What do you think are the most important ecological fields nowadays? And also in the future which ones will dominate?

I recently graduated with a b.s. in chemistry. I was never really that into chemistry, but the school I was attending didn't have another option I was interested in, and I couldn't transfer for financial reasons.

I've always had a passion for ecology, and I was wondering if there's a possibility of going into a master's program in ecology with a background in chemistry.

Also, I do still love chemistry, is there a branch of ecology that uses a lot of chemistry?

Hi! I run an online non-profit organization focused on animal cognition and conservation. We have members internationally (aged 13-22) that contribute to podcasts, articles and blogs and we also host local events as well.

My question is, does anyone have any tips on how we can grow our social media presence and where we can share our nonprofit org? Our page has 1.1k followers on Instagram, but I would like to organically grow it more, so I would like to find how I can find the students to share it with. Any FB/Reddit groups or any other community group recs would also be very appreciated!

Thank you <3

Hi there! I was hoping to find any fire ecologists who got into wildland fire fighting to begin with? I'm currently in undergrad with a decent job to cover tuition costs, but it has nothing to do with my career goals. WFF, due to the labor shortage, would allow me to get a foot in the door.

Any thoughts and opinions would be great. Thank-you!

Hello, I’m curious to learn more about the methods organizations like the IUCN use to attribute the causes of species extinction. Specifically, how do you distinguish between the impacts of climate change, habitat loss, and human exploitation when identifying the primary drivers of a species' decline?

In light of the water shortages, the air attack planes are refilling from the ocean and dropping the salt water on the fires.

Is the salt content high enough to cause problems down the road or is it negligible to the point of being irrelevant?

Has saltwater been used in previous fires or is this all new territory with no experience to know what will happen?

This is a pretty desperate attempt at finding work in my field (plant-plant/microbe interaction). I am atuck in pharma at a plant manufacturing pharmaceuticals and last year I applied to about 600 jobs. I only got interviews for the most interesting ones, such as related to astrobiology and one involved with lab grown plant tissue materials. But that was like 5 out of the 600. But i really just want any plant ecology based job . Preferably field or research.

The thing is I don't know where else to go, or what I'm doing wrong. It seems like I'm stuck in a toxic environment for now. So if anyone is willing to point me in the right direction or to give me a shot... please ask me questions or DM me.

I graduated about a decade ago but I plan to go back to grad school once i find adequate work. But it feels like I never will, especially with the next president...

Hi all,

I have a BS in environmental science. I am almost 40 and have been a PM in major pharma for a while now. I work from home and it’s fine, but i would love to apply what im doing currently but for the ecology field with maybe some mix of field work. I’m 40 and I don’t see myself being able to be in the field as much as when I was in my 20’s.

Is this attainable? Would this be a very hard transition to even find?

As High severity wildfires are going to occur at a more daily basis here in Southern Cal, I decided to do some research on wildfires on ecosystems as well as fauna. I learned that fauna like beavers and elk would promote more less intensity wildfires which are beneficial to forest ecosystems. This would also attract more wolves that have been recently recolonizing California. Would this reintroduction work ecologically to prevent high severity wildfires as well as promote ecosystem growth?

I am interested in understanding what the technical basis is for ignoring the time stamp on recorded bat calls when considering if bats are roosting on a site or foraging/ flying through?

Is there primary literature that I could read regarding the issue?

I understand that recording a call only says they were there not what they were doing. However when paired with the time of the record there is some information about what activities they are likely engaged in or is roosting and emergence less constrained by sunup/sundown that what has been published? I am confused by a response from a regulatory agency and they have provided nothing more than their word to explain their position. I want to understand.

"Approximately 40 percent of harvested round-wood is utilized in the production of solid wood products and 38 percent in the production of wood pulp for paper and paper products." I am curious where the other 22% goes, because I suspect its mostly burned. "In 2023, wood energy accounted for about 4.0% of residential sector end-use energy consumption and 2.4% of total residential energy consumption." Burning wood for energy releases more carbon than burning coal. https://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/gtr/gtr_srs258.pdf

So I am having a bit of a conudrum with searching summer internships. Many of them are available and are federal internships but the ones I find start at March or April which is in my second semester and most are out of state. What do I do? It seems that most of them start March/April. Anyway of finding Federal summer internships that start in May?

Back in my third year at university around 6-7 years ago we had a field course where we did a transect walk for two different plots of land, one plot was a "good" environment and the other was harsher. From what I could remember we noticed that there were more species present at the harsher environment than the one that was more hospitable.

If I'm remembering correctly, the premise we were taught was that in "good" spots, usually a few plant types would dominate to exploit the area, whereas in harsher environments there would be more species (I don't have a botany background but presumably from different family groups) with their own specialization to establish at the area.

I've been trying to find if there's a research paper or named theory for this relation, could you kind folks help me with shedding light on this please? It's not adaptive radiation where a species evolves different specializations like the Galapagos finches.

I'm in southern Spain. I had a good load of firewood delivered about a week ago, and hadn't moved it all under cover. After heavy rain last night, about half of it has this soft jelly on the surface. I don't imagine it's a problem, I'm just wondering what it is (I did my degree in ecology). Looks like resin, but it's not sticky, and wasn't (obviously) visible when the wood was dry.

I never understood why Environmentalism is considered a “boutique” or less important issue.

Like I never understood that we should care more about the economy then the environment.

When without the environment in a good state we all die.

Polluting deadly chemicals isn’t good for the average folk but environmental concerns almost always takes a backseat to other political issues in the news. Why isn’t environmentalism considered more important
I never understood why Environmentalism is considered a “boutique” or less important issue.

Like I never understood that we should care more about the economy then the environment.

When without the environment in a good state we all die.

Polluting deadly chemicals isn’t good for the average folk but
environmental concerns almost always takes a backseat to other political
issues in the news. Why isn’t environmentalism considered more
important?

not dying from heatstroke is in everyone's interest.

not to mention the issues with soil erosion

The effects of environmental destruction would sure as hell make stuff more expensive if you mange to still be alive

Hello,

I graduate from my master's in environmental biology in December 2023, I have applied for a lot of graduate and starting positions but I have had no luck. I do/have done quite a bit of volunteering with local groups but I'm not sure where to go next.

I am aiming to start on a bat license, I've noticed you need to pay for courses or training. I'm waiting to hear back from my local bat group and hope it leads to some opportunities. Feeling lost and need guidance haha

Greetings all,

I'm still fairly early on in my career work, however I'm looking to learn more about the foundation of in-stream work during this off season.

I come from a Biology BS and Ecology background but am now firmly doing instream construction work, building BDAs, log jam structures, projects like that. All of my coworkers have 20 or so years in this field and taught me a ton last summer, but I need some homework and reading to do. Thanks!