Yeah and i should also reiterate that i am not trying to shame people who volunteered (nearly everyone) as the volunteers are the least able to actually fix the broken system. I think it’s more important that those of us with more secure paid jobs push back on it, when we can. But i’m not always sure how to do this. This field is fraught with issues, perhaps no more so than other fields, but it definitely isn’t perfect as most of us have experienced. I just wish it could be more merit based and have suffcient resources to be an actual career for enough people to get our work done
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thisss so much - and i think it boils down to the same things we face overall…governments will not care about the environment or the earth until every last bit of profit is squeezed from nature by the hands of rich that actually control the government. they don’t want to know what is out there, so there’s no way to get money to learn and expand our knowledge of the natural world other than the tiny tokens given so they can pretend they care. (no, i’m not bitter at all… ha!)
Also in universities here at least, there is almost no one teaching taxonomy anymore. There’s no one to ID things, to describe new species, or to even be able to recognise them if they popped up. Universities want to hire generalists, not specialists, and our specialists are retiring / dying at this point. There’s this HUGE knowledge loss issue as well - that has gone on so long at this point that it will have to be re-learned because there is no one to teach it. It’s so bad, that for example, a master’s student in our lab is basically an expert in their species on par with anyone else - at least nationwide - at this point. That…really shouldn’t be the case, there should be more experienced folk out there than a student going into their 2nd year. That’s a huge knowledge gap and loss - that is due to what universities are pushing for - this whole appeal to the masses that came from the Everyone Needs to Go to College generation (which has a lot of issue too!)
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The generalist/specialist dance is tricky. i feel like there are too many specialists and not enough generalists actually, which is interesting. This links to my other opinions on taxonomy, etc. It’s important but i don’t like the new directions they are taking it lately (though based on very old arguments). But i also think grad school focuses on specialists rather than generalist, which is why i went to like the only generalist grad program i could find. But, both are important.
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I agree and in academia there are several ways to do this. E.g. write stipends for students into grant proposals, look for paid internships/assistantships, or if there is no funding available to pay them, encourage students to sign up for research hours to get class credit towards their degree along with the lab/field experience. At our university, volunteering for at least one semester is still the way to “get your foot in the door” so-to-speak for any research opportunities though, at least for undergraduates as there seem to be always more students interested than opportunities available.
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Hmmm maybe we mean in different ways… the whole run some dna and break apart species seems to be what you’re alluding to, which I have issue with as well.
I’m meaning specialists in like class & family levels - understanding the groupings and complexities within, traditionally speaking.
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Also, can keep eye out for outside funding. There are actually quite a few grants & fellowships specifically for student researchers to apply for - I sent out multiple funding opportunities and paid summer internships info to a class last last semester that were relevant. There are chances for both undergrad and graduate students; so staying networked yourself so you see those notices and actually pass them on is another way. This def favours the university system though as these chances are for active students for the mostpart.
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yeah that makes sense. And yeah, i just think the super cryptic entities should be subspecies or some other below species entity, because otherwise it completely breaks field ecology. But i won’t go on that rant here, everyone here is sick of hearing it :D
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As an aside, I happened to photo a State Threatened bird species behind my state wildlife agency office during a lunchtime stroll with my camera (just to get away from the mind-numbing desk and computer work). https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/163351590
It’s a good locality record, and the information is relevant to my agency’s mission, but I did it on my own time, albeit at my office. No work credit for that but it contributes to our knowledge of this species.
My point – if there is one – is that iNatting may be something you can do alongside the work that pays the bills, and occasionally the two can overlap.
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Ok but I totally want to be a horseback ranger or the queer feme version of steve irwin.
When COVID first hit, the researcher I work with let his hair grow, he has super curly hair that got really poofy, so imagine like an over 6ft tall blonde hair version of bob ross, i was like…you should be the herp bob ross / steve irwin mashup: “let’s flip this happy little log and find a sally! crikey that’s a nice one!” …sadly he did not. It just seemed like the sort of thing if filmed right in cute lil clips would’ve gone viral. (please, someone do this! it’d be so fun!)
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Microspecies - the ones that need something mysterious in a lab, chemicals DNA microscope dissection.
For your field ecology and my fynbos rambles, a species should be at a level where we can have a reasonable chance of - it’s species A because …
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You have reminded me of my good friend @tmurray74, who was an auto parts salesperson until he retired recently, but while he traveled New England, selling brake parts or whatever, he also learned and photographed an enormous number of species, mostly invertebrates. Here, go look at the list of observers for Massachusetts and sort by number of species: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=2&view=observers. Tom has made observations of more than twice the number of species in the state as the next highest observer. He has contributed specimens to many taxonomic researchers and published a very useful field guide to the insects of New England and New York. We should all be so prolific.
