On this topic of biological literacy, I think folks like @jnstuart remember “back in the day” when “biologist” was somewhat synonymous with “naturalist”. It meant that you knew about plants, and animals, and stuff like that.
Today, a “biology degree” often refers to MICRO biology, where a person might get an advanced degree (a master’s or a PhD) by staring down a microscope, but they couldn’t pick their study organism out of a lineup.
So today, I talk about “field biology” or “zoology”. I don’t say “biology”, because it conjures up images of pipettes and centrifuges and things.