How hot are the desert tortoises getting? iButtons help find the answer
A swanky iPhone or a sleek new iPad might sound like a perfect holiday gift for many. Tom Radzio feels the same joy when he retrieves an iButton and downloads…
Protected areas a boon for vertebrate diversity in wider landscape, study shows
Protected areas are one of the oldest conservation tools in the box. Setting aside portions of land and water for conservation can offer species a chance of recovery while preserving…
Taking up the cause of red pandas: Q&A with actor and activist Dayahang Rai
KATHMANDU — Until recently, Nepali movies tended to have lead characters who were extraordinary people who stood out from regular folks and were largely detached from their day-to-day lives. But…
Sensing tech used in oil pipelines can also track Arctic sea ice, study shows
Andres Peña Castro and his team didn’t set out to track sea ice. Their original plan was to quantify the interactions between ocean, earth and atmosphere to be able to…
With fewer birds seen on farms, scientists try listening for them
Growing up, Adam Dixon couldn't swim or fish in the Arkansas River which flowed through his town of Derby in Kansas. Agricultural runoff, along with industrial activities, heavily impacted the…
Mongabay Explains: How high-tech tools are used for successful reforestation
This Mongabay Explains episode is part of a four-part Mongabay mini-series exploring the latest technological solutions to support reforestation. Read Part One, Part Two , Part Three and Part Four. “Plant…
In the chain of species extinctions, AI can predict the next link to break
About 100 years ago, a predator control program at Yellowstone National Park drove the wolves native to the region extinct. That kicked off the gradual deterioration of the entire ecosystem.…
Where are the giraffes hiding? Predictive tracking tech points the way
Stephanie Fennessy and her husband have been tagging giraffes in Africa since the early 2000s. The couple initially started out by using modified elephant collars. They later switched to using…
Machine learning helps researchers identify underground fungal networks
Justin Stewart left for Mount Chimborazo in August 2022 to collect fungal samples from the Ecuadoran volcano at an elevation of 4,000 meters, or about 13,000 feet. Given that vegetation…
When wildlife surveillance tech ‘watches’ people
In 2017, a camera installed on the fringes of Corbett Tiger Reserve in northern India photographed an unsuspecting woman. The local forest staff had set up the device discreetly to…
‘Immense potential’ in tech: Q&A with Wildlife Drones CEO Debbie Saunders
Debbie Saunders’s quest to make wildlife tracking more efficient started in the early 2000s. The wild ecologist was studying swift parrots (Lathamus discolor) in Australia and found it challenging to…
Genetically engineered trees stoke climate hope — and environmental fears
“O poplar tree, O poplar tree, how carbon-dense are thy branches …” Trees are a major tool in our fight against climate change by sucking up carbon dioxide, but one…
XPRIZE Rainforest finalists named for top conservation technology award
Conservation technologies like drones, remote sensing and machine learning have a massive role to play in aiding the work of conservation scientists and helping policymakers devise better-informed decisions about where…
Vietnamese rice farmers go high-tech to anticipate a low-water future
TRA VINH, Vietnam — In the heat of Tra Vinh's dry season, rice farmer Thach Ren stands on a recently harvested field holding a smartphone. The once lush and green…
Virtual fences can benefit both ranchers and wildlife
The old Figlenski Ranch in Washington state’s Tunk Valley is a rugged land of canyons and scrubby sage-brush steppe. This valley with the ranch at its center connects the Cascade…
Tag team effort brings tech to aid leatherback turtle conservation
It was supposed to be a night like any other. Luis Crespo and his team would walk the beach of Maunabo, Puerto Rico, looking for leatherback sea turtles (Dermochelys coriacea).…
New Tree Tech: Real-time, long-term, high-tech reforestation monitoring
A major cause of forest restoration project failures is lack of long-term monitoring. Now, satellites, lidar, drones and in-forest sensor networks are bringing detailed, long-term, real-time data to tree-planting initiatives.
Drones improve counts of rare Cao-vit gibbon, identify conservation priorities
Drones flying above the treetops of a limestone forest on the border of Vietnam and China are helping conservationists develop plans to recover one of the world’s rarest primates: the…
New Tree Tech: Cutting-edge drones give reforestation a helping hand
Seed-sowing drones and the latest biotechnology could help restore degraded forests at an unprecedented scale — a high-tech nature-based climate solution already at work, and one that shows tremendous promise.
Biological field stations: Indispensable but ‘invisible’
Costa Rica went from having one of the highest rates of deforestation in the 1980s to becoming the first nation to reverse tropical deforestation. While numerous factors led to this…
New Tree Tech: Data-driven reforestation methods match trees to habitats
Complex computer models, aided by artificial intelligence and laboratory testing, can help select the right tree species for the right place, giving reforestation projects a stronger start and better chance of thriving.
New Tree Tech: AI, drones, satellites and sensors give reforestation a boost
Climate change has generated a rush in tree planting, with many hurried initiatives failing. But high-tech solutions — artificial intelligence, robotics, satellites and sensors — can help tree-planting projects succeed every step of the way.
Sounds of the soil: A new tool for conservation?
For Jake Robinson, Greno Woods was an easy choice. This large, old forest in South Yorkshire county in the U.K. has historically undergone timber harvesting, quarrying and fires. Plantations of…
Air pollution sensors found to store crucial biodiversity data
It seems a cache of biodiversity data was hiding in plain sight all along. In the midst of hazardous particulate matter trapped in the filters of two air quality monitoring…
New digital tool maps blue carbon ecosystems in high resolution
When Hurricane Dorian blazed its trail of destruction through the Bahamas in 2019, it ravaged the country’s mangroves. Almost overnight, coastal communities were deprived of a natural barrier that protected…
Competing for rainforest conservation: Q&A with XPRIZE’s Kevin Marriott
SINGAPORE — It’s been a hectic few weeks for Kevin Marriott. On a humid May morning in Singapore, he shuttles between two locations at the city’s Windsor Nature Park. At…
Woodpeckers for fire recovery? A new online tool tells you how
Imagine a burned forest in California. The charred remains of trees, the soot on the forest floor and the smoke in the air might make it seem like all is…
A Twitter bot tracks meat production in the Brazilian Amazon
Elon Musk may claim to hate them, but can Twitter bots be put to good use? A new tool that aims to monitor and expose deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest…
Bioacoustic analysis made easier: Q&A with Rainforest Connection CEO Bourhan Yassin
For scientists and ecologists studying wildlife, listening to the sounds of nature is all the rage now. And with good reason. The exponential growth in the use of audio to…
Seafloor life abounds around hydrothermal vents hot enough to melt lead
On March 12, a team of scientists gathered in the control room of the RV Falkor (too), an oceanographic research vessel operated by the Schmidt Ocean Institute. They watched the…
