Biodiversity is decreasing rapidly each year and agriculture is a large contributor. In order to minimize biodiversity loss, we must study how local and landscape management in agriculture impact different species in different ways. With this knowledge, policy makers and planners can create strategies to protect biodiversity in the most effective ways as possible.

The goal of this article is to describe a variation of an active learning exercise that was previously published by the same author under a similar title. The variation describes modifications instructors can use to make the exercise suitable for online course delivery. The exercise is split into several parts. Part I is taught asynchronously via three consecutive videos. Part II is taught synchronously via Blackboard Collaborate Ultra (or similar). There is a follow up assignment that students do in groups as part III. The active learning exercise is a 'pasta' simulation of the gut microbiome. In the asynchronous part I of this exercise, students are virtually given a plastic bag/gut with different types of pasta/gut bacteria. Six different bags resemble the gut microbiome under six different diets. The instructor mimics an antibiotic treatment by removing two types of pasta/gut bacteria and replacing them with beans/environmental bacteria from a second plastic bag. In the synchronous part II of the exercise, students read multiple review articles and assign bacterial names to the pasta types under the respective diet. They then use the same articles to identify metabolic byproducts that these bacteria produce. In a follow up assignment that constitutes part III, students investigate signal transduction pathways in the human host cells and the potential diseases that can result from a high fat diet.

Original lesson: The Impact of Diet and Antibiotics on the Gut Microbiome

Biology students require broad preparation for diverse careers including agriculture, natural resource management, and laboratory research. Concurrent with this need, employers are seeking applicants who have the scientific skills that allow them to solve problems related to locally relevant economic systems and develop ways to foster economic growth. To support these efforts, biology faculty from six different campuses in the University of Maine System collaborated to develop an economically relevant activity where students differentiate the roles light energy, carbon dioxide, and nutrients have in photosynthetic organisms. In addition, the activity addresses the relationship between photosynthesis and global carbon dioxide cycles, as well as the potential impacts of rising global atmospheric carbon dioxide on economic industries that rely on these processes. The activity was taught in 11 classrooms throughout the University of Maine System, and student performance was assessed using a multiple-choice pre/post-test, pre/post constructed response questions, in-class clicker questions with peer discussion, and exam questions. Here we report that the activity improved student learning and that combining the expertise of University of Maine System faculty and the Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership provided the opportunity to integrate biological concepts with economic development. Although the examples in this lesson have economic relevance in the state of Maine, the examples can be modified to align with other regional economic systems.

Visualizing kinetic processes can be an impediment to student mastery of basic science coursework. To remedy this obstacle, I created an educational program called Biology from Molecules to Embryos^© (BioME), which provides 28 animated lessons for genetics and embryology. To provide access to the international educational community, BioME has been posted as an interactive, open access website. Empirical data demonstrates that BioME is an efficacious educational resource, which elicits positive student perception of its utility. The animated lessons are useful for student self-study. For instructors who choose to display BioME lessons as visual aids for their presentations, explanatory text can be hidden so that it does not compete with the instructors’ verbal explanations. For instructors who would not choose to use premade lessons, downloadable excerpts are provided. These excerpts are short presentations of specific topics that can be incorporated at any point of a lesson according to the instructor’s preference and student needs. To provide opportunities for self-quizzing and to summarize key points, multiple PopUp files are provided for most lessons. To allow students to actively access their mastery of the material and to take advantage of the testing effect, multiple-choice practice questions are also provided with each lesson. The level of these questions ranges from first-order recall to third-order application. The higher order questions promote deep processing by requiring students to deduce answers by actively integrating material within and across lessons. Thus, BioME can help to advance the understanding of biological sciences and promote the usage of animations to present dynamic processes.

Primary Image: BioME Animations. Sequential images of ovulation represent the dynamic progressions of BioME animations.

This interdisciplinary pedagogical case study focuses on differences between rural and urban coyotes at the levels of organismal and community ecology, including how their gut microbiomes could affect their behaviour. The health and fitness of rural and urban coyote populations vary dramatically with the latter being poor as a result of their consumption of carbohydrate-rich anthropogenic food, compared to a more natural protein-rich diet. This difference is associated with altered gut microbiome composition. The case explores how altered microbiomes can influence behavior changes through the gut-brain axis. Cross talk between the brain and gut microbiome involves multiple physiological systems including the immune, endocrine, and nervous systems. This case showcases the interdisciplinary nature of science by having students explore the connection between these macro and micro-level systems. It is based on a manuscript by Sugden et al. (2020) supporting the existence of distinct gut microbiomes in rural and urban coyotes. Interdisciplinary connection - Immunology+Microbiology+Ecology+Animal Behavior

