Wildlife Biologist
Camera traps, environmental DNA sampling, and drone-based habitat surveys have automated real pieces of wildlife monitoring, and machine-learning image classifiers now sort millions of camera-trap photos far faster than a human could.
We have not ingested real-world usage data for this occupation yet. We show a band only where genuine data exists, rather than estimate one.
What a wildlife biologist actually does
Wildlife biologists study animal populations and their habitats to inform conservation, land-management, and permitting decisions made by government agencies, universities, and environmental consulting firms. The daily work is heavily field-based: trapping and tagging animals for population surveys, tracking radio-collared or GPS-tagged individuals, conducting habitat assessments and vegetation surveys, and collecting tissue or scat samples for lab analysis of genetics, disease, or diet.
Biologists also design and run population studies, analyze the resulting data statistically, and write technical reports that feed into endangered-species listings, hunting-quota recommendations, and environmental-impact assessments required before construction, mining, or drilling projects proceed. A large share of the job involves navigating remote or rugged terrain in all weather, often alone or in small teams, to reach animals and habitats that can't be studied from an office.
Most positions require a bachelor's degree in wildlife biology, ecology, or a related life science, with graduate degrees increasingly expected for research-focused or senior government roles, and federal agency work often requires specific coursework combinations set by USDA/OPM qualification standards.
Why it reads this way
Camera traps, environmental DNA sampling, and drone-based habitat surveys have automated real pieces of wildlife monitoring, and machine-learning image classifiers now sort millions of camera-trap photos far faster than a human could.
But every documented deployment found augments data collection and analysis rather than replacing the biologist: someone still has to place and retrieve the cameras, capture and handle animals for tagging and sampling, interpret ambiguous results, and make the judgment calls that go into a listing decision or an impact assessment.
Federal permits for handling protected or endangered species (issued under the Endangered Species Act and Migratory Bird Treaty Act) are held by named individuals, not agencies or software, which keeps a real person's name attached to the fieldwork — though this functions more as a credentialing requirement than a full occupational license. The U. S.
Fish and Wildlife Service has cut its biologist workforce by roughly 18-20% (about 530 fewer biologists) in 2025, but that reduction is tied to federal budget and administrative decisions, not to AI or automation replacing the work — an important distinction, since it shows genuine headcount pressure from a completely different source than the one this site tracks.
Skills this role draws on
We don't yet have task-by-task time-share data for this occupation, so we can't show which specific tasks carry the exposure score above. This is the real skill set instead.
Typical salary range (USD)
$49,100–$126,440
Average: $76,780/yr
Range source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists (19-1023.00), 2025 release
Average source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists (19-1023.00), 2025 release, accessed via O*NET OnLine / My Next Move — direct bls.gov access returned HTTP 403 during research
Related careers
Head-to-head comparisons
Wildlife Biologist scores 24/100 on structuralScore (Medium confidence) — a low, exposed-looking number — but real-world evidence points the other way. Camera traps, environmental DNA sampling, and ML image classifiers have automated real pieces of wildlife monitoring, but every documented deployment augments data collection and analysis rather than replacing the biologist: someone still has to place and retrieve cameras, capture and handle animals, and make the judgment calls behind a listing decision or impact assessment. Federal permits for handling protected species under the ESA and Migratory Bird Treaty Act are held by named individuals, which keeps a real person's name attached to the fieldwork, though this is a credentialing requirement rather than a full occupational license. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service cut its biologist workforce by roughly 18-20% (about 530 fewer biologists) in 2025 — a genuine headcount reduction, but one driven by federal budget and administrative decisions, not by AI or automation displacing the work, an important distinction disclosed explicitly rather than left ambiguous.
This is a researched judgment (checklist v1.2), not a statistical measurement — it sits alongside, not instead of, the structural exposure signal above. Next scheduled review: 2027-02-11.
Sources (4)
- https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/19-1023.00
- https://www.mynextmove.org/profile/summary/19-1023.00
- https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/us-fish-and-wildlife-service-loses-18-of-staff-under-trump-2025-12-16/
- https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/briefs/u-s-fish-and-wildlife-sees-nearly-20-drop-in-staff-since-trump-took-office/
Data sources & methodology
Salary data: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists (19-1023.00), 2025 release. Min/max figures represent the 10th–90th percentile annual wage range across the United States. Average figure sourced separately: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists (19-1023.00), 2025 release, accessed via O*NET OnLine / My Next Move — direct bls.gov access returned HTTP 403 during research.
Automation Risk Score: Based on O*NET occupational analysis (19-1023.00) evaluating task complexity, physical requirements, social intelligence, and environmental variability. Methodology based on research from Frey & Osborne (Oxford, 2017).
Growth projections: 1% to 2% (2024-2034) per BLS; ~1,400 projected openings, against a 2025 federal workforce reduction driven by budget decisions rather than automation, based on BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook.