Collect and dissect animal specimens and examine specimens under microscope.

“Collect and dissect animal specimens and examine specimens under microscope.” is a supplemental task performed by Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists. Among the occupation's 14 rated tasks, workers place it 3rd by importance (#12 most important). About 40% of workers say it is relevant to their job.

This is a single occupation-specific task statement from O*NET. The figures below describe how central the task is to the job and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the task will be automated.

Work activities this task rolls up to

O*NET groups concrete tasks into broader work activities shared across many occupations.

• Analyze biological or chemical substances or related data. in Analyzing Data or Information
• Collect environmental or biological samples. in Handling and Moving Objects

AI exposure

The OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rates this task E0. No direct exposure — current language models give little or no time savings on this task.

Exposure measures whether a model could meaningfully speed the task up — it is an estimate of overlap with model capabilities, not a measure of whether the work will be done by software. The study's intermediate score (β) for this task is 0.00. Automation potential label: T0.

Other tasks in this occupation

• Inventory or estimate plant and wildlife populations. · importance 4.1
• Inform and respond to public regarding wildlife and conservation issues, such as plant identification, hunting ordinances, and nuisance wildlife. · importance 3.8
• Organize and conduct experimental studies with live animals in controlled or natural surroundings. · importance 3.7
• Study animals in their natural habitats, assessing effects of environment and industry on animals, interpreting findings and recommending alternative operating conditions for industry. · importance 3.6
• Disseminate information by writing reports and scientific papers or journal articles, and by making presentations and giving talks for schools, clubs, interest groups and park interpretive programs. · importance 3.6
• Study characteristics of animals, such as origin, interrelationships, classification, life histories, diseases, development, genetics, and distribution. · importance 3.6
• Perform administrative duties, such as fundraising, public relations, budgeting, and supervision of zoo staff. · importance 3.5
• Analyze characteristics of animals to identify and classify them. · importance 3.5
• Check for, and ensure compliance with, environmental laws, and notify law enforcement when violations are identified. · importance 3.5
• Coordinate preventive programs to control the outbreak of wildlife diseases. · importance 3.5
• Prepare collections of preserved specimens or microscopic slides for species identification and study of development or disease. · importance 3.1
• Make recommendations on management systems and planning for wildlife populations and habitat, consulting with stakeholders and the public at large to explore options.
• Raise specimens for study and observation or for use in experiments.

See all tasks on the Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists page.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

@misc{singulariki-task-1504,
  title  = {Collect and dissect animal specimens and examine specimens under microscope.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/tasks/task-1504}
}