Ecological consulting as a career option

I was a warm afternoon in the Liwonde Forest Reserve in southern Malawi, and I was with a team of botanists and foresters, fieldtesting a methodology for rapid botanical surveys. We would be using this methodology in our consulting work for the Shire River Basin Management Program, funded by the World Bank through a grant to the Malawi Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Water Development. In addition to the botanical surveys, we were conducting studies on globally rare plants, birds, butterflies, large mammals, and the condition of the tropical forests and woodlands in the basin. Our goal was to bring updated scientific knowledge about the relationships between biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and ecosystem services to bear on the goals of the overall program. Another typical day in the life of an ecological consultant? Well, not really. Ecological consulting usually requires a range of skills, and any given day might involve doing background research online, interviewing key informants, meeting with communities, conducting field surveys or site visits, writing reports, or making presentations. Ecological consulting involves working for a client to apply ecological science to solve problems in social– ecological systems (Redman et al . 2004) and to make those systems more resilient (Walker et al . 2004). Ecology is a systems science, concerned with understanding the processes, interactions, and relationships between organisms – including humans, of course – and the physical environment (Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies 2017). The complexity of those interactions means all ecosystems have emergent properties that make them inherently difficult to fully model and predict, which in turn means that the precautionary principle always applies in trying to conserve or manage ecosystems. The challenge and creativity of ecological consulting lies in helping clients understand and apply those fundamental ecological principles. The term “consultant” describes the work relationship: consultants are not permanent employees of their clients, which may be government agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), or private companies. Ecological consulting can be through shortterm contracts (in my case often of around three to six months), intermittent assistance to an ongoing project, or fulltime work over several years. Ecological consultants can be independent smallbusiness owners who “freelance” for multiple clients (as I do) or employees of companies that provide consulting services. These can range from small companies with only a few employees to very large firms. The consultant–client work relationship often gives consultants more independence and flexibility than regular employees. That independence sometimes comes as a tradeoff with financial stability, especially for independent consultants. Some people are not comfortable with the financial planning and confidence needed to weather the normal gaps between consulting contracts; in that case, working for a consulting firm may be a better option. The potential range of consulting tasks is wide, and includes ecological assessments, analyses, surveys, applied research, evaluations, and strategic planning and project design. All can involve domestic or international work, or a mix of both. Ecological consultants sometimes also teach at colleges or universities as visiting, parttime, or adjunct professors (as I do), and some fulltime professors consult on the side. Who might employ you as an ecological consultant? The range of potential clients is wide and diverse. Your clients could be corporations; government agencies at the local, state, or national level; international agencies or donors; or domestic or international NGOs. Ecologists often work as consultants to carry out tasks required by US federal or state environmental laws and regulatory permitting processes, such as wetland and stream delineation, Clean Water Act permitting, and surveys for endangered or invasive species. A companion article in this Exploring Ecological Careers series (Nuttle and Klemow, in preparation) will focus on careers in ecological consulting for regulatory compliance. There are undoubtedly more consultants employed for those types of relatively routine and prescribed tasks than for more complex “big picture” ecological consulting assignments. But even routine, regulatory environmental compliance consulting should be done with full recognition that ecosystems are complex systems and that reductionist views of their management just don ’ t work. The academic training, experience, and skills needed for ecological consulting depend in part on what types of tasks and challenges interest you, and whether you want to pursue a graduate degree. With only an undergraduate degree you could find job opportunities working for consulting firms or companies, most likely doing relatively routine tasks such as surveys related to domestic regulatory compliance. With a master ’ s degree or PhD you would have the research and communication skills needed for more complex and integrative ecological consulting, or for launching your own independent consulting business. Almost any subdiscipline of ecology – community ecology, restoration ecology, conservation biology, or landscape ecology, among others – can proEXPLORING ECOLOGICAL CAREERS