Just hired a first-year student to join the summer research team
Why?
Because they were in a transdisciplinary program that did not overlap with my training
This will make our work better
#ManufacturedEcosystems
screenshot of the virtual exhibition for this artist. Her tapestries are circular, with representations of grass and tree species.
Tall Grass Prairie Plant Community
The Boreal Trees
By Amanda White
Explore the communities that regulate climate in #ManufacturedEcosystems
#GigaPan technology allows us to see the fibres of these works
www.manufacturedecosystems.com/virtual-exhi...
Funding by @sshrc-crsh.canada.ca
Screenshot of the digital animation window, a snail glistening in neon colour, and a quotation by the artist: The subject purports that much of nature is dimorphic, both biologically and genomically expansive, resisting the current moment in history that actively challenges free gender expression. Amanda Amour-Lynz
Sqmoqniejk | I’ll find you in every lifetime (2025) by
Artist Amanda Amour-Lynx with #ManufacturedEcosystems
Imagining a world in climate collapse
Join us, asynchronously, at the virtual exhibit: www.manufacturedecosystems.com/virtual-exhi...
Funded by @sshrc-crsh.canada.ca #NewFrontiers
a monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) and centre: eastern snail-shell nesting bee (O. conjuncta).
#linocut #printmaking #sciart #typography #insects #entomology #ecology #pollinators #nativeBees #butterflies #moths #manufacturedEcosystems
This is my favourite piece!
#ManufacturedEcosystems
but reducing food sources makes life harder. Other insectivorous species may be in trouble as pollinator populations fall. We cannot simply replace bees and other pollinators with robots.
#linocut #printmaking #sciart #pollination #future #loggerheadShrike #shrike #wildlife #ManufacturedEcosystems
Clearly we need to ensure that our native pollinators survive & thrive for the health of the ecosystems in which we live.
#linocut #printmaking #pollination #ecology #manufacturedEcosystems
But as with other pieces the ultimate message is that no matter what, survival of insect pollinators remains imperative.
#linocut #printmaking #pollination #pollinators #manufacturedEcosystems
Artist Ele Willoughby explored the future of pollination climate adaptation #ManufacturedEcosystems
Check out the program: www.manufacturedecosystems.com/manufactured...
Ele's work is on pg 7
She explores two possible outcomes and shares her hope for our future
@sshrc-crsh.canada.ca #NewFrontiers
Screenshot of title, authors, and some of the affiliations: Are Ecosystem Services Replaceable by Technology Yet? Bio-Inspired Technologies for Ecosystem Services: Challenges and Opportunities Shoshanah Jacobs 1,* , Jindong Zhang 2,3 , Emily Wolf 2, Elizabeth Porter 1 , Shelby J. Bohn 4, Adam Maxwell Sparks 1, Marjan Eggermont 5 , Mindi Summers 4 , Claudia I. Rivera Cárdenas 6 , Heather Clitheroe 7 , Daniel Gillis 8 , M. Alex Smith 1 , Karina Benessaiah 9, Andria Jones 10 , Adam Davies 11 , Michael Helms 12, Dawn Bazely 13, Mark Lipton 14 , David Dowhaniuk 14 , Nyssa van Vierssen Trip 13 , Nikoleta Zampaki 15 , Peggy Karpouzou 15 and Kristina Wanieck
Figure 4. Distribution of bio-inspired research articles by technological trajectory and ecosystem service focus. The inner pie chart shows the proportion of the 31,593 ecosystem-service-linked publications that aim to replace (orange), enhance (green), or support the corresponding services (blue). Radial branches list the individual ES, and bar length represents the number of papers within that trajectory devoted to the service.
Can Ecosystem Services be replaced by Technology, yet?
"Our conclusion is both cautionary and constructive: some can be mimicked; very few can be entirely replaced; none should be rendered optional"
The #ManufacturedEcosystems Team takes a transdisciplinary approach 🧪
doi.org/10.3390/biom...
