AI has untapped potential to advance biodiversity conservation

A collaboration between a computer scientist, an ecologist and an international team of researchers, the review published in Nature Reviews Biodiversity examines the seven "global biodiversity knowledge shortfalls," gaps in what we know about species, including their distributions and interactions.

"The problem is that we still don't have basic information about nature, which prevents us from knowing how to protect it," said Laura Pollock, lead author on the study and assistant professor in McGill's Department of Biology.

The study, which reviewed the existing literature on the subject, identifies key ways AI can close these knowledge gaps. The researchers found that AI is currently only being used in two of the seven shortfall areas, leaving significant opportunities untapped. AI-powered tools like BioCLIP are already being used to detect species traits from images, aiding in species identification. Hundreds of new insects are being identified with automated insect monitoring platforms, such as Antenna.

But machine learning models trained on satellite imagery and environmental DNA have the potential to map species distributions more accurately than ever before. AI could also help infer species interactions, such as food webs and predator-prey relationships, which remain largely unstudied due to the difficulty of direct observation.

"This research looks at a much broader set of biodiversity questions than previous reviews," said David Rolnick, co-author of the study, Canada CIFAR AI Chair and assistant professor of computer science at McGill. "It was also surprising to see just how narrowly AI is being applied when it has so much potential to address many of these shortfalls."

Looking ahead, the research team emphasizes the importance of expanding data-sharing initiatives to improve AI model training, refining algorithms to reduce biases and ensuring that AI is used ethically in conservation. With global biodiversity targets looming, they say AI, if harnessed effectively, could be one of the most powerful tools available to address the biodiversity crisis.

"AI is changing the way the world works, for better or worse. This is one of the ways it could help us," said Pollock. "Protecting biodiversity is crucial because ecosystems sustain human life."