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And you have reminded me that with ten or eleven years of higher education in biology and ecology, I never once took a taxonomic class, if I remember correctly. Everything I’ve learned has been on my own or through courses offered by groups like my local nature club or the New England-based Native Plant Society.
ETA: I should add I’ve also learned an enormous amount of species identification just by using iNaturalist.
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990 species and counting in Albuquerque
The arthropod collection at UNM only has enough funding for equipment and supplies OR grad students each semester. It was very fulfilling for both me and the collection manager when I was able to volunteer last fall while I was between jobs (acknowledging my priviledge). It’s now translating into more focused research on a group of beetles that only 1 other person in the USA is actively studying, so I don’t think I’m displacing anyone 
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That problem does exist in ecology work. As enamored as I am of the tropics, it didn’t take me lng to see that it wasn’t a going proposition – the only positions I ever saw posted were at-your-own-expense internships and volunteering. Why would a research institute with limited resources pay someone to do what they have a steady stream of idealistic young people willing to do at their own expense?
From a bookkeeping perspective, it makes sense. The downside, though, is that in the long run the talent moves on to other professions where thay can actually support themselves.
I am referring to the ones who recruit people who do have a relevant degree and even a bit of relevant experience. People who end up taking their relevant degree and experience into an irrelevant line of work because that’s what pays them.
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I don’t know if you are at a stage of life where travel/working holidays are an option. I have worked in a few countries before settling back in NZ. It took me several years before I cracked into working for DOC (Department of Conservation), but there are many easier ways to “get-in” such as being willing to work in remote places, and starting in a less popular position (Like summer rec ranger, aka toilet cleaner, litter picker upper and lawn mower) though that is still a way that puts you in a place that has a lot of biodiversity.
In NZ as long as you have a valid visa (DOC dosent help with visas) you can work as a ranger. If you are under 30/35 depending on country, getting a working holiday visa might not be too hard https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-zealand-visas/preparing-a-visa-application/working-in-nz/how-long-can-you-work-in-new-zealand-for/working-holiday-visa
I am a National Park Visitor Centre ranger, so I am mostly based inside helping visitors, but I get to do outside things, and more and more join work with other rangers. But in the summer ranger version of what I do, I have worked with people with degrees in Architecture (Not relevant to out position), and some people just with good proof of customer service experience.
We have things like “Tier 1” biodiversity monitoring, which needs a lot of summer staff https://ebird.org/atlasnz/news/doc-tier-1-counts-bolster-atlas-dataset if you have proven ability to be able to work in small groups, spending a lot of time in the back country.
For me working travel (Like I did the the US, and Canada) helped me find my direction. But it wont be for everyone.
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An active example from Cape Town.
I first met Ron Sabelo as an intern at Kenilworth (the centre of the racecourse oval is valuable protected habitat)
https://eefalsebay.blogspot.com/2017/08/cteet-cape-town-environmental-education-trust-silvermine.html
Now he is with us on iNat
https://www.inaturalist.org/people/ronsabelo
Best of luck no matter what you do for a living. Enjoy your time outdoors!
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happens a lot…and i think it also is a big answer to the OP…degrees are great but depending on how much money you can or can’t live off of, they have a lot less effect on what you do 5-10 years post graduation than one may think
it isn’t just naturalist/field work either in my experience, there are a lot of fields completely underfunded and uncared about and many folk cant do what they enjoy for a living.
Also…I wish we didn’t have to monetize everything we care about or are passionate about to survive, but that’s another rant for another day.
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I currently “get by” with what is effectively biological consulting, and that’s how most folks here get paid in the field aside from something like a state or federal job (e.g. ranger). I don’t earn a whole lot and it’s certainly under minimum wage, but it helps that I’m sharing the costs with several people in a shared home. The reality is I could be doing a LOT better, but I’d have to move out of a biology-related area and settle for what’ll probably be a fast food restaurant or cashier. You can probably guess what my attitude towards that is.
So echoing others here, if anyone has any smart ideas on being paid for iNaturalist, I’m all ears!
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It’s too bad we can’t get some organization to fund microtransactions for high value observations because then maybe we could make a tiny bit of money from each of those. But then again, if you thought duress users were bad, wait until you get users trying to spam the site for money.
Years ago i did make a little bit of money doing targeted IDs for an organization, but i am not sure that’s even doable any more.
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