Role-playing activities in the classroom promote students’ critical thinking, research, and communication skills. We present an activity where students debate a current controversy in conservation. In our case study, students debate the topic of wolf reintroduction in California. Each student is assigned a stakeholder role (e.g., rancher, environmental scientist, hunter, or politician) and a position (either pro or con). First, the whole class participates in a vote on the debate topic so as to register pre-debate sentiment. Then, in the first part of the activity (75 minutes or as homework), students prepare arguments with others representing their stakeholder group by reading the primary and secondary literature and answering guided questions. In the second part of the activity (75 minutes), students participate in a live debate divided into three sections: introductory arguments, questions from the jury, and concluding arguments. The whole class then votes again to decide the winner of the debate, leading to a discussion about which factors do and do not lead to changes in understanding and opinion. The interdisciplinary nature of this activity reinforces student knowledge on ecological networks, keystone species, and natural history, as well as introduces the importance of non-scientific stakeholders in conservation. While this case study focuses on the reintroduction of wolves in California, the activity can be adapted to the reintroduction of controversial species in other regions, or used as a framework for any debatable topic in conservation biology.

Primary Image: The reintroduction of the gray wolf Canis lupus is a controversial topic in conservation biology and environmental policy.

Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) is based on deep understanding of systems from observations made over hundreds to thousands of years. This resource connects TEK to modern conservation through media and primary literature interpretation.

Students generate predictions and test three hypotheses about how biodiversity is affected by urbanization over time using citizen science generated bird count data and land use data from 13 locations in Florida over a 10 year time span

Targeting undergraduate students in lower-division ecology courses, this module guides students through authentic research. The purpose of this project is to provide hands-on research experience to enhance students' skills and confidence in the field of ecology. Within the module, students conduct a research project that allows them to: (1) explore recent studies in urban ecology, introducing the ecological research tools of camera traps and citizen science; (2) gain experience as a citizen scientist, generating data for different projects in Zooniverse; (3) write a hypothesis based on two possible research questions; and (4) analyze and test their hypothesis. The two possible research questions are: How do species’ diel activity patterns differ between land cover types (e.g., forest vs. anthropogenic)? How do diel activity patterns differ between/among species? Data for analysis is obtained through Snapshot USA. Through the module, students obtain skills in constructively reading and evaluating research papers, constructing testable hypotheses and predictions, using Excel to calculate Chi-Square and P-Values, interpreting statistical evidence, and presenting research findings.

In this lesson students 1) become familiar with various graphs that are used to study diversity patterns within and across sites, 2) learn about some of the questions that can be addressed by metabarcoding studies, and 3) reflect on an interview with evolutionary ecologist Maria Rebolleda Gomez, who collected the data used in the lesson.

Traditional Ecological Knowledge is based on deep understanding of systems from observations made over hundreds to thousands of years. This resource connects Traditional Ecological Knowledge to modern conservation through media and primary literature interpretation. The adaptation of this research aims to link the material to the ecological concept of the intermediate disturbance hypothesis and to highlight ecologists whose careers have focused on the concept.

Stream reach metabolism integrates organism respiration & production to provide a valuable ecosystem measure that varies as a function of biotic & abiotic factors. As a powerful indicator of whole system functioning, it is important students can estimate stream metabolism. This field lesson engages students in study of ecosystem metabolism through its components, production & respiration. Students connect to the reach through guided reflection, predict and explore dissolved oxygen, investigate metabolism drivers in a matching game of diel oxygen curves from streams around the world, and collect & analyze diel dissolved oxygen data. This is designed for mid to upper-level undergraduates to complete in one 2-hour field visit at a wadable reach of run habitat, and a 30-minute analysis session. This lesson complements lessons including hydrogeomorphology, field sketching, organismal studies, ecosystem energetics, mapping, any that provide an ecosystem or energetic framework (RCC, Fluvial Landscape Ecology) to student understanding of flowing waters. Additionally, it can be replicated in space and time to highlight the relative importance of the key drivers of ecosystem metabolism.

Scientists have discovered that microplastic pollution is ubiquitous in the environment, but the small size of these microscopic pollutants prohibits most people from recognizing their prevalence. This river-based field lesson will introduce environmental science students to this emerging environmental concern, and encourages them to explore microplastics in their local waterways with sample collection, density separation and field-based microscopy. Students will appreciate the opportunity to connect to this topic from anywhere in the world, allowing them to see microplastics with their own eyes and without the use of sophisticated equipment. In addition, this lesson helps students recognize their own personal impact on microplastic pollution and identify ways to reduce their creation of microplastics.

A lecture will be hosted by the educator. The first four sections cover factual information and in the activity students will draw conclusions about spore germination. The last section will highlight a scientist and current trends in mycology.

Environmental health is a field of study within public health that is concerned with human-environment interactions, and specifically, how the environment influences public well-being. In this module, students will explore how environmental pollution impacts public health through comparing cancer rates of areas with known environmental pollutants to the national average through a t-test. Students can further their knowledge by comparing the concentrations of atmospheric pollutants in areas with known sources to control sites without such sources. Project EDDIE modules are designed with an A-B-C structure to make them flexible and adaptable to a range of student levels and course structures.