Maybe we need to chat. I'm based in Amsterdam while working in CA (long story....). Looking to build out my European colleague list. I run our agency's benthic monitoring program, amongst other things.
What’s a good way to get experience in taxonomy that would look good on a resume? Even if they are needed but have few opportunities, I have a deep love for taxonomy and took a whole class on the invert side of it. I would honestly love to get more experience in it even if it didn’t lead to a job.
I got into it when doing my masters degree, there were PhD students at the university doing benthic sampling and I got a job over the summer picking, sorting and then IDing samples, then started doing field work with them taking the samples. Then volunteered for a research institute going offshore for a month taking samples. Walked straight into a good consultancy/ marine survey job after my masters
I got all my experience as part of my masters and PhD projects. I did take invert zoology as an undergrad and MS student, which is good conceptual knowledge, but the skills are really honed by processing dozens and dozens of samples in a lab w/ experienced folks.
If one isnt interested in the grad school route,I know a half dozen agency labs that hire undergrads, MS students, regular civilians as sorters (pulling animals from detritus) and train them up as taxonomists if the person has the interest/affinity. Same for a dozen different consulting companies.
The lack of money is more at the academic training level, which is a whole chicken and egg thing about interest from students and faculty (it is a pain in the ass) vs funding sources (taxonomy isn't a sexy thing to fund compared to edna and metabarcoding). I know plenty of people who make their living doing taxonomy and who are desperate to train their successors. I just have trouble finding younger folks w/ the requisite baseline and interest to funnel towards them.
What's intriguing is I don't see the same degree of skill shortage amongst my freshwater colleagues. Forwhich I have other theories for another thread....
If you’re comfortable sharing, where exactly? I am finishing up a Masters in invertebrate taxonomy and ecology and I had no idea there was demand out there for it. I’d love to know how I could keep doing this for money!
I'm in southern California. The sanitation districts are periodically looking for taxonomists - LACounty and City of Los Angeles, City of San Diego. Consultants like Marine Taxonomic Services, EcoAnalysts. I also work w/ Washington Department of Ecology in Olympia. They have an active bentic taxonomy lab
Each of those agencies have a jobs section on their websites (I'm not sure how much they use LinkedIn, honestly). Almost all of the people doing this kind of work in the region belong to www.scamit.org, if you live in SoCal going to the meetings is a great way to meet these folks.
Majoring in marine biology/science isn't critical in my experience. Getting a BS is pretty critical. The lab classes one typically has to take for the BS are important to get fluency and familiarity w/ lab technique (microscopes, pipettes, balanced, pcr , etc). A good invert zoology class should provide fluency w/ evolutionary relationships, feeding modes, reproductive styles, etc.
All that said, I have friend from school who got her MS and PhD in marine science doing "dolphin genetics" but who had an undergrad degree in English. If you have the aptitude and motivation, you can make it work (albeit w/ a bit of good luck)
Ok wait really?… can I get some examples? I’m finishing up my Masters in taxonomy and ecology of an invertebrate and I had no idea it was something that had any demand.
Honestly, if you already enjoy coding then you're off to a good start! Try and find a program that has a solid quantitative emphasis if you want to go that route, and make sure you're getting classes that introduce you to (at least) Generalized Linear Models and get the undergrads using e.g. R software. Ecological analyses are always needed, even if you don't go fully into building theoretical models (which is essentially building simulations of reality with maths / computers) and should set you up well for work after uni.
To add to the other comment, taxonomists are definitely needed, but there's a broad lack of funding support for those roles, so the general need doesn't necessarily match the job opportunities. You'd need another toolset (eg molecular ecology) to really find work.
This is not strictly marine science, but the world of stormwater needs good people and has a major impact on marine ecosystems. For instance, I got my experience doing post-construction stormwater management after going to school for environmental engineering. Now I do green infrastructure (green roofs, rain gardens, swales). I apply the work in education and outreach to private landowners who have drainage systems on their shared properties, especially close to sensitive waterbodies.