Author list A Call for Bio-Inspired Technologies: Promises and Challenges for Ecosystem Service Replacement by Kristina Wanieck 1,M. Alex Smith 2,Elizabeth Porter 2,Jindong Zhang 1,3,Dave Dowhaniuk 4,Andria Jones 5,Dan Gillis 6,Mark Lipton 4,Marsha Hinds Myrie 7,Dawn Bazely 8,Marjan Eggermont 9,Mindi Summers 10,Christina Smylitopoulos 11,Claudia I. Rivera Cárdenas 12,Emily Wolf 1,Peggy Karpouzou 13,Nikoleta Zampaki 13,Heather Clitheroe 14,Adam Davies 15,Anibal H. Castillo 2,Michael Helms 16,Karina Benessaiah 17 and Shoshanah Jacobs 2
So many and diverse collaborators in www.manufacturedecosystems.com #ManufacturedEcosystems - some on @bsky.app some not
@shoshanahjacobs.bsky.social
@dawnbazely.bsky.social
@danielgillis.ca
@nikzam.bsky.social
@marklipton.bsky.social
@anibalhcastillo.bsky.social
@lectio.bsky.social
Screenshot of two pages from the manufactured Ecosystems program guide located at the website URL included in the text.
"Do not be afraid", chirped the robot, which was about the size of a small mouse. "I am a B3704 Pollination Drone -"
- @rosemarymosco.com imagines the future of pollination
Learn more about projected futures #ManufacturedEcosystems
at www.manufacturedecosystems.com/program
Artist Ele Willoughby @minouette.bsky.social
imagines a future with Robobees as she shares both the science and the art of #ManufacturedEcosystems
A truly impactful Artist Talk 🧪🎨
Funding by
@sshrc-crsh.canada.ca
/New Frontiers in Research
youtu.be/bfEp13Yxcgs
Artist @melaniebarnett.bsky.social takes us on a sculpted journey of Climate Apocalypse, Agroecology, and Shelterbelts
Agro systems have always been #ManufacturedEcosystems
A truly brilliant Artist Talk 🧪🎨
Funding by @sshrc-crsh.canada.ca/New Frontiers in Research
youtu.be/NLriORu88zw
Screenshot of the article: A Call for Bio-Inspired Technologies: Promises and Challenges for Ecosystem Service Replacement
📣A Call for Bio-Inspired Technologies
Climate crises will require partnership with new technologies
We cannot use the tools that we used to create the crisis
Check out this team of #Transdisciplinary scholars
Join #ManufacturedEcosystems 🧪
www.mdpi.com/2313-7673/10...
As described this is my 15” x 15” multimedia artwork depicting an urban neighbourhood as a map showing semi-detached homes, roads, one apartment building, vehicles and vegetation from above. On this utopian imagined future all front, back and side yards are green with flowers, pollinator gardens and many trees. The rooftops all have pollinator gardens and/or solar panels. A single car and two bicyclists with bike trailers are on the road. Road and buildings are simply depicted in grey with yellow line.
Day 2 #SciArtSeptember prompt is canopy. For my #ManufacturedEcosystems art show this summer about the future of pollination, I made 2 prints about the tree canopy in the city. 🧪🐡 I used the prints to bookend my envisioned range of possible future for wild pollinators in this environment, from 🧵
Display case in pollinator garden with my 16” x 20” linocut print with a ring of bees plus one in the middle with collaged text in bronze. Clockwise from top: two leaf cutter bees (Megachile relativa and M. brevis), blue orchard mason bee (Osmia lignaria), the rusty patched bumblebee (Bombus affinis), a sweat bee (Agapostemon sericeus), eastern carpenter bee (Xylocopa virginica), the common eastern bumblebee (B. impatiens), a long-horned bee (Melissodes sp.) and centre: eastern snail-shell nesting bee (O. conjuncta). The text reads “Our Fate is Tied to that of the Insects” in a ring around the assorted bees. Some small typed signs with captions are included.
A little #scicomm in the garden: you might remember I repurposed one of the prints I was working on for #ManufacturedEcosystems for a local pollinator garden. It’s now up, with its hand-printed collection of native bees and message in amongst the pollinators in the garden. 🧪🐡🧵
#linocut #printmaking
Poster describing the special issue: Bio-Inspired Technologies for ecosystem service support, enhancement, or replacement The journal is called Biomimetics and Kristina Wanieck and Shoshanah Jacobs are the editors. The deadline is Feb 15, 2026
📣Working on tech that supports, enhances, or replaces failing ecosystem services? 🌱 Submit your work to our upcoming special issue.
