Head of Innovation David Will Weighs in on Emerging Technologies to Protect Island Biodiversity in Wired

Island Conservation’s Head of Innovation David Will was recently interviewed by Wired’s Matt Simon for his article Rats are Invasive Menaces. These Cameras Spy on Them. Will discusses new technologies being explored and implemented across the globe to protect island ecosystems from invasive species.

The article focuses on Santa Cruz Island, where Island Conservation has been working with the Nature Conservancy to experiment with a surveillance system that learns whether rats have landed using a network of wildlife camera traps and the same AI technique that recognizes human faces in photographs.

This innovation sends an automated alert in real-time if a rat is detected on the island, saving valuable time and resources. Traditional methods require someone traveling to the location to collect cameras and manually reviewing images. In very remote locations, cameras may not be able to be collected for months, delaying response time if a rat is identified.

Invasive species on islands devour native plants and animals, pushing them to the point of extinction and disrupting healthy ecosystem functions on land and in the sea.

We’re losing more species on islands than anywhere else in the world,” says David Will, head of innovation at the nonprofit group Island Conservation, which undertakes eradication efforts and is working with the Nature Conservancy to trial the new camera system. Rats, along with pigs and cats, are leading causes of those extinctions.

Wired magazine
Booby egg eaten by invasive rat on Isla de la Plata, Ecuador. Photo: Island Conservation

Simon goes on to talk about how what makes islands so fragile also makes them easier to manage. “On the mainland, if you want to protect a chunk of land from an invasive species, you have to constantly beat back repeated invasions around the edges, since there’s nothing stopping the animals from coming in from the outside. Island ecosystems are easier to quarantine because they’re surrounded by water.”

Will shares additional innovations being pursued to prevent an invasive species introduction or confirm that a removal is successful. These include using “Environment DNA” (known as eDNA) and chew blocks in combination with real-time cameras.

“If we remove those invasive species, then we can see these remarkable recoveries on islands. It’s one of the most impactful things that we can do to protect biodiversity,” Will continues.

Wired Magazine

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