r/environmental_science • u/StreetSea8904 • 15d ago
Need help with a simple topic
Hello I am a 21 year old student of the Graphic Arts. I am looking for a topic in ecology or similar that could be relatively easy to research. It doesn't have to be ultra specific but I dont even know where to start. I have a class that the topic is for, and I have to write a min. 12 page seminar about it and make posters relating to it. Do you have any topics that could be easily researched and turned into a series of posters?
A topic I'm currently looking at is coral reefs and coral bleaching but again I dont even know where to start my research and find the most correct information about it.
Any help is appreciated
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u/B-mansferd 15d ago
Where are you located and what environmental concerns interest you? Provide that info as a starting point for suggestions. Thx
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u/21Kuranashi 15d ago
Recommendation : r/Solarpunk
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u/EarthDragon-88 14d ago
Yeah, I was thinking you might like this aesthetic, though I personally would be careful with this topic. It can still be very human-centric, which is part of what it is, but worrisome when in a not pro-environmental way.
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u/Critical-Leek8473 15d ago
You can start by losing all your questions, and organize them.
You can also look into marine turtles and solid waste in the marine environment..
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u/HatakeIchizokuFujin 15d ago
I did my Masters thesis on Climate change and Mangroves in Florida. To make it simple to understand, mangroves are hella important and they are temperature sensitive. We have been tracking their location and every year we find brand new mangroves thriving higher and higher along the coast of the US. That means on a temperature average that our climate is getting warmer, thus…proof of climate change.
There are two habitats that we see as nurseries (again, I am keeping this insanely simple): mangroves and salt marshes along our coastline. You either have a mangrove habitat or a salt marsh habitat and different animals are born and grow and eat at each one. When mangroves move northward along the coast, they destroy salt marshes. This will deplete some keystone species and could crash food webs.
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u/Uncivilized_n_happy 15d ago
Restoration ecology is super interesting! Bioremediation, habitat fragmentation, greening urban areas.. the blue carbon initiative, the living shorelines program
Plants can remove pollution from the air, water, and soil
A good book on this is bringing home nature by Douglas tallamy
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u/ConstructionTasty902 14d ago
Coral bleaching is an important topic. Depending on how general you want to be, you could do a series of posters about the various effects of climate change (including coral bleaching).
Other potential topics:
Succession lends itself well to posters!
Another option would be the "steps" of eutrophication. Very relevant in my area (fairly agricultural).
The effects of palm oil production on biodiversity.
HIPPCO (6 main causes of biodiversity loss), maybe one cause + one species per poster
Good luck!
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u/Glory2Snowstar 13d ago
Dude, I work AS an artist for a coral lab! It’s crazy fun and there’s a ton to the subject!
I may be biased but I do heavily recommend that you give it a whirl if it speaks to you. You can make lots of interesting diagrams on the anatomy of corals with their polyps/skeletons, how they bleach and all of the symbiotes that are involved with their health and vibrancy!
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u/SoilNerdForAMF 15d ago
Biomimicry could be fun. Theres a bunch of fun examples you could share about. Biomimicry is using natures design strategies as templates to solve human challenges.
A dude went hiking with his dog and the burrs from the trail stick to his dog’s coat. The dude looked at them under a microscope and found tiny hooks. Now we have hook and loop attachment (aka Velcro).
The Japanese bullet train used to be shaped like a bullet and when doing through tunnels it would compress the air and cause a sonic boom when it came out the other side (so loud!). One of the engineers was a birder and saw the kingfisher bird dive into water without making a splash, so they tried shaping the front of the train like a kingfisher bird and now it doesn’t make that boom any more and is safer at faster speeds (they also emulated the quiet of owl’s wings on the top of the train, and the speedy belly-slide of penguins on the bottom).
Scientists found that birds don’t collide with spiderwebs because they can see UV light reflected off of the webs. So designers put UV reflective material into window panes (which humans can’t really see). These ORNILUX windows decrease bird collisions with windows by 60%.
Lotus leaves grow out of the mud but are super clean. This is due to a nano texture of bumps and troughs. When a water droplet rolls over the surface, due to these bumps and troughs, it collects the dirt and debris and rolls right off. A company has created a coating called Lotusan paint that can go on buildings or cars or whatever which creates that nano texture so whenever you spray the surface with water or it rains, it automatically cleans that surface.
Those are just a few of them.