The combination of steps that the ML engineer should take to train the model are to create a .lst file that contains a list of image files and corresponding class labels, upload the .lst file to Amazon S3, and initiate transfer learning by training the model using the images of less common species. This approach will allow the ML engineer to leverage the existing ImageNetV2 CNN model and fine-tune it with the new data using Pipe mode in SageMaker.

A .lst file is a text file that contains a list of image files and corresponding class labels, separated by tabs. The .lst file format is required for using the SageMaker image classification algorithm with Pipe mode. Pipe mode is a feature of SageMaker that enables streaming data directly from Amazon S3 to the training instances, without downloading the data first. Pipe mode can reduce the startup time, improve the I/O throughput, and enable training on large datasets that exceed the disk size limit. To use Pipe mode, the ML engineer needs to upload the .lst file to Amazon S3 and specify the S3 path as the input data channel for the training job1.

Transfer learning is a technique that enables reusing a pre-trained model for a new task by fine-tuning the model parameters with new data. Transfer learning can save time and computational resources, as well as improve the performance of the model, especially when the new task is similar to the original task. The SageMaker image classification algorithm supports transfer learning by allowing the ML engineer to specify the number of output classes and the number of layers to be retrained. The ML engineer can use the existing ImageNetV2 CNN model, which is trained on 1,000 classes of common objects, and fine-tune it with the new data of less common animal species, which is a similar task2.

The other options are either less effective or not supported by the SageMaker image classification algorithm. Using a ResNet model and initiating full training mode would require training the model from scratch, which would take more time and resources than transfer learning. Using an Inception model is not possible, as the SageMaker image classification algorithm only supports ResNet and ImageNetV2 models. Using an augmented manifest file in JSON Lines format is not compatible with Pipe mode, as Pipe mode only supports .lst files for image classification1.

1: Using Pipe input mode for Amazon SageMaker algorithms | AWS Machine Learning Blog

2: Image Classification Algorithm - Amazon SageMaker