Talk:Certification for Ecologists

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Ian Spellerberg just sent through information regarding certification of ecologists in the US - Ecological Society of America Certification. This is an academic qualification but requires 10 years experience. More information is at the link above.

I would like to submit that, should the person be nominating as a field ecologist, there should be some test on their knowledge within their nominated regions of expertise during the interview. Some species identification from photographs and some questions regarding life history and distribution of the species would be a suitable test. The criteria should not be as broad as the CEnvP criteria. For fauna in particular, time and time again we see species misidentifications, missing some species altogether (particularly if they are cryptic species in which case it is often very important that they be identified), and misunderstanding of the significance of certain habitat types for certain species. It is impossible to carry out an accurate ecological assessment without this information and I fear that the information being passed to the regulators is poor (with the regulator unable to discern that this is so). Plants are a little different in that they stay still and there is an RE system in Queensland at least that helps contextualise the results.

Could the ecologists be split into field ecologists and theoretical ecologists rather than early career and late career?

There are very few practical courses available for ecologists to improve and update skills. In specifying the requirement for continuing professional development, EIANZ would need to ensure that it provides professional development opportunities for certified ecologists, otherwise achieving the required number of points will be difficult.