Hi all, I have been struggling on the job market for a while now and wanted to see if anyone had any advice for me. I am based in Colorado.

I graduated over a year ago with a MS in Ecology and Evolution, and immediately prior I graduated with a BS in Biology. Throughout college, I did research on insects, working under two advisors, mainly focusing on behavior, especially in the projects I led for my thesis. I did also become familiar with some genomics and immune work in these labs as well.

In high school and college, I had side jobs working with children, so in my post-graduate and unemployed era I've found myself leaning on that experience since I've been unable to find a job in the field. I substitute taught for a while (which I hated), then over the summer I landed a role as a camp counselor at the zoo (which I loved). Unfortunately, I don't feel particularly called to becoming a traditional classroom teacher, though I did consider it for a while especially while subbing.

Throughout the past year, it feels like I have exhausted every avenue. I've applied to lab roles, environmental consulting jobs, agriculture jobs, government jobs, environmental education, even cannabis jobs (as it is a huge industry here). It seems the only applications that get any attention are the ones in environmental education due to the crossover of my science and childcare experience, but those roles are so few and far between. I can't even get a call back about retail jobs.

I know that it all comes down to lack of experience. No recruiter is satisfied with my experience. Even though I have lab experience, it's not the "right" lab experience. No matter how I try to market my work, it's never enough; this market is just too competitive. Are there any types of jobs I haven't considered yet? Or organizations that may be more likely to hire me at my experience level? After a recent rejection, I'm trying to try something new, but I'm out of ideas which is why I'm here. Any advice is highly appreciated, thank you:).

Does anyone have any recommendations for books on the ecology of Long Island?

One of the things making me feel bleak about my job search in this field (9 and a half months of searching now) is that a lot of environmental workers got laid off from government cuts as well as there being fewer jobs due to environmental deregulation from the federal government. I guess I've assumed that I'm competing for these jobs that are supposed to be for recent grads against people with years or decades of experience... so if anyone can confirm if that's true or not (in Canada specifically!!!) that would be good to know lol.

Got a few on my milkweed for the first time this year. Anyone else? Maryland...

See also: The publication in PNAS

Calling all Canadian Ecologists!!

Background
I am an Aussie female (36) who recently completed my Bachelor of Environmental Science, majoring in Ecology & Conservation - mature age student, second lease on life

Possibly doing honours next year. Working casually for an environmental NFP. Lots of experience volunteering for field work but no actual "ecology job" experience yet.

I'm on the East Coast, near the Gold Coast so have been learning more subtropical/coastal ecosystems.

My partner is Canadian & we have discussed moving to Canada in the future (like in 5 years or so, long time off).

His family is on the East Coast (New Brunswick) but he grew up in BC so we will probably move somewhere between Revelstoke, Nelson and Fernie area.

I did 18 months at Fernie when I was younger & absolutely love the mountains, the creeks & your incredible wildlife.

Question

I would love to get a jump start on any skills that might help me get a job in ecology (or similar) in Canada, so just wondering what skills or education I could improve on to get a better understanding of the Canadian ecosystems that would increase my chances.

Or do I just rock up with my can-do attitude & hope for the best?

Should I start learning about bears?

Also, what happens in winter? Do you keep ecoligying? are there winter vs summer ecologists? Is it the same job with just a big warm jacket on? I’m so curious!

Any recommendations, tricks or tips would be appreciated.

Thanks!

I'm not a scientist, so I can't say which approach has the greatest benefit over the cost.

However, I think that whatever path we choose, its implementation should be undertaken thoughtfully and with an understanding that nature is not designed for our convenience.

The extermination of sparrows in China has already shown that it's best to think twice before resorting to drastic measures.

Hey😅

First time going to Indonesia in November for Mangrove research and mangroves planting. I’m thinking what to pack since my backpack can only be 5kg.

Should I pack hiking pants or shorts would be better? Or maybe leggings?

For the shoes are leather shoes okay or should I buy Neoprene boots?

Besides that I will pack water, sun hat, wondering if anything else?

thanks:)

today i had a lecture about xenobiotics and was left absolutely floored at how casually contaminated our daily lives are. i knew it was bad but not to this degree !!

agricultural activities felt horrific enough with AFM1 and AFB1. then my professor mentioned pesticides in the livestock’s feed and veterinary drugs... then the photo-degradation of said pesticides causing more toxic metabolites.

it feels like we are being poisoned by every method possible since xenobiotics can come from so many different sources ( air, water, food, et cetera )

the most frustrating bit is that all of it seems researched enough to allow these companies as much leeway as possible without outright killing us. i don’t get it. why are these companies doing all this harm in the first place? is the motivation truly just profit??

also, why are microplastics EVERYWHERE !!!

I'm from Europe and had never heard of this conference until it popped up today online when I was looking through future events in the field.

