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Conservation in Captivity CAREERS EMPLOYMENT Graduate-degree holders MEDICINE Survey finds high levels of NATUREJOBS For the latest career have higher pay and more jobs p.263 burnout among oncologists p.263 listings and advice www.naturejobs.com facility’s Frozen Zoo, one of the world’s first major collections of cryopreserved cells from zoo animals. In 1980, she initiated the Germ- plasm Repository — a collection of frozen reproductive cells from endangered species that capture genetic diversity, allowing it to be reintroduced into gene pools. In so doing, she DEBRA HUGHES/SHUTTERSTOCK helped to launch the field of gamete research. After her postdoc ended later that year, the zoo offered Durrant a permanent research posi- tion. Now director of reproductive physiology at San Diego Zoo Global, the conservation organization that runs the zoo, Durrant heads a team that designs reproductive-research programmes for rare and endangered spe- cies including giant pandas, rhinoceroses and Przewalski’s horses. “The greater scien- tific community is coming to understand the importance of genetic diversity,” says Durrant. “And zoos harbour the greatest genetic diver- sity anywhere outside of the natural world.” In the past few decades, zoos and aquariums around the globe have transformed themselves. No longer just family destinations and collec- tions of rare, threatened and endangered ani- mals, they are also research institutions with conservation and science at the core of their mission. Zoos are well positioned to manage populations of animals whose numbers are rap- idly dwindling in their natural habitat, and, in some cases, to reintroduce them into the wild. And although they have tended to empha- size captive-breeding programmes, zoos are becoming increasingly focused on field-based ECOLOGY research and on saving species in the wild. CALL OF THE WILD Research positions involving conservation at Conservation zoos and aquariums are still relatively sparse. But many scientists find such jobs deeply sat- isfying. The research is mission-driven and aimed at solving immediate problems, so zoo- in captivity logical facilities tend to attract scientists who embrace an applied approach, says Allison Alberts, chief conservation and research Zoos provide an opportunity to work on crucial issues of officer at San Diego Zoo Global. biodiversity while reaching out to the public. “I always thought I was going to end up in the traditional academic environment,” says Alberts. “I value academic research very much. BY AMANDA MASCARELLI research effort here. When you finish your But I wanted to do something more immedi- PhD, get back in touch with me,’” recalls Dur- ate. I saw a crisis in the world that needed to arbara Durrant heard about San Diego rant. In 1979, she began a two-year postdoc at be addressed now. I felt like, ‘I don’t have the Zoo’s reproductive-research department the zoo in California. luxury to wait and see if my research is going to while she was pursuing her doctorate in Looking for a second project towards the be relevant 30 years from now — I want to be Breproductive physiology in the late 1970s. “I end of her stint, Durrant began collecting doing something that’s solving the conserva- wrote to the founder and got a wonderful let- viable eggs, sperm and embryos from ani- tion problem today.’ And the zoo gave me the ter back saying, ‘Yes, we’re starting this new mals that had died, and storing them in the opportunity to do that.” 13 JUNE 2013 | VOL 498 | NATURE | 261 © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved CAREERS Like Durrant, Alberts joined the San reintroduction of two imperilled fish spe- Diego Zoo as a postdoc, and ended up forg- cies — lake sturgeon and southern Appalachian ing her career there. Whereas some positions brook trout — to the Tennessee River system. at zoos and aquariums involve only research, Anna George, the institute’s director and chief others may require engaging with the public research scientist, says that the job gives her the and overseeing staff and projects. In addition opportunity to put conservation principles into to coordinating all of San Diego Zoo Global’s practice. With a PhD in conservation genetics of research initiatives in areas such as sustainable freshwater species, she has a deep understand- populations, restoration biology and habitat ing of field-based genetic diversity. Her work conservation, Alberts helps to raise the funding lets her apply that knowledge while collaborat- that supports the zoo’s conservation efforts. She ing with others who have expertise in raising misses hands-on research, but says that being fish in captivity. “We can make sure that we’re part of the zoo’s conservation initiatives pro- really recovering a species with the ability to vides a “whole different type of satisfaction”. adapt, not just putting individuals into a river,” With one of the largest zoological con- she says. servation