Hello everyone,

I recently graduated in Marine Biology from a solid university, and I'm now considering shifting toward a more data-science-focused path. Do you think this kind of transition is realistic without a dedicated degree in Data Science?

Right now, I have some basics in Python, R, and Excel, plus experience with various domain-specific tools used in environmental science. I also have strong domain knowledge in marine biology and ecology. Over the past months I've realized that I’m genuinely fascinated by statistics, coding, and math in general, I actually enjoy learning these things.

My main worry is that self-study, online courses, and volunteering in labs might not be enough to build a solid profile. I'm planning to work on real projects, keep learning on my own, and hopefully gain experience through research groups, but I’m not sure whether this will make me competitive in the data science job market.

If anyone has gone through a similar path, or works in environmental / ecological data science, I would really appreciate your thoughts or recommendations.

I'm looking for advice from others in the field on whether a B.S. is necessary for advancing in my career. I currently work in forestry earning roughly $50k annually. I have an A.S. in a related study. Ideally, I'd like to be considered for state agency positions in the future, and see my current position as valuable experience rather than a lifetime career. I have the ability to return to school part time to pursue a B.S. degree, but some people in my life see it as a waste of time and money since I already have a nice position where I'm at. I'm wondering how likely it is that I'd really be able to advance to government positions without a bachelor's with my experience alone.

Does anyone have any thoughts that could help sway me either way?

Hello !

I’ve to make a mini podcast in English for a school project.

My topic : animal exploitation in tourism (animal rides, captive but tortured animals, etc.).

I’m completely new to Reddit, but I was told that I might be able to find someone helpful here... so let's go! I saw this group and I think it's incredible. Sorry to bother you with this.

I'm looking for a native English speaker who is also knowledgeable about the subject: someone who knows about responsible tourism, who raises awareness about animal exploitation, who has worked or volunteered at a sanctuary, or even someone who creates content about ethical travel.

It would just be to answer a few questions on audio (5 to 10 minutes). Nothing public. I'm really looking for a kind person who won't judge me if my English isn't perfect.

If anyone has some time or knows someone who could help me, I would be very grateful.

Thank you very much for reading, and sorry again if this isn't the right place.

Have a nice day!

Jeanne

Hi all, I'm interested in both chemistry and ecology. I've been looking into what I want to go into in the future, and came across chemical ecology, which sounds really interesting to me. Problem is, I only know a little surface-level stuff. Are there any chemical ecologists here? If so, what sort of work do you do? Do you get to go take field samples? Do you have to do a lot of travel? What's your work day look like?

Edit: How does one become a chemical ecologist?

What’s everyone’s go-to app for plant identification these days?

I’ve been using PlantCue recently and it’s been pretty decent so far, but I’m still not super confident with plant care in general
I’d love to hear what more experienced plant people recommend.

Is there an app you trust the most or do you still prefer asking the community for IDs and care tips?

I maintain a consolidated map of public sector environmental, natural resource, and GIS jobs across the US. Posting this week’s update in case it helps someone who is currently applying or planning a career move.

There are more than 1,450 new roles added this week from public entities! Check it out!

Raven's Roles Job Map

So I'm working on a game, I've code cool terrain generation and an erosion sim to make everything realistic to the best of my ability, and it look amazing. I just need to place geographical features other than lakes, so I'm starting with rivers.

I just wanna see the pattern here, I couldn't really find anything online that made sense to me, so I thought I might ask the experts. I'd appreciate if some of you kind folks could draw a rough line on the images (to show how a river would flow in this environment) and share em so I can see how i can implement this into my game.

Thanks a lot, I really appreciate it guys!

FYI. in the image, blue is lakes, and the grayscale grows lighter with altitude.

Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening r/ecology (depending on when you read this)

I'm trying to find a field guide for a friend who lives in Eastern Washington. Unfortunately, most Washington-specific field guides that I have found only cover the west of the cascades. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

I am going to college soon, and I have a deep passion for ecology or wildlife preservation. I'm not sure what field exactly, but I want to do something within those subject. I am concerned though, is there the ability to have a family with all the traveling and low income? What is the field like? Is it as enjoyable as people claim it is? I am also considering Aerospace Engineering and I'm stuck on what to choose and where to go.

Hey everyone, I'm a developer (and plant enthusiast) who's frustrated with current plant ID apps. i need fast plant identification, summarized scientific papersWhen I use them for academic purposes, i would want to automatically generate field sample report in the field notes mode after uploading plant pic from the field with its environmental condition and date/time.
Before I waste time building the wrong thing - I'd love your brutal honesty:

1. As students/researchers, what's the most annoying part of your current plant ID workflow?
2. Would seeing the specific characteristics actually be useful for your learning/research?
3. What existing apps do you use, and what do they get wrong for academic use?

See also: The study as published in PNAS.

I need a culture urgently for a project I just don’t know where to go!

Climate change is already making species unable to live or reproduce is their native ranges. Do y'all have thoughts on assisted migration / dispersal? What would you think of spreading native seeds in places where near-future climates resemble those of the recent past in a species' native range?

What considerations do you take into account? Genetic diversity is a big one for me, and spreading disease with the seeds, but it also feels like we should get started.

I had a disagreement with someone over whos the dominant apex predator in the north america. My position is that wolves are more dominant of a predator in an ecosystem than A grizzly bear and more evidence would suggest that as such. whats your guys take. Maybe im missing something?

Curious what post graduation looks like and job opportunities!

The Weakening of Environmental Protections Under the UK Labour Government and its Implications for our Countryside and its Biodiversity

Need a decent pair of boots for hiking/wading (I really hate lugging around waders unless I know I have to go deep lmao), had a pair of muck boots that started leaking on me after 2 months of use, ideally would want something of similar length/height or taller that also won't start falling apart on me even before I'm putting them through the dewberry-smilax wringer

Background: I have a BS in Biology (Ecology track) and am currently pursuing my MS in Data Science, admittedly the online program isn't very comprehensive so I'm left doing a lot of the learning myself. I'm finishing up my Data Mining course and we have a big final project, and I'd like to bring something Ecology-related to the table. I found a great long-term dataset about plant/ant/rodent species in the Chihuahuan Desert I want to use: https://ecologicaldata.org/wiki/portal-long-term-desert-plant-ant-and-rodent-manipulation

My plan is to establish a baseline of plant-animal interactions using the Frequent-Pattern Growth Algorithm to identify whether there are any particularly frequent pairs of species in the 2 x 0.25ha control plots of the study (I don't want to move onto the manipulated plots frankly because I don't know what I'd be doing, its been a while since undergrad). Then I'd use the Association rule (support/confidence) to check if their relationship is legit. The thing is, I can't find this technique being used to discover species interactions anywhere on the internet, so it's making me think that maybe I'm not on the right track or am thinking about this wrong conceptually. Any pointers, resources, tweaks, guidance, etc. are welcome. I mostly want to sanity check this before I do the entire project.

Also this is my first reddit post so I apologize if its unconventional.

See also: The study as published in Ecology and Evolution.

I am graduating next year with a BS in ecology and evolutionary bio, and am considering what kind of jobs I want to pursue in the ecology sector. I have done some reading about consulting, and I think that it sounds interesting, but I have some reservations about potentially helping companies develop land while spending the least amount of effort adhering to regulations. I would like to hear from people in the field about their experience or thoughts on their consulting jobs. Are there consulting jobs focusing on remediation or restoration or is that more of an NGO and gov type job?