A lot of hype has recently been generated around deep learning, a novel group of artificial intelligence approaches able to break accuracy records in pattern recognition. Over the course of just a few years, deep learning has revolutionized several research fields such as bioinformatics and medicine with its flexibility and ability to process large and complex datasets. As ecological datasets are becoming larger and more complex, we believe these methods can be useful to ecologists as well. In this paper, we review existing implementations and show that deep learning has been used successfully to identify species, classify animal behaviour and estimate biodiversity in large datasets like camera‐trap images, audio recordings and videos. We demonstrate that deep learning can be beneficial to most ecological disciplines, including applied contexts, such as management and conservation. We also identify common questions about how and when to use deep learning, such as what are the steps required to create a deep learning network, which tools are available to help, and what are the requirements in terms of data and computer power. We provide guidelines, recommendations and useful resources, including a reference flowchart to help ecologists get started with deep learning. We argue that at a time when automatic monitoring of populations and ecosystems generates a vast amount of data that cannot be effectively processed by humans anymore, deep learning could become a powerful reference tool for ecologists.

A lot of hype has recently been generated around deep learning, a novel group of artificial intelligence approaches able to break accuracy records in pattern recognition. Over the course of just a few years, deep learning has revolutionized several research fields such as bioinformatics and medicine with its flexibility and ability to process large and complex datasets. As ecological datasets are becoming larger and more complex, we believe these methods can be useful to ecologists as well. In this paper, we review existing implementations and show that deep learning has been used successfully to identify species, classify animal behaviour and estimate biodiversity in large datasets like camera‐trap images, audio recordings and videos. We demonstrate that deep learning can be beneficial to most ecological disciplines, including applied contexts, such as management and conservation. We also identify common questions about how and when to use deep learning, such as what are the steps required to create a deep learning network, which tools are available to help, and what are the requirements in terms of data and computer power. We provide guidelines, recommendations and useful resources, including a reference flowchart to help ecologists get started with deep learning. We argue that at a time when automatic monitoring of populations and ecosystems generates a vast amount of data that cannot be effectively processed by humans anymore, deep learning could become a powerful reference tool for ecologists.

No abstract

The wavelet transform has become a very popular tool in signal and image processing. Over the last few years, several authors have proposed wavelet-based filters for speckle reduction in SAR* images, and the results are generally reported to be superior to those obtained with traditional statistical speckle filters. In this paper we give a thorough experimental comparison of representative filters from both categories. We show that spatially adaptive statistical filters yield beter noise reduction and preservation of structures than wavelet-based methods, but that the latter have certain advantages compared to statistical filters which are not spatially adaptive.

In our recent review paper aiming to introduce deep learning to ecologists, we presented a workflow describing the steps required to create a deep learning model. This figure did not present some of the following steps of model use such as model verification. By ensuring model adequacy, model verification is an important step after model creation in order to answer ecological questions. Adding model verification to a deep learning model development workflow can raise some new issues such as detecting the difference among the multiple datasets or what to do when model verification fails. In the spirit of our previous review, we identify some questions users trying to verify their deep learning model can have and try to find, for each, a solution to help them navigate the steps of deep learning model testing. We provide an additional cheat sheet to quickly help answer common questions regarding using model verification and deep learning. We hope these resources help stimulate further synthesis and coherence in the use of deep learning models in ecology.