Abstract
AbstractIn the earth and environmental sciences, many fundamental processes are explained through conceptual illustrations—a powerful medium for scientific communication. The processes depicted are generally highly complex, spatially and temporally variable, subject to high degrees of uncertainty, and non‐linearly impacted by anthropogenic actions. Conceptual illustrations necessarily simplify these processes, but also often suffer from a preventable lack of visual clarity, and/or are based on implicit assumptions that are mismatched to key conclusions in published literature. In this Innovative Viewpoint paper, we highlight considerations of conceptual and visual clarity relevant to illustrations in earth and environmental sciences. Using the water cycle as an example, we examine a range of conceptual illustrations of this process to assess what ideas they convey. An exploratory survey of 32 water cycle diagrams shows that they tend to depict generalized, well‐defined processes. Anthropogenic influences are included and/or implied in only half the diagrams, and none depict uncertainty in any form. The concept of the water cycle conveyed by these diagrams is therefore not quite the same as the concept of the water cycle as understood by hydrologists. This mismatch may negatively impact decision‐making related to water resources management, because the parties involved may unknowingly hold significantly different conceptual models of the processes at work. Other concepts in the earth and environmental sciences may be susceptible to similar issues. Our analysis highlights the importance of carefully assessing the assumptions and simplifying choices inherent in the process of translating a concept into an illustration. We conclude with an example of how these issues can be remedied by presenting a modified water cycle diagram designed to address common misconceptions associated with dryland systems, account for uncertainty in fluxes, and include key anthropogenic effects. A general list of best practices, many of which were used to develop this diagram, is included to help increase awareness among environmental researchers of strategies for increasing the conceptual and visual clarity of illustrations.
Highlights
Environmental scientists face significant challenges in communicating research findings to outside audiences and in prompting desired societal behavior change (Olson 2009, Baron 2010, Moser 2014, 2016)
Using the water cycle as an example, we examine a range of conceptual illustrations of this process to assess what ideas they convey
We present a modified illustration of a dryland water cycle, designed to emphasize certain key concepts from the hydrology literature: the difference between dryland systems and the global water cycle, the uncertainty associated with flux estimates, and the importance of anthropogenic effects
Summary
Environmental scientists face significant challenges in communicating research findings to outside audiences and in prompting desired societal behavior change (Olson 2009, Baron 2010, Moser 2014, 2016). Modern scientific illustration has evolved to incorporate certain best practices to ensure accuracy and avoid misleading the viewer, most of which have been codified into the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators’ Guild Handbook of Scientific Illustration (2003) and into Edward Tufte’s The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (2001). The effectiveness of these practices has been only partially quantified (Butcher 2006, Sanchez and Wiley 2006, Ali and Peebles 2013). It is crucial that the story told by the illustration be an accurate depiction of the current state of understanding of that concept
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