Working and Careers in Water and Aquatic Science

A wildlife biologist or wildlife technician works with all forms of wildlife and in wildlife habitats, varying from deserts to forests to wetlands.

Photo credit: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

Wildlife Technician and Biologist

A wildlife biologist and technician do lots of field work, such as capturing and counting wildlife species. Biologists work in the field, but also may do laboratory work, such as testing for fat content or contaminants to see how healthy wildlife animals are. Biologists also do computer-aided studies using information collected from the field. For species such as this mottled duck in the picture, biologists study how many individuals there are in the population and how well they are reproducing. Technicians usually have at least a bachelor’s degree in wildlife or natural resources management. Biologists usually have a master’s or doctoral degree in wildlife biology or a related field.

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Texas Aquatic Science is a cooperative education project sponsored by Texas Parks and Wildlife, The Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, and The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University. Additional project support came from the Ewing Halsell Foundation and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Sport Fish Restoration Program. Rudolph Rosen, Ph.D. wrote and edited the Texas Aquatic Science textbook. Videos were produced by Randall Maxwell. Sandra Johnson, Ph.D. served as educational consultant and authored the accompanying Teacher’s Guide.