ecologist

ecologist — noun

1. a scientist whose job is to study how living things — like animals, plants, and

1.nounB2
Definition

a scientist whose job is to study how living things — like animals, plants, and tiny organisms — share space and depend on each other in a forest, river, ocean, or other natural area.

Example

Rafael works as an ecologist counting frogs in the rainforest near his village.

work as a/an + [profession]

A team of ecologists is studying how tigers and farmers can share the same valley.

a team of ecologists is/are + [study activity]

Common collocations
  • marine ecologist
  • forest ecologist
  • wildlife ecologist
  • urban ecologist
  • team of ecologists
Synonyms
  • biologist

    broader; studies any living thing, not only their relationships with the environment.

  • environmental scientist

    wider field; includes pollution, soil, and climate as well as living things.

  • naturalist

    more old-fashioned; observes plants and animals in the wild but may not do formal research.

Grammar Patterns

a/the ecologist

ecologists at + institution

Usage Note

Often modified by the kind of environment the scientist studies: 'marine ecologist' (sea), 'forest ecologist', 'wildlife ecologist', 'urban ecologist' (cities). Don't confuse with 'environmentalist', which describes a person who campaigns to protect nature but does not have to be a scientist.

Common Mistakes

My uncle is an ecologist who plants trees on weekends to save the planet.
My uncle is an environmentalist who plants trees on weekends to save the planet.
without scientific training, the right word is 'environmentalist'.
She studies ecologist at university.
She studies ecology at university.
the subject is 'ecology'; the person is 'ecologist'.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

These four words are often mixed up in everyday English. An 'ecologist' is a scientist who specifically studies how living things interact with each other and with their surroundings — populations, food webs, habitats. A 'biologist' is broader: any scientist of living things, including those who study a single cell or organ in a lab. An 'environmentalist' does not have to be a scientist at all — the word focuses on someone who campaigns to protect nature, often through politics or activism. A 'naturalist' is an older term for someone who carefully observes wild plants and animals, sometimes professionally and sometimes as a serious hobby. Compare: 'the ecologist measured tree density' (research), 'the environmentalist gave a speech to parliament' (advocacy), 'the naturalist sketched the rare orchid' (observation).

ecologist ↗biologist ↗environmentalist ↗naturalist ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • marine ecologist
  • forest ecologist
  • wildlife ecologist
  • urban ecologist
  • team of ecologists
  • leading ecologist

Phrases

  • work as an ecologist
  • according to ecologists

Prepositions

  • ecologist at [institution]
  • ecologist with [organisation]

Etymology

GreekGermanEnglish

Built in the late 1800s by adding the suffix '-ist' (meaning 'a person who practises a field') to the word 'ecology'. 'Ecology' itself was coined in 1866 by the German biologist Ernst Haeckel as 'Ökologie', from Greek 'oikos' meaning 'household' or 'home' and '-logia' meaning 'study of'. The original idea was the study of nature's 'household' — how every living thing fits into one shared home.