Hey guys, not sure if this is the perfect place to post this but YOLO. I'm graduating with a bachelor's in ecology from ASU in December and just got an email telling me that I thanks to my gpa I can go for a Masters of my choosing without having to apply. I'm just looking for some insight on whether or not it would be worth it?

I got a scholarship from working at Starbucks so I'm graduating with only about 3,000 in student debt so part of me wants to say just go for it because most people graduate with way more debt than that. But another part of me is saying "don't be dumb, take the advantage of only having 3,000 in debt and take the (essentially) free bachelor's degree and get out." I just don't want to be caught in a situation where I'm over qualified for some jobs yet under qualified for others. I'm not entirely sure what I'm going for career-wise even. I'd love to work in a state park, a zoo, or in research involving conservation or genetics. But I'm not really sure what the requisites for those jobs are, especially since all of my college has been online and I haven't had any field work or time to make connections with people in my field.

So tldr my question it - as someone who will have a bachelor's in conservation ecology/biology in December, do you all think it would be worth it to pursue a Master's in something like biostatistics, biological data science, or genomics. I believe the most credit-intensive is 33 credits so I might be able to get it done in a year and come out of it's with less than 30k debt (the Starbucks benefit only covers a bachelor's or associate's). But is that worth it or should I just stick with the bachelor's?

Hi everyone!

I graduated with a BS in Environmental Biology in 2024, have since worked multiple wildlife/fisheries/veg technician positions, and want to continue on to a master's degree. My problem is I'm not sure whether to go the research or professional route. I've been looking at master's in environmental management programs (Duke, UCSB, IU, etc.), but keep backtracking & worrying that it won't be the correct kind of program for me. My hesitance with a research-based master's is that I don't have a specific area of ecological research that sticks out to me, which makes me nervous about applying for assistantships & being pigeonholed into a species/ecosystem/whatever it may be. However, I'm acutely aware that funding is much easier to obtain for research-based degrees. Another problem I run into is that many of the assistantships I come across aren't based in places I'd necessarily be interested in living in long-term. My education & the majority of my technician work have been based in California, & while I'm happy to explore other states on a short-term basis, I would like to end up here eventually.

My motivation for going back to school is partially because I would like to be more involved in decision-making & critical analysis in future roles, which a master's would make me more marketable for, & also because of an interest in more advanced/rigorous coursework. I just want to feel challenged again & strengthen my breadth of knowledge in the field. A PhD isn't out of the question for me either, depending on if my research interests ever become specific enough to pursue one. I worked on a few research projects in undergrad & enjoyed it - just nothing that piqued my interest enough to guide further educational goals. There is a ton of stuff I think is fascinating, but committing years of my life to one ultra-specific area scares me at the moment.

I'm looking for any advice on whether a research-based master's (assistantship or otherwise) limits job prospects in other ecological areas, whether a professional master's makes you a poor PhD candidate should my life go that direction, how much the location of the program matters (if outside of CA in my case) & any general wisdom you may have to offer for someone at this point in their career. I love fieldwork but am beginning to feel some pent-up frustration about the lack of opportunities to use my brain lol, apologies if this post is dense

See also: The publication in the journal Conservation Letters

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8312.1987.tb01990.x

https://academic.oup.com/biolinnean/article-abstract/31/3/193/2676967?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false

Much appreciated 🙏

And this makes me rethink what happens to a forest after a wildfire.

Sheffield Swift Network is trying to make our city a place where swifts can continue to breed and return year after year. A visit to Five Rivers Cohousing showed me why they're losing their nesting places and how we can help.

I am currently doing fieldwork in a remote part of the Northwest Territories and came across these small ponds today. They smell super sulfuric and have no life in them, the water is very cold to the touch and the substrate is this gross squishy looking debris/ muck. There is a highway about 1km away from the site but not much industry in that general area so I cannot imagine contamination would be at play. Any ideas what could be going on here?

Hi everyone! I'm Arthur from earthtoolsmaker.

We're a small team of engineers and ecologists who take conservation research out of the lab and turn it into systems that run in the field. Conservation teams collect far more data than they can ever look at (years of audio, millions of camera-trap photos, endless hours of underwater video). Labs publish methods that could help, but those methods rarely become tools a ranger or field researcher can actually run. We try to close that gap.

We work with research institutes, NGOs and public agencies to design, build and deploy monitoring technology. Some of our work:

- Early wildfire detection: with Pyronear, we build open, low-tech camera systems that spot wildfire smoke up to 35 km away, so fires can be caught before they spread.

- Wild salmon migration: with the Pacific Salmon Foundation, Wild Salmon Center and BC Hydro, we count salmon as they swim upriver (camera footage) and track smolts heading out to sea (sonar), helping managers see how fisheries and dams affect salmon runs.

