Becoming an Entomologist

The following article outlines the job duties, training involved, salary expectations and future prospects of taking on a career as an Entomologist.

Preview:

Entomologists are concerned with insects, their identification, collection, classification, preservation, and sometimes their eradication if they are considered to be pests. Entomologists are employed by research organizations, museums, and private- and public-sector organizations responsible for pest control.

The Job:

There are more than one million species of insects and over a thousand new ones are discovered every year. The bee, for example, has more than ten thousand different species.

Insects are important because they can be both beneficial and harmful. They also play an important role in the ecology of their environment. The mosquito causes malaria, the locust devours food grown for human consumption, while the bee pollinates crops and makes honey.

The job of entomologists is to study insects, their behavior, the food they eat (and the animals that eat them), their reproduction processes, and the danger they present to humans (including their bites and stings, some of which can be fatal).

Some entomologists are employed within university departments, where they study all aspects of insects' lives. Where they are harmful, studies concentrate on methods to control their reproduction, to eradicate them, or to interfere with their life cycles so that they are rendered harmless. Antidotes are also developed to help people who have received insect stings.

Manufacturers of insecticides also employ entomologists. Large numbers of chemical compounds are put through biological screens by these companies to test their effectiveness as insecticides.

These preparations must not be so harmful that they destroy other species or have effects that are harmful to humans. If a compound comes through initial screening, test quantities must be sprayed on small areas of a crop and, eventually, on whole fields. This will be done in places around the world where the company wishes to sell the insecticide.

Entomologists working for such companies assess the effectiveness of the compounds and what happens to other living things as a result of their use. The eradication of an insect may take away the food of another species or allow one on which that insect preyed for its food to reproduce unchecked.

Government ministries of food and health employ entomologists. Some examine and spray cargoes of imports to reduce the import and spread in their country of insects from other countries. Other entomologists conduct research into the effects of insects in agriculture.

Environmental health departments of municipal authorities employ people to eradicate insects when they become pests or a danger to health. Entomologists are also employed by private contractors who provide a service of eradicating pests.

Museums are also employers of entomologists. Some may become curators of collections of insects, which are made available for viewing by the public. These collections are often used by others for the identification of newly discovered insects. Others work with paleontologists to identify insects found in fossils.

The work of entomologists is extremely varied. Some entomologists work in laboratories, for example, some in museums or in industry. Others travel from country to country testing insecticides or move around in an area where they have responsibility for the control of insects.

Training Involved:

Research entomologists are trained in research and laboratory techniques and the identification and classification of insects. Those working with insecticides for agrochemical manufacturers or pest-control agencies obtain training in the use of the equipment employed specifically for this purpose.

Entomologists employed in museums are usually concerned with the collection, conservation, and preservation of their specimens. There are courses of study and training available to assist those who wish to become curators to develop their specialist knowledge. They receive the training that helps them to manage large collections and present interesting and informative displays to the public.

The training entomologists receive in practical skills is often quite short. Training in research skills may sometimes include a postgraduate degree, which may take between 1 and 3 years to complete.

Useful Qualifications to Have:

Useful subjects include: biology, science, and English.

Salary Expectations:

The base salary range of an Entomologist ranges from $56,333 to $68,146 annually, while the median salary for most Entomologists is $61,530 annually. (US Base Pay)

Future Prospects:

The number of entomologists' world wide is small. Prospects for their employment are neither increasing nor decreasing. That situation may change in the future due to the introduction of genetically engineered products that inhibit the reproduction or growth of insects, or the genetic manipulation of plants to make them unacceptable as a part of an insect's diet. It is difficult to say how these developments will affect employment prospects.

Further Information:

Entomologists do not usually have their own professional body but join institutions devoted to the cause of biologists as a whole.

Information about opportunities for entomologists is available from agrochemical manufacturers, government departments of food and agriculture, and large museums that house important collections of insects.