#Biomimetics #Ecosystems #Biomimicry #NatureInspiredSolutions #ManufacturedEcosystems
🔄 Please share to help us reach more innovators 🧪
Manufactured Ecosystems presents… Collaborative Futures Artmaking for Climate Hope Queer Neurodivergent Futures Workshop July 28, 2025, or August 5, 2025 2 pm – 4 pm Zavitz Hall, University of Guelph Do you have climate stress? Looking for a positive outlet? Looking to connect with other people on the queer and autism spectrums. 2SLGBTQIA+ Participants (18-29) on the Autism Spectrum (medically or self-diagnosed) are needed for a study on queer justice, climate justice, and queer ecology. This study will involve: - One art/sci exhibition tour (45 minutes) of climate futures objects, and - One focus group, which is a co-creation art workshop ideating and prototyping new objects of the future. Your focus group worksheet data will be anonymized, and only de-identified research notes will be captured. Financial incentive of a $50 gift card for the focus group will be provided. Funding for this research is provided by the Government of Canada’s New Frontiers in Research Fund. Dr. Mark Lipton’s salary and Dave Dowhaniuk’s salary are being paid for by Dr. Shoshanah Jacobs’ research funds. The Department of Integrated Biology and the School of Theatre, English, and Creative Writing at the University of Guelph are conducting this study. The Research Ethics Board has reviewed it for compliance with federal guidelines and for research involving human participants (REB-1493). Questions or concerns? - To find out more about the study, please contact Dave at ddowhani@uoguelph.ca
📢We all belong in our shared future
#ManufacturedEcosystems is inviting #2SLGBTQIA+ people on the #Autism spectrum to participate in a study in #Guelph
Please repost 🧪
Details below 👇
Yes, it is too late if we focus on what was.
AND, taking away hope is the best way to make it too late for humanity.
#ManufacturedEcosystems #ClimateCrisis
www.ipolitics.ca/2025/07/02/i...
📢It’s official!
SSHRC Insight grant announcement and we’re so excited about The Future of Farming with PI Andria Jones
Thank you for stream B ($$$) funding and for the chance to imagine a future in the context of climate adaptation
#ManufacturedEcosystems #Transdisciplinary
screenshot of a slide that shows a sculpture by Melanie. "It is the responsibity of sci fi authors to decide who survives in the future and who doesn't"
Our second Artist Talk, featuring Melanie Barnett, explores bodies and boundaries in a climate apocalypse
"I cannot imagine a future that does not include queer, disabled bodies" @melaniebarnett.bsky.social
#ManufacturedEcosystems #ClimateCrisis #ArtsAndScience
for my current #ManufacturedEcosystems art show about the future of pollination.
Her lab suggests that to celebrate her life you plant a native plant or upload a sighting to Bumblebee Watch.
If you knew Sheila, or enjoy my insect art, please take a moment to support wild bees in her honour.
If you were interested but missed my artist’s talk about the future of pollination for #ManufacturedEcosystems, and my other work on wild bees and pollinators, you can find it here
🧪🐡🐝 #invertebrates
Such an excellent artist talk by @minouette.bsky.social today as part of #ManufacturedEcosystems (I believe the recording will be on the website soon)
"My work in #ManufacturedEcosystems explores two possible #Pollination futures: Utopian and Distopian"
The diagram guides in-person visitors to the Exhibition
www.manufacturedecosystems.com/press-release
Questions: Which future is being depicted in the photo below? How does it make you feel?
My linocut print on Arches paper with a deckle edge shows a common milkweed plant on collaged washi papers in green and plum overprinted with magenta sans serif text “WE’RE NOT WEEDS” with the Robobee pollination drone in black on an angle inside the O. The little drone is a vertical shaft with a dot and two wings at the top and a tripod at the bottom.
Who or what will be the pollinators of the future and what will or will not be pollinated?
Join me for my artist talk Thursday, June 26 at 12:00 - 1:00 EST to hear my take on this see my art about pollinators.
zoom.us/j/9123605099...
#manufacturedEcosystems
🧪🐡
We’re delighted to learn from Yulia Shtern, an upcycling artist
Her work - Leaf Sheep is inspired by the future of photosynthesis
#ManufacturedEcosystems
On an abstract background of swirling purple and turquoise are two turquoise text boxes. The first one reads “Manufactured Ecosystems Artist Talk Series.” The second one reads “Ele Willoughby, June 26th 12-1 pm EST VIRTUAL”
I’m giving a talk tomorrow about my work about the Future of Pollination tomorrow for #ManufacturedEcosystems
You can join live or watch later if you want to hear about how I approached this and the artwork I made for the exhibit!
zoom.us/j/9123605099...