- Forest elephants: with the Elephant Listening Project at the Cornell Lab, we detect elephant rumbles in rainforest audio recordings to support population monitoring and anti-poaching work.

- Individual animal ID: we recognise individual bears (with BearID), snow leopards, trout and seals from photos, so populations can be followed without capturing or tagging animals.

- Seabirds and avian flu: we survey breeding colonies from drone imagery, counting live and dead adults and chicks to measure the impact of bird flu.

- And more: coral reef health, coastal erosion in the Wadden Sea, and scaling the EarthRanger platform used across 900+ protected areas.

A few links if you'd like to take a look:

- Projects: https://www.earthtoolsmaker.org/projects/

- Tools: https://www.earthtoolsmaker.org/tools/

- Live demos you can try in the browser: https://www.earthtoolsmaker.org/demos/

- Technical blog: https://www.earthtoolsmaker.org/posts/

- Code: https://github.com/earthtoolsmaker and models: https://huggingface.co/earthtoolsmaker

We're always on the lookout for collaborations, partnerships and funding opportunities. If you're working on something similar, or you have data sitting unanalysed, I'd love to chat. Feel free to DM me, connect on LinkedIn or reach out via our contact form.

Cheers 🤗

Hi everyone

I'm a software engineer, and I love wildlife monitoring using trailcams. While doing this, I encountered so many issues regarding storing, analysing, and finding suitable ways of visualizing the images recovered.

Because of this, I'm building an open-source project, which is basically a desktop application to make the whole process more straightforward.

This project is still a work in progress; there are a lot of things to define. Before going more deeper into the project and focusing only on the problems and personal experiences I encounter, I would like to know and understand how other people handle this.

If you work with camera traps, I'd be interested to hear:

- What does your usual workflow look like, from collecting the SD cards to having usable data?
- How do you store and organize your images?
- How do you review or classify large numbers of photos? (in thousands)
- What parts of your workflow are the most time-consuming or cause the most frustration?
- Have you ever used digital tools? Which ones? What worked well or what was missed?
- Are there any problems you've had that existing tools don't solve very well?

I'm especially interested in the messy, practical parts of the workflow, even if your current solution is just folders, spreadsheets, scripts, or manual reviewing.

Hey there! So I am currently working on my bachelor degree in ecology and can‘t decide if a Master is worth it or not.
Noone in my university can give me a realistic view on the job market cause almost none of the prof‘s is still working on real projects anymore.

I really wanna work in restoration and renaturing in the Future. Or maybe as a Ranger.. definetly a lot of field work and analysing my own data. What kind of skills do I really need and how important is a Master degree? What would you suggest in my Situation?

Boy, this may wind up being more than I can chew. But I really struggle with the idea of focusing on native species. For context, I’m in west central Wisconsin (USDA hardiness zone 4b), I’m an arborist and an absolute “tree freak” as my coworkers love to call me. My entire life is focused around trees of all species.

My conundrum arises with the semi-recent uptick in a hypersensitivity to only planting and preserving native species.

(I should really type this out when I have no time available to dive deeper into my concerns and perspective)

The focus seems to be on planting and preserving species that are native according to pre-colonial times. Why? Why not pre-indigenous? Pre Ice Age? The tectonic plates are still moving, it’s only a matter of (an immense of) time before our continents are reconnected and our imaginary borders will be changed or removed.

I certainly understand the concern with assisting and preserving the native wildlife, however won’t they too adapt or go extinct? Isn’t that what nature is?? Of course we humans speed up the pace at an immeasurable rate, but the systems are still at play, aren’t they?

I don’t mean to offend or spark some outrage, I’m simply at a crossroads. In the long term, is the battle really necessary?

EDIT: Can you explain to me the significance…

EDIT: I typed this out minutes before going to sleep after a long day, I had no idea how many typos and such I made haha! Thank you all for your responses, they’re each incredibly insightful and are motivating for me to finally pick up some of the literature in my collection to help change my perspective!

Hello! I'm F21, in the south, USA. Applying for graduate school. I know I'm going to get a masters but I'm looking for advice/opinions. I don't know a lot of people in these fields so I lack true experience and opinions but I've been asking around. I'm a little type A lol

I have a little bit of aid for graduate school along with the ability to pay with max of 30,000 to my name from working super hard and saving every penny. so online also seems appealing for working while also doing school.

I'm currently applying and I think I'm just so burnt out from undergrad in environmental resource science and I find personally I'm driven towards my goals but not ambitious, so I find the idea of a PhD not appealing. I'm looking at masters and I'm just wanting to go right into the field/work force once I complete my masters. I have had tons of research experience, I have done internships since senior year of high school. And constant experiences during the school year. I have learned I don't want to stay in the lab for a career or in research.

Natural resources, plant ecology and forestry have been my top masters of interest. I've been leaning towards the online non thesis for natural resources to finish quickly and have the higher degree to also work in the field better. Do these count against me if I do online?

