Skip to main navigation Skip to Content

Career Advice

Ever wonder what happens after graduation? Two questions often asked by senior undergraduates are why join a particular department? and what can I do with my degree once I finish? To help answer the first question, perhaps a better understanding of what our department is all about is necessary.

Also see:
- U of T Work Study program
- U of T Career Centre
- General Career Links & General Volunteer/Internship Links (at the bottom of this page)

Ecologists and evolutionists recognize that all life has evolved and that an understanding of the central question of the origin and maintenance of diversity from genomes to ecosystems underlies all life sciences and is critical to our stewardship of life. Society needs to make informed decisions about sustainable development, global temperature change, control of invasive species, the preservation of genetic diversity and ecosystem integrity, and control of emerging infectious diseases such as SARS and drug-resistant malaria. These are fundamentally evolutionary and ecological problems.

Both ecology and evolutionary biology are interdisciplinary fields including scientists from a wide range of both field and lab oriented disciplines. For example, researchers may have a specialist training in particular organisms such as mammalogy, ornithology, or herpetology, but use those organisms as case studies to answer general questions in ecology or evolution. One could be interested in watershed-aquatic ecosystem interactions, antiparasitic behaviour of insects, genetics and ecology of plant invasions, species-habitat relationships, the stability of populations of songbirds or the role of sensory bias in mate choice decisions. As you can see, it's hard to define the terms precisely. Ecologists or Evolutionary Biologists, including former undergraduates from this Department, can be found working in universities, colleges, primary and secondary schools, environmental consulting firms, national or provincial parks, hospitals, government agencies, resource management agencies, private industry, research labs, and public utilities to name but a few career options.

To help you with the second question, what can I do with my degree, we've posted a few links below. These links offer one or more of the following: career advice in the field, information about graduate programs, positions currently available, volunteer positions available.

Animal Behaviour Herpetology 2
Comparative and Integrative Biology Ichthyology
Conservation Limnology and Aquatic Sciences
Ecology Marine Science
Entomology Wildlife Conservation
Environment 1
Primates
Environment 2
Ornithology 1
Environmental Science Ornithology 2
Environmental Law  Parasitology
Fish and Wildlife Management Pharmacology
Fisheries Physiology
Forestry  Toxicology
Forensic Science Veterinary Sciences
Genetics Zoological Parks
Herpetology 1
  

General Career Links

Below are a few more general links to help you continue your web search. There are many pages and sites with great information, and we suggest you do your own thorough search. If you find sites that are particularly useful, please let us know.

 General Volunteer/Internship Links

 

If you find a useful link to add to this page please email Prof. Helen Rodd