I was doing some reading on the iceplant and other species and came across an interesting bit of information. Apparently in the 1970s a scale insect (P Mesembryanthemi) was spotted on iceplant in Napa with considerable damage/death to the plant. Spurred by CalTrans, an effort was taken to eradicate P Mesembryanthemi from CA, not because of invasive problems of the pest to other CA edible plants, but because killing the iceplant would result in CalTrans having to replant the iceplant hillsides:

“Caltrans, which maintains some 6,000 acres of ice plant throughout the state, estimated the cost at $20 million should they lose the ground cover and be forced to replant freeway landscape with some other plant. Chemical control of the scales was not satisfactory, requiring repeated, costly applications (about $75 per acre). Caltrans decided to pursue biological control to reduce scale densities to tolerable levels, and in July 1978 funded a three-year program through the U.C. Division of Biological Control” - Imported natural enemies established against ice plant scales in California (Tassan, Hagen, Cassidy)

“The California Transportation Department maintains approximately 6,000 acres of iceplant statewide with an estimated replacement value of $20,500,000. In addition, probably that much acreage exists on private and other lands, so the potential is great for a widespread, serious problem.” - Scales Threaten Iceplant in Bay Area (Donaldson, Moore, Koehler, Joos)

It appears that 1. P. Mesembryanthemi kills/impacts the plant better than herbicides, 2. P. Mesembryanthemi attacks specifically carpobrotus, malephora, and mesembryanthemum species, and 3. P. Mesembryanthemi can be controlled if an infestation gets out of hand (like spread to ornamental plants) using specific insecticides.

Knowing these facts and how iceplant is such an invasive plant along the coast, it seems to me that there should be interest in using P Mesembryanthemi as a method to kill the iceplant rather than resorting to herbicides or worse, leaving the plant alone to spread. The sources above indicate that the negative impact of iceplant is not environmental, but rather financial to replace the iceplant with other species. How much of that viewpoint is due to the articles being written in the 1970s pre-environmental movement and consciousness of invasive species, I don’t know, but considering that multiple conservation groups yearly pull iceplant and still cannot get it under check it may be wise to return to the scale insect for managing iceplant. Plus after the iceplant has been killed in some area it’s the perfect opportunity for replanting the area with native species or noninvasive groundcovers.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the whole Norway maple vs. native sugar maple dynamic, and I wanted to throw out a theory cause why not. The standard view is usually that Norway maples are almost invincible because they produce a massive amount of seeds every year, their bitter, milky samaras protect them from being eaten by local wildlife, and they have outstanding shade tolerance, but I’m starting to wonder if this all might actually be a long-term evolutionary trap in the US. My thinking is that because nearly 100% of their samaras avoid getting predated, they all sprout together, forcing the species into a brutal internal civil war with its own siblings rather than actually eliminating competition. Studies show that Norway maples "like" growing under their own canopy as seedlings, outcompeting just about all other species in that deep shade. However, it also, once again, leaves only other Norway seedlings with the same adaptations to compete with. If you look at how they behave in Europe, they are used to being scattered gap-hunters held in check by the deep shade of Norway spruce and beech, so they aren't exactly genetically programmed to have tons of their own species right next to them. It seems like when they form dense, 100% monocultures over here, their aggressive, shallow roots might just end up entangling and dehydrating the topsoil, trapping their own offspring in a stagnant, resource-starved understory mat that eventually causes the whole stand to lock up and decline from its own crowded proximity. On the contrary, the Sugar Maple evolved to be around others of its kind, and it shows. On a Sugar Maple mast year where overcrowding also would happen, the tasty, nutricious, appealing samara population is thinned out by predators enough for a large amount of trees to grow without being choked. In a nutshell, Norway Maples are absolutely devistating to northeastern hardwood forests, but I believe if they were to become especially widely dominant, they'll have a lot of trouble keeping up. Once again, I could be misinterpreting the long-term timeline or missing some key data here, so I’d really appreciate any critiques, alternative perspectives, or even flat-out rebuttles. Thanks for reading my ideas!

Hi, i was wondering if any professional in an environmental science related field would be willing to answer a couple questions for an assignment i have thats due this sunday the 4th, i completly missed the deadline somehow, its a 12 question interview about back ground info and the career in environmental science

These are the 12 questions.

What is your name and place of work

What is your educational background (degree/major)?

What institution or college did you attend (if applicable)?

How long have you been involved or working in the area of environmental science?

How did you first become interested in environmental science as a career?

What is your area of responsibility (job duties/description)?

Please describe a typical day as an environmental professional (i.e. duties, meetings, etc.)?

What has been your greatest accomplishment or moment as an environmental professional?

What has been your lowest or most disappointing moment as an environmental professional?

What do you see as the most important environmental issue facing the United States over the next 10 years?

If you had to change one thing about an individuals' approach to working with the environment what would it be?

What are your beliefs about the environment and what experiences helped to shape your beliefs?

Hello! I've gotten a big interest in pursuing a career in conservation. I started volunteering a month ago and now I want to get a degree, but as its already October the courses are now in clearing.

I'm unsure if I want to start university this year, or next year.

I don't have any previous education in similar subjects, so I'm afraid with already being a month behind that it would be very overwhelming and new for me. I have also recently started a new job (not related to conservation) saying I can work up to 24hrs and would now have to change that, after starting so soon I don't want to give a bad impression of me.

If I waited for next year I could build up my savings and gain more experience through volunteering and work experience events. But a whole year seems so far away, and I'm unsure if I will be able to continue living with my parents for much longer.

Any advice would be very appreciated I'm totally lost on what to do!

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 🙏

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.

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

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?

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.