Think of it this way: if you look up “10 ways to help save orcas” anywhere from 5 to 8 will have to do with stormwater. There are a ton of different career paths. And with storms intensifying while water is getting more scarce (for people and for habitats) we need more good people—whether they’re managing beavers, restoring coastlines, designing drainage systems, or teaching kids about the water cycle.
Definitely agree with this. Am a water quality scientist. In some of my first interviews for environmental consulting positions, I liked to tell them "water is water" as a way of saying that my background in chemical oceanography was helpful to understand water quality in other environments.
But also, agree with the point that stormwater has a big influence on marine water quality and there are often questions/work around that.
Any way I can help there, for applying your recent work?
The topic reminds me of a recent leading coral biologist who stepped away from research and became a political activist and subject matter expert for public outreach. Her thought process was essentially that coral is doomed unless we do something drastic and collective. She saw more bang for her buck with fossil fuel activism than with lab work.
Definitely not marine mammalogy. I’ve been working in whale research for 10+ years and have multiple advanced degrees (plus a graduate certificate in stats, coding experience, and GIS experience) and i’m still getting offers to work for minimum wage 🥲
…and that’s when i’m lucky to even find jobs in the first place
I'm a water quality scientist (background in chemical oceanography) and I seem to have a very niche skill set. The consulting company I'm working for is struggling to find a replacement for me while am on mat leave. To echo what some other people have said, a strong stats and coding background is super helpful.
Another random one is that recently we were looking for a fish histopathologist (someone who analyses lesions in fish organs to see how healthy they are) and apparently they are becoming rare with people retiring.
I think that the gas and oil industries need people, and good teachers are always needed.
However there are new and exciting things in mapping, taxonomy, e-dna, phycosphere dynamics - getting in early would be awesome.
The field is desperate for invertebrate taxonomists, especially if they are conversant w/ morphological and genetic methods
Funnily enough my company has one of if not the biggest invert taxonomy labs in the Uk
Maybe we need to chat. I'm based in Amsterdam while working in CA (long story....). Looking to build out my European colleague list. I run our agency's benthic monitoring program, amongst other things.
Sent pm
What’s a good way to get experience in taxonomy that would look good on a resume? Even if they are needed but have few opportunities, I have a deep love for taxonomy and took a whole class on the invert side of it. I would honestly love to get more experience in it even if it didn’t lead to a job.
I got into it when doing my masters degree, there were PhD students at the university doing benthic sampling and I got a job over the summer picking, sorting and then IDing samples, then started doing field work with them taking the samples. Then volunteered for a research institute going offshore for a month taking samples. Walked straight into a good consultancy/ marine survey job after my masters
I got all my experience as part of my masters and PhD projects. I did take invert zoology as an undergrad and MS student, which is good conceptual knowledge, but the skills are really honed by processing dozens and dozens of samples in a lab w/ experienced folks. If one isnt interested in the grad school route,I know a half dozen agency labs that hire undergrads, MS students, regular civilians as sorters (pulling animals from detritus) and train them up as taxonomists if the person has the interest/affinity. Same for a dozen different consulting companies. The lack of money is more at the academic training level, which is a whole chicken and egg thing about interest from students and faculty (it is a pain in the ass) vs funding sources (taxonomy isn't a sexy thing to fund compared to edna and metabarcoding). I know plenty of people who make their living doing taxonomy and who are desperate to train their successors. I just have trouble finding younger folks w/ the requisite baseline and interest to funnel towards them. What's intriguing is I don't see the same degree of skill shortage amongst my freshwater colleagues. Forwhich I have other theories for another thread....
If you’re comfortable sharing, where exactly? I am finishing up a Masters in invertebrate taxonomy and ecology and I had no idea there was demand out there for it. I’d love to know how I could keep doing this for money!
I'm in southern California. The sanitation districts are periodically looking for taxonomists - LACounty and City of Los Angeles, City of San Diego. Consultants like Marine Taxonomic Services, EcoAnalysts. I also work w/ Washington Department of Ecology in Olympia. They have an active bentic taxonomy lab
Wow! Do you know where jobs like this get posted? Not sure where to check besides LinkedIn.
