SWS June 2025 Webinar: Harnessing AI for Wetlands - Practical Tools and Use Cases for ChatGPT and Beyond

Description

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools are rapidly becoming part of the scientific workflow—but for many wetland professionals, their practical use can still feel abstract or out of reach. This webinar provides a grounded introduction to how large language models (LLMs), like ChatGPT, can assist wetland scientists across fieldwork, data processing, reporting, and communication.

Focusing on real-world use cases, attendees will learn how AI can generate field protocols, clean, messy datasets, assist in GIS scripting, draft regulatory summaries, and support science communication. Through live demonstrations, the webinar will showcase how AI can speed up repetitive tasks, support early-stage analysis, and reduce time spent on formatting or documentation—while keeping scientists, not software, in the decision-making seat.

The session will also introduce core prompting techniques to improve how tools like ChatGPT respond to wetland-specific questions and workflows. Attendees will see how refining prompts can lead to more accurate and useful outputs, with examples tailored to monitoring data, species identification, and QA/QC documentation.

Important ethical and practical considerations will also be addressed, including data privacy, model accuracy, and regulatory boundaries. Participants will leave with practical examples, clear strategies for incorporating AI into their work, and an understanding of both the opportunities and limits of LLMs in wetland science.

Whether you're just curious or already experimenting with ChatGPT, this session will give wetland professionals applicable, field-tested ideas to work smarter—not harder—in the complex world of wetlands. 

This set of photos captures the diversity of wetland habitats across Louisiana’s coastal zone—from forested cypress-tupelo swamps and emergent marsh channels to the boardwalks that make field science possible. These landscapes support extensive ecological monitoring through programs like CRMS and SWAMP and reflect the range of conditions wetland professionals encounter in the field. 

This webinar will be led by David McWhorter, PWS