It looks pretty legit and seems like something I could definitely use but since I've never heard of it I just need someone who's been to one or is going in January to confirm that this isn't like a scam or something before I actually make any moves on registering. Thought this would be the place to ask.

I mean, we spend millions to save pandas, who have very low survival instinct because it is cute and can attract tourists but not passenger pigeon, dodo, tasmanian tiger because of " Charismatic Megafauna Bias". We need vertebrates, not vertebrates, algea, fungi and plants that provides us, is charming or indirectly help us(like tourism).

So, if it a pure act of kindness, why are vertebrates(mammals, birds, fishes, etc) gets 86% of nature conservation funding

And only 6.6% for plants and less than 0.1% for fungi and algea?

Isn't it biased? Who benefits from that?

Contiguous fence lines are becoming a hurdle to wildlife movement and migration in my region. Our highways dept. has been working on this by installing escape gates and jump outs along roadside fencing but we determined that current standards for escape gates contained some deficiencies and through our own field research developed a model that has a much higher rate of successful transits.

Our next challenge involves adapting these more effective designs into specific models for large ungulates such as moose, elk and bison, which pose serious risk in wildlife vehicle collisions, and are not catered to with current jump out and escape gate designs.

Thanks for watching and letting me share my work!

Hi all, this is something I’ve been mulling over for a while and I would appreciate any honest feedback on my dilemma. I’m a junior in undergrad right now working on my Environmental Science degree, and have a huge passion for ecology/conservation/wildlife biology/etc. and would definitely be interested in working in the field and/or research. I genuinely live and breathe for this work, I cannot overstate how much it feels like my destined path and how badly I want to achieve a career in it. However, due to a niche disability of mine (TLDR I can only eat <20 foods), any international travel outside the U.S or maybe Canada is basically infeasible for me.

That has been a devastating realization for me since I would absolutely give anything for those opportunities and I’m crushed that it wouldn’t work out. Additionally, literally all of my professors say that they have done work abroad and that travel can be an essential part of the field. Would I be at a major disadvantage if I could only reside relatively locally? Can you have a successful ecology-related career that way? Hell, how does one even build towards that career post-graduation when it’s so competitive? Currently I live in NJ, but I plan to relocate after graduation back near my hometown in Oregon— which hopefully helps because I know the PNW is an environmental hotspot. Thanks a lot! :)

Howdy!

I graduated in December of 2025 with a degree in Ecology and Conservation Biology with an emphasis in vertebrate zoology and I’m looking for advice for getting some sort of environmental job where I could work with animals, do research, work outside or work at a federal/city level. Im currently in the DFW (Texas) area and I have yet to secure a job. At this point I’m willing to relocate to find a job. Additionally I just applied for a position at the American Conservation Experience EPIC program and I wanted to know if anyone has worked a season with them and how your experience was (how the hiring process was etc.). I am also willing to go abroad but I’m not exactly sure where to look for credible jobs. I’m also not 100% sure what are the best websites to find environmental jobs for domestic and international positions, so if y’all know any please let me know!

If anyone could point me in the right direction or give advice for my situation I would greatly appreciate it!!

Hey everyone,

I've been playing around with satellite imagery and ended up building this little project to look at possible changes in forest cover around Koh Phangan, Thailand.

It compares satellite images from 2019 and 2026 to flag areas that might be worth checking on the ground, specially by rangers and authorities. I've added the terrain altitud to get a better idea of where water might flow and how that lines up with the waterways on the map. I'm now wondering if there's something useful I could do with this for flood monitoring or drainage, although I'm still figuring out what might actually be possible.

https://koh-phangan-forest-watch.vercel.app/

I'd love to do some humanitarian work and NGOs, so this has been a way to learn by building something practical I guess.

It's still a work in progress, and the results aren't verified forest loss. I'd be curious to hear what people think, could something like this be useful in conservation or environmental work? Any feedback is welcome.

A popular Reddit thread is showing a bunch of terrified feral hogs who were tricked into entering a cage, after which a door shuts behind them. Lots of jokes about shooting them dead, and people saying that because they're an invasive species we don't have to care that much. Lots of audacious comments without any hint of irony such as "Yes incredibly harmful to agricultural and particularly the environment" (my emphasis). Seems to me like if you consider not just the total count of humans and how they spread across the world but also their impact on the biosphere and the environment, and judge them by the same criteria as we do other species, then I guess by Reddit's logic (which I do not share) a cull of humans shouldn't elicit any empathy or concern because they're invasive and destructive so all they deserve is some bullets to the head.

Hi everyone,

Recently, I asked Claude what kind of tool or software would truly be a help to an industry and it said make a free BNG metric checker tool.

Which I then did. Here it is: www.quadrat.uk.

Anyone who is familiar the reports, would you take a look and see if its actually helpful?

All feedback is appreciated!

You have my thanks.