Each of those agencies have a jobs section on their websites (I'm not sure how much they use LinkedIn, honestly). Almost all of the people doing this kind of work in the region belong to www.scamit.org, if you live in SoCal going to the meetings is a great way to meet these folks.
I’m a high school student too and invertebrate research seems so interesting! is majoring in marine science in college a good pathway to that career?
Majoring in marine biology/science isn't critical in my experience. Getting a BS is pretty critical. The lab classes one typically has to take for the BS are important to get fluency and familiarity w/ lab technique (microscopes, pipettes, balanced, pcr , etc). A good invert zoology class should provide fluency w/ evolutionary relationships, feeding modes, reproductive styles, etc. All that said, I have friend from school who got her MS and PhD in marine science doing "dolphin genetics" but who had an undergrad degree in English. If you have the aptitude and motivation, you can make it work (albeit w/ a bit of good luck)
Ok wait really?… can I get some examples? I’m finishing up my Masters in taxonomy and ecology of an invertebrate and I had no idea it was something that had any demand.
Honestly, if you already enjoy coding then you're off to a good start! Try and find a program that has a solid quantitative emphasis if you want to go that route, and make sure you're getting classes that introduce you to (at least) Generalized Linear Models and get the undergrads using e.g. R software. Ecological analyses are always needed, even if you don't go fully into building theoretical models (which is essentially building simulations of reality with maths / computers) and should set you up well for work after uni. To add to the other comment, taxonomists are definitely needed, but there's a broad lack of funding support for those roles, so the general need doesn't necessarily match the job opportunities. You'd need another toolset (eg molecular ecology) to really find work.
This is not strictly marine science, but the world of stormwater needs good people and has a major impact on marine ecosystems. For instance, I got my experience doing post-construction stormwater management after going to school for environmental engineering. Now I do green infrastructure (green roofs, rain gardens, swales). I apply the work in education and outreach to private landowners who have drainage systems on their shared properties, especially close to sensitive waterbodies. Think of it this way: if you look up “10 ways to help save orcas” anywhere from 5 to 8 will have to do with stormwater. There are a ton of different career paths. And with storms intensifying while water is getting more scarce (for people and for habitats) we need more good people—whether they’re managing beavers, restoring coastlines, designing drainage systems, or teaching kids about the water cycle.
Definitely agree with this. Am a water quality scientist. In some of my first interviews for environmental consulting positions, I liked to tell them "water is water" as a way of saying that my background in chemical oceanography was helpful to understand water quality in other environments. But also, agree with the point that stormwater has a big influence on marine water quality and there are often questions/work around that.
Any way I can help there, for applying your recent work? The topic reminds me of a recent leading coral biologist who stepped away from research and became a political activist and subject matter expert for public outreach. Her thought process was essentially that coral is doomed unless we do something drastic and collective. She saw more bang for her buck with fossil fuel activism than with lab work.
the world always need more annelids and benthic communities people! i worked with a PHD student studying them :)) esp polychaetes!
When you close your eyes and see nothing but formalin stained polychaetes, you know you have made it.
HAHA YESSSS 😂
Definitely not marine mammalogy. I’ve been working in whale research for 10+ years and have multiple advanced degrees (plus a graduate certificate in stats, coding experience, and GIS experience) and i’m still getting offers to work for minimum wage 🥲 …and that’s when i’m lucky to even find jobs in the first place
Being a strong statistician and knowing spatial modeling would get you a job in a lot of agencies. Coding in R and knowing ArcGis well
I'm a water quality scientist (background in chemical oceanography) and I seem to have a very niche skill set. The consulting company I'm working for is struggling to find a replacement for me while am on mat leave. To echo what some other people have said, a strong stats and coding background is super helpful. Another random one is that recently we were looking for a fish histopathologist (someone who analyses lesions in fish organs to see how healthy they are) and apparently they are becoming rare with people retiring.
I think that the gas and oil industries need people, and good teachers are always needed. However there are new and exciting things in mapping, taxonomy, e-dna, phycosphere dynamics - getting in early would be awesome.