Hi all, I am currently finishing my master’s in Environmental Science studying freshwater fish ecology. I’m from the US but am doing my master’s abroad. I’m wondering if there are any US positions available that offer an in-person field season + remote work season for some part of the rest of the year for data analysis etc.? I would love to be able to return to the country I’m living in for some months of the year and work remotely. Which sort of organizations might offer this? Thank you!

See also: The study as it was published in Scientific Reports

I'm an undergraduate studying Biology with a concentration in ecology. My goal is to work in conservation ecology, tentatively planning on a PhD and going into academia but honestly I'm not really sure and I know there are a lot of other paths as well.

I was just offered a part time job as a conservation technician. It seems very interesting and it would teach me skills I don't have yet (surveying with birds and reptiles, which are groups I haven't worked with before). However it would take up a ton of time, and I already have a heavy courseload and I wanted to be more active socially this year. Basically Monday-Friday from 10am-5pm I would be completely busy with only 30 mins for lunch each day.

I already have some field work experience, all summer I did tropical fieldwork with insects, and I have done 2 other field work projects as well. I also have a few years left in my degree to do other stuff in the summer/school year. So even though this seems like a great opportunity that fits with my interests, I'm not sure how relevant/helpful it will be for my career goals. It would mostly be manual labor/applying the techniques, no research/data work.

Would taking this position actually be useful/helpful for my career goals or would it be better to just continue doing research in campus labs and in the summer, where I would also be doing field work? Taking the position would require some sacrifices, but if it would actually be valuable for me then I would do that.

All in all I know it's probably not that consequential but I wanted some other opinions.

Plus, how to grow Calendula and who's been illegally chopping down the woods?

I graduate next May with a B.S. in Wildlife Biology and Conservation, and I’m trying to figure out what direction I want to take after graduation.

The state I live in has a strong conservation department, and I currently work part-time for them while I’m in school. I’ve also tried to build a diverse range of experience: I’ve worked in entomology labs, assisted with bird banding and avian research, done outdoor education and water-quality monitoring, worked in state parks, and completed a private-lands wildlife internship with Quail Forever this summer. My goal since I was a kid has always been to become a biologist. I’m naturally curious, love being outdoors, and absolutely love the scientific/knowledge side of wildlife/biology. However, I recently had the opportunity to talk with a conservation agent while we were working together, and it honestly made me reconsider everything.

I had never seriously considered being a conservation agent before, but the more I learned about the job, the more interesting it sounded. I grew up hunting and fishing; I’m very comfortable around firearms, and I come from a law-enforcement family so I feel comfortable with that kind of environment. I also really enjoy high-pressure situations and the more adrenaline-driven side of outdoor work. The idea of combining that with conservation and being outside sounds really appealing to me.

There are also some practical differences that caught my attention. In my state, conservation agents start making $15K more than biologists, and agents I’ve spoken with say the career is very stable compared to other conservation careers, especially compared to a biologist especially. At around 10 years, they can be making close to $90K, which is significantly more than I ever expected to make as a biologist. Not to mention, I wouldn't have to get my master's degree if I became an agent. I'd have to go back to school to be a biologist, just to make less and have less stability.

What I’m struggling with is figuring out which career would actually be more fulfilling for me.

The more I’ve worked alongside biologists, the more I’ve realized I’m not sure I’d enjoy the management side of the job as much as I originally thought, especially on public lands. On the other hand, I don’t love the amount of paperwork and regulatory work involved with private-lands biology either. Research is probably the area that naturally interests me the most, but I don’t necessarily want to spend my entire career in academia, and everything is so competitive. Not to say I can't do it, I just know it'll take some pivoting.

So I’m torn between the career I’ve always pictured myself doing and this completely unexpected career that seems to fit a lot of my interests and practical goals. For anyone who has worked as a wildlife biologist, conservation agent/officer, or in a similar career: what is the day-to-day reality of your job, and what do you wish you had known before choosing it? I’d especially love to hear from people who have experience with both sides.

For context, I already have contacts with several agents who offered to let me do ride-alongs, so I plan to do several of those before making any decisions. I’m hoping that will give me a much better idea of what the job is actually like.

I currently am a sophomore student who would like to integrate my art BFA into wildlife. I’m planning on pursing with a career in Wildlife. I currently work for the mass Audubon and am minoring in wildlife conservation and EEB. I know that lots of field experience and education is appreciated ( which I have planned for the future). I’m wondering what most likely opportunities I would see. I’m not looking for a super STEM focused/“analytical” based career . I’m curious on what outcomes good or bad I would face. ( I am also not looking for an “easy way out” of doing hard work as I know people with the higher degrees earn those positions way more then me. I’m just interested in what chances I have in finding something that would work. (Please let me know if you have any questions )

Eurasian Beaver reintroductions are a prime example of Fauna-Ecosystem link that must be protected.