Pollinators: The Heart of an Ecosystem
This is a conceptual design, proposal, and drawings for a possible future Fanimal project installation involving four pollinators and their unique habitats.
Olivia Bowser
General Project Description.
Pollinators: The Heart of an Ecosystem will be a design for an exhibit that will be marketed through various sketches that highlight all the exhibit has to offer. The display will highlight four amazing pollinators (birds, bats, butterflies, and bees) by showcasing their unique environments through an enlarged view. For example, the Honeybees’ hives that are usually quite small to a human will be scaled up, so that elements like honeycombs and their structure can be examined up close and better understood. The exhibit will cover the anatomy of the pollinators and will also present what amazing tasks they carry out every day that go unnoticed by us and ways that we as animal lovers can help. The sketches will be accompanied by four digestible graphics that will provide an overall view of the pollinators and their abilities. The graphics will be able to be shared easily across social media platforms to not only advertise for the more in-depth exhibit, but more importantly advocate for the animals.
Project Purpose/Goals.
The purpose of the exhibit is to promote awareness for pollinators. With anthropogenic activities becoming more prominent in the environment daily, it is extremely important that people understand all that these animals do. They can often go unnoticed because of their small size and therefore go unappreciated. It is time that pollinators get the credit they deserve!
Alignment with Fanimal Programs/Mission.
This project provides a way to reach new animal lovers that respond positively to graphics and visuals. By presenting information in this way, concepts that may seem abstract will become clearer. In addition, these graphics can be easily shared to spread awareness and mobilize animal lovers everywhere.
Project Deliverables.
Each pollinator will have roughly 5 sketches associated with it as well as other supporting informational graphics. There will be roughly 25-30 sketches total as well as 4 graphics presented separately.
Steps to Complete Project.
- Research all pollinators in depth, including anatomy, social behavior, pollinating abilities, communication, and habitat (roughly 4 hours [one hour per pollinator])
- Break down each pollinator and organize information into sketches for exhibit as well as digestible graphics (roughly 3 hours per pollinator)
- Edit sketches and graphics into PowerPoint/document for presentation and publication (30 minutes)
Additional Assistance Needed.
In the research part of the project, any additional references or recommendations of organizations would be greatly appreciated!
Additional Networking Needed.
In my video interview, I am hopeful to interview someone that works with insects that will be able to tell me up-close experiences they’ve had, so I can use this as a source for my independent project.
Sources: Audubon, Bats, The Bee Conservancy, Discover Magazine, National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service
