ecologist

[ih-kol-uh-jist, ee-kol-]

noun

1. a scientist or researcher whose field of study involves the relationships and interactions between organisms and their environment.

   Ecosystem ecologists study how nutrients, energy, and water flow through an ecosystem.

2. an environmentalist.

   Like climate change activists and ecologists around the world, I feel passionately that the issue is crucial to the long-term well-being of the human race.

Word History and Origins

Origin of ecologist¹

ecolog(y) ( def. ) + -ist ( def. )

Example Sentences

In August, a documentary filmmaker, primary care physician and wildlife ecologist sued the government authorities overseeing the agencies, claiming the roundups will decimate the herd to the point where long-term survival is unlikely.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Bear ecologist Chris Morgan says that, while he wouldn’t use the word “lazy” to describe black bears, he would absolutely call them efficient.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The English recognized this destructive pattern, but it took until 1968 for ecologist Garrett Hardin to give it a name and framework in his influential essay in Science magazine entitled “The Tragedy of the Commons.”

Read more on Salon

The heat can also cause what ecologists call "sub-lethal effects", where species essentially go into survival mode and don't reproduce.

Read more on BBC

And even if all living rhinos were dehorned, desperate poachers could still kill them for the remaining horn on their heads, said Lucy Chimes, a black rhino ecologist at the South African nonprofit Wildlife ACT.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• biologist 
• botanist 
• conservationist 
• environmentalist 
• zoologist