Through the use of HHMI modules on Earth Systems, Ocean Acidification and Coral Bleaching  and lab activities, students will be able to discern the complex inter-relationship of carbon cycling, global warming, ocean acidification and coral reef health.

The students will be able to apply concepts in carbon cycling, pH, and ecosystem health  in modeling the effect of increased carbon dioxide to climate, acidification and coral reef ecosystems. An extension of these activities is to connect these activities to the application of the scientific method to make predictions on which areas of the world are at risk to coral bleaching.

Ecology and Evolution of Darwin's Finches by Peter R. Grant

Published by Princeton University Press 1999 

Overview of useful sections:

Chapter 9

Song and Bill Morphology as Species Cues 

Song is the way of expressing ones species from over a large distance, which beak shape is how it would be expressed in the short distance 

Beyond Species-Recognition: Mate Choice 

In this section, Grant reports on 14 females he watched, after observing the songs of their fathers. Though statistically speaking 2-3 of the females should have mated with males that shared their fathers song if it were random, not a single female did. This implies that song could act as a prevention method against inbreeding to keep the gene pool healthy.

Chapter 14

Other Features

"The distribution of sound energy in songs varies in such a way that it might be transmitted best in the particular configuration of vegetation in which the song is sung." In other words, the plants in an area have a large effect on the songs of the finches that live there. 

The first article is a transition into Grants work concerning differentiation in bird songs. The article briefly discusses the allopatric divergence, and the interesting concept of song being a culturally inherited trait. Paragraph 22-4 delves into the song in relation to the hybridization of finch species due to song and how this revolves around the males. The end of paragraph 24 states "The barrier to gene exchange erected by song differences has been breached, and environmental change appears to have been the most important factor" It ends by explaining that the variety of finch songs likely has to do with both sexual selection along with a random shift in learned behavior. 

This article cited the works of Grant which are extremely relevant to the study of song and evolution however the publication is a full book and I could not track it down anywhere free so I will delve into the library when I get the chance. 

This is a fun little game created by The Cornell Lab of Ornithology that can help you familiarize yourself not only with the songs of various birds, but also with the general idea of a spectrogram. With enough practice, just looking at a spectrogram with allow you to imagine a pretty accurate song before even listening to it.

Uses:

• Cell cycle introduction/review 
  • High school
  • Undergraduate introductory biology course
  • Upper level biology course for review/introduction to an advanced topic such as cancer pathophysiology
• Benefits:  Helps students identify the importance of the cell cycle and its relationship to cancer cell development
• How I use this activity:
  • Student population: BSN nursing students enrolled in a pathophysiology course
  • Review the cell cycle & introduce relationship of cell cycle to cancer in the genetic disease unit (genetic disease unit covers epigenetics, inherited diseases, diseases of nondisjunction, and cancer)

     

Overview of implementation of bio interactive modules

This one is really a combination of blog and demos of digital tools that highlight the bloggers math philosophy.

A calculator that allows words and numbers in equations.  Possibly a way to help students through initial problem set ups?

HTML  Video  RMD+Images

HTML  Video  RMD+Images  PDF

These are just Powerpoint slides at the moment, not 'live' clicker questions.  Two are for HIV, two are for phylogenetic trees.

Lecture

Selection Lab

Lecture

Lecture

Letter from ESA:

Dear Colleagues,
I'm pleased to announce a new resource for students, faculty, educators, professionals, and policymakers: Case Studies in the Environment (cse.ucpress.edu). This journal will consist of peer-reviewed case study articles with slides and teaching notes, articles on case study pedagogy, and a preprint server for editor-reviewed case study slides. Case Studies in the Environment is organized around a broad collection of cases within six domains, with the first three domains—Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation, Ecology and Biodiversity Conservation, and Environmental Law, Policy and Management—coming in mid-2017.

The journal website is now live, and you can find information on the criteria for cases and how to submit cases here: http://cse.ucpress.edu/author-information/. If you have a relevant case study, I encourage you to submit it. You can also sign up for periodic email alerts about Case Studies in the Environment at http://cse.ucpress.edu/contact/.
 
Best wishes,
Cynthia A. Wei, PhD
Section Co-Editor for Ecology and Biodiversity Conservation
and
Associate Director of Education
National Socio-environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC)
1 Park Place Suite 300/ Annapolis, MD 21401
(410)919-4991
www.sesync.org

Content pulled from a larger resource intended for AP students. These sections contain exercises and material surrounding phylogenetic trees, using Phylogeny.fr, and phylogenetic analysis. 

This is not a link to the article for rather the summary.

Quantitative Ecology and Socioeconomics Training (QUEST) Virtual Institute

AFS Special Issue on Education

The article on p. 436, "Are we preparing the next generation of fisheries professionals to succeed in their careers" comes highly recommended.