Animal and Plant Poster Project

Animal/Plant Poster Project

Instructions & Expectations

Students will individually create an informative poster using the provided template for a species that they may select from the following options:

1. An animal that you identified in Lab 2 (Black- capped chickadee)
2. A tree that you identified in Lab 3 (Virginia Pine)
3. A different animal or plant that is native to the state of Virginia

Summary of Poster Due Date:

• Finished Poster: submitted as a PDF file by

Project Guidelines and Point Values

Using the .ppt file shared to Blackboard, you will be designing an informational poster about your selected plant/animal species. You must use the shared file as it has been adjusted to a 2’x3’ scale for designing a poster – you may, however, make any modifications that you would like to the poster layout/colors/etc. Please remember that you are not making a PowerPoint presentation – you will only have one slide that you will save as a PDF file upon completion. When creating your poster, keep in mind that your font and font size should be consistent throughout; your fonts should be professional and easy to read. The only exception to this will be your sources section. Since citations can get fairly lengthy, you may use a smaller font size to fit them into the sources space. When adding text to your poster, try to avoid including large blocks of text – the use of bullet points is totally fine, but you should still use full sentences. Short paragraphs are alright, too.

Your poster should include, but is not limited to, the following information:

1. The species’ common name and Latin name (remember that the Latin name must be in italics with the genus capitalized and the species in lowercase)
2. A description (or pictures) of what your species looks like as well as if there is any variation between juveniles and adults, or between males and females. There are sometimes sex differences in plants, too, so be sure to research this if you select a tree.
3. Your species’ life history such as:
   1. Habitat type and native range
   2. Diet and/or resources needed for survival (food for animals, nutrients for plants)
   3. Life span
   4. Life cycle (might include the age at which they reach maturity, the different stages of their life, how many offspring they produce [in animals], etc.)
   5. Predators
4. Is your species impacted by a pest or disease in the state of Virginia? If so, what?
5. Is this species used by humans in any way? If so, how?
6. Why should people care about your species? What role does it play in the context of diversity of life in Virginia?

Your poster should include a minimum of 3 primary sources (peer-reviewed journal articles); MLA style citations are ok for this assignment. Sources for any pictures used should also be included (you may simply use hyperlinks to these).

Have fun with designing your posters! I will certainly be looking for creativity in addition to the overall content of your project.

Point Breakdown (15 total):

Poster Points (10):

• Sufficient content used in poster (5 points)
• Sources used are appropriate, primary sources (3 points)
• Overall design/creativity (2 points)

Interaction/Discussion Points (5):

• Student asked at least five questions to other students’ posters (2.5 points)
• Student answered at least three question asked by other students (2.5 points)