Falkland Islands off Argentina's coast. The Malvinas/Falklands are home to the world's largest colonies of black-browed albatrosses (Thalassarche melanophris) and second-largest colonies of southern rockhopper penguins (Eudyptes c. chrysocome). Hundreds of thousands of birds breed on the islands in densely interspersed groups. The deep-learning algorithm correctly identified and counted the albatrosses with 97% accuracy and the penguins with 87%. All told, the automated counts were within 5% of human counts about 90% of the time.