programmes in the world, the San Diego Zoo employs more than 200 research- WALK WITH THE ANIMALS ers, including 12 field-conservation postdocs. As zoos and aquariums become more conser- It has research projects in 38 countries and an vation-oriented, their research increasingly annual conservation budget of US$15 million, focuses on animals in their natural habitats. of which $6 million comes from grants and As a result, opportunities are growing for government contracts, and the rest from dona- researchers to work with plants and animals tions and zoo operations. in the field, says Ron Swaisgood, director of Zoos that employ such large numbers of applied animal ecology at San Diego Zoo Insti- researchers are rare. However, many have tute for Conservation Research. “Zoos are in robust conservation-science programmes; they the process of reinventing themselves,” he says. include the Calgary Zoo in Canada, the Smith- “People don’t think of plant ecology as being a sonian Institution’s National Zoo in Washing- zoo research programme — but it is.” ton DC, Antwerp Zoo in Belgium and London Swaisgood and others think that such Zoo. In addition to postdoc positions, research- jobs, including field research, will continue ers may find work as technicians, field and lab to grow as zoos managers, educators or scientists leading their become focused on own research programmes at the zoo or in the conservation, pool- DISNEY field. Many, including Durrant and Alberts, are ing resources from adjunct or full professors at nearby universities, donations and exter- enabling them to mentor students directly and nal grants from local, to forge collaborations with academic research- state and federal ers. And scientists with PhDs are sometimes regulatory agencies. employed as curators in a specific area such as In 2011, facilities reptiles or birds. accredited by the US Association of Zoos ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL and Aquariums in Sil- Although in the past zoos have not tended to “I think it’s ver Spring, Maryland, be seen as research centres, that is changing. quite easy to spent US$160 million “Within more traditional academia, I think dismiss zoos and on 2,670 research and it’s quite easy to dismiss zoos and aquariums aquariums as conservation projects as a place where you could do real science,” a place where in more than 100 says Jackie Ogden, vice-president of animals, you could do real countries, up from science and environment at Walt Disney Parks science.” US$134 million in and Resorts, who is based at Disney’s Animal Jackie Ogden 2010, according to Kingdom in Orlando, Florida. Ogden says that the association’s most Disney researchers have been involved in more recent annual report on conservation science. than 300 scientific articles in the past 15 years. In 2009, the European Association of Zoos Her team includes 14 PhD students, most of and Aquaria (EAZA), based in Amster- them active in conservation research, she says. dam, estimated that it provides €30 million In one project, researchers monitor sea-turtle (US$39 million) per year in paid staff time and nesting on the central Florida coast in collabo- costs for zoological research. It also reported ration with local universities and state wildlife that 1,400–1,500 people conduct or facili- agencies. Disney researchers have contributed tate research as part of their jobs in zoos and to rehabilitation of more than 350 sea turtles aquariums in Europe. This July, the EAZA will over the past 20 years, says Ogden. launch its own online, open-access publication, Aquariums have also grown into strong The Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research, to conservation-research centres. The Tennessee provide more outlets for zoo-oriented science. Aquarium Conservation Institute, the Research in zoos can be quite different from research arm of the Tennessee Aquarium in field research, says Lesley Dickie, executive Chattanooga, is involved in restoration and director of the EAZA. For instance, she says, 262 | NATURE | VOL 498 | 13 JUNE 2013 © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved CAREERS EMPLOYMENT On the job SAN DIEGO ZOO SAN DIEGO US graduate-degree holders aged 30–54 with a background in life or physical sciences had an unemployment rate of 2.1% and a median salary of US$90,000 in 2010–11, according to an analysis of census data. Hard Times 2013: College Majors, Unemployment and Earnings, released on 29 May by Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce in Washington DC, found that life- or physical-science graduates in the same age range with only a bachelor’s degree had 4.8% unemployment and a median salary of $60,000. With research jobs scarce, many science-graduate-degree holders work in secondary education, or in non-research posts in industries such as pharmaceuticals A researcher from San Diego Zoo in California tracks a koala on St Bees Island, Australia.
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