Daphnia SciArt - Part 2

SciArt, SciComm, Daphnia, Metschnikowia, disease  · 

The most important part of a scientific presentation is the science itself, but nice aesthetics can go a long way toward keeping your audience engaged and leaving a good impression.

While revising a presentation recently, I rediscovered some gorgeous Daphnia SciArt by scientific illustrator and artist Julia Ferguson that my former PhD labmate Dr. Jessica Hite commissioned for use in her presentations. (You can find both Jessica and Julia on Twitter, and Julia is currently open for commissions, so feel free to contact her!)

Julia drew two Daphnia dentifera hosts. One is uninfected, looks very clear and transparent, and is carrying several eggs in its brood pouch.

A black and white ink drawing of an uninfected Daphnia that is very clear and transparent

The other is infected, filled with Metschnikowia bicupidata fungal spores that give it a darker appearance, and its brood pouch is empty.

A black and white ink drawing of a Daphnia infected with a fungal pathogen that makes it darker and cloudier

Julia also drew a beautiful watercolor background to use as a background on the slides, which you can see an example of below.

A presentation slide showing the Metschnikowia bicupidata fungal pathogen life cycle inside Daphnia hosts on top of a watercolor background of a lake

As part of changing over my slides to the new aesthetic, I played around in GIMP to color the spores inside of Julia’s infected Daphnia (to show different spore qualities based on the environmental conditions when they were made) and it actually turned out really well!

Daphnia with their internal organs tinted in colors lined up to make a rainbow

Julia releases her art under a creative commons selected license - you can use it for non-commercial purposes, but you need to provide proper attribution (her name, and contact information if space allows), and you must ask permission if you wish to adapt or modify it.

If you have any other Daphnia SciArt that you love, feel free to reach out to me on Twitter: @MartaShocket or via email.