You are here: Home / Resources / Teaching Materials / Case Study: Genetic Variation and Speciation in the Black Tailed Rattlesnake complex (Crotalus molossus) / Description
Resource Image

Case Study: Genetic Variation and Speciation in the Black Tailed Rattlesnake complex (Crotalus molossus)

Author(s): Julie Marie Schlichte1, Eli Greenbaum2, Vicky Zhuang

1. The University of Texas at El Paso 2. University of Texas at El Paso

413 total view(s), 30 download(s)

0 comment(s) (Post a comment)

Download

Adapt 0
Summary:
It is important for biology students to understand how genetic variation is related to the formation of species in nature. This module is intended for students to obtain first hand experience with a real world case study of how researchers working…

more

It is important for biology students to understand how genetic variation is related to the formation of species in nature. This module is intended for students to obtain first hand experience with a real world case study of how researchers working with a widely distributed species of snake detected that two different species were present. Through a video lecture featuring researchers, some of whom were involved in the black-tailed rattlesnake split, students explore the rationale for the taxonomic decisions outlined in the project. Subsequently, students are guided through a series of analytical processes working with the data from the 2012 study that are derived from genetic, morphological, and geographical information.

Licensed under CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International according to these terms

Version 1.0 - published on 23 Feb 2024 doi:10.25334/GGJ0-F020 - cite this

Keywords

  1. phylogenetics
  2. case study
  3. Speciation
  4. tree reading
  5. systematics
  6. Tree thinking
  7. Phylogeography
  8. distance learning
  9. genetic variation

Alignments

  1. Resource Type
  2. Audience Level
  3. Activity Length
Contents:
view all files

Description

Intended audience:

The module is designed for introductory genetics courses at the undergraduate level

This resource includes the video lecture and accompanying worksheet. The video lecture is approximately 25 minutes long and includes interviews with several experts at UTEP who introduce the case study, the role natural history museums play in studying genetic variation, and concepts surrounding the case study . It also includes several simple quiz questions to keep students engaged during the video lecture. We recommend using the iclicker system at each quiz question. The module is intended to be conducted online and can be used as an extra credit assignment. However, activities of the worksheet can be enhanced through in class and group discussions.

The module assumes that students have been introduced to concepts in tree reading and are familiar with vocabulary, such as tip, node, and most recent common ancestor.

Cite this work

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

Close

Home

Search