On a daily basis what tasks, responsibilities and pressures does a person in this career face?
I spend about 50% of the time in the field collecting data, and about 50% of the time in the office analyzing the data and writing reports. The field data collection period is usually timed to correspond with the active period of the animal under study. As with every job, there are goals that are typically tied to financial constraints. Our job is to get as much research out of the budget as possible. That means carefully planning the research project, and making sure that data is carefully collected, analyzed, and interpreted in a timely manner. I study populations of endangered vertebrates, which is kind of specific. When in the field, I record data on the habitat of the animals, I capture and mark animals so I can estimate the population size, I record data from each animal (including age, sex, and body measurements) so I can assess the structure/health of the population, and I record certain behaviors of the animals (whatever is pertinent to the question being asked in the study).
