Deep Reinforcement Learning for Conservation Decisions

Can machine learning help us make better decisions about a changing planet? In this paper, we illustrate and discuss the potential of a promising corner of machine learning known as reinforcement learning (RL) to help tackle the most challenging conservation decision problems. RL is uniquely well suited to conservation and global change challenges for three reasons: (1) RL explicitly focuses on designing an agent who interacts with an environment which is dynamic and uncertain, (2) RL approaches do not require massive amounts of data, (3) RL approaches would utilize rather than replace existing models, simulations, and the knowledge they contain. We provide a conceptual and technical introduction to RL and its relevance to ecological and conservation challenges, including examples of a problem in setting fisheries quotas and in managing ecological tipping points. Four appendices with annotated code provide a tangible introduction to researchers looking to adopt, evaluate, or extend these approaches.