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    Does Urbanization Favor Exotic Species?
    In this lesson, students will learn about the exotic European honeybee (Apis mellifera), and why they are considered an important pollinator. They will be prompted to think about the impacts of...

    Keywords: RStudiogeneral linear modelsAICurbanizationPoisson Distributionnative speciesHoneybeeexotic species

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    Using Map of Life to Investigate Species Ranges Shifts with Climate Change
    Biodiversity databases, based on species occurrences, are now readily available for students to use a free of charge. These databases allow exploration of how species ranges shift through time. One...

    Keywords: climate changehabitat suitabilityspecies distributionMap of Lifethermal tolerance

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    Exploring how climate will impact plant-insect distributions and interactions using open data and informatics
    This teaching module provides an entry point for students to learn about data science, open data repositories (e.g., citizen science data), and species distribution modeling to study the effects of...

    Keywords: modelingcitizen sciencehypothesis testingdata scienceclimate changeR programming languageBiodiversityplant animal interactionsinquiry-based learningspecies distributionseco-informatics

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    Species Range Over Space and Time
    In this module, students use data from natural history collections to look at range shifts related to climate variables over different time periods.

    Keywords: data in the classroomdigital resourcesclimate changenatural history collection

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    Observing the Birds of El Paso: Revisiting historical localities online and in the field
    In this set of activities, students are introduced to several features and use cases of museum databases to understand the importance of historical natural history specimens and their data. Using...

    Keywords: databaseBiodiversityOrnithologynatural history museumsspecies distributionsdistance learningField Experiences

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    Climate-Induced Shifts in California Butterflies
    A module in which students generate and test hypotheses about butterfly species’ response to climate change in the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada Mountains of northern California using publicly...

    Keywords: linear regressionScatter Plotsclimate changephenologyhypothesis formulationmountainsCaliforniapublic dataCODAP

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    Body Size Constraints in Xylem Feeding Insects: Allometric Relationships
    This module introduces body size constraints of xylem-feeding insects in the context of understanding allometric relationships. It is intended for an introductory biology audience.

    Keywords: allometryRatiosexponential equationslogarithmic equationsGenetics and Evolution

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    THE IMPORTANCE OF GREEN SPACES & NATIVE PLANTS TO URBAN AVIFAUNA: A Lesson on how urban residential yards can support birds during their annual cycle
    In this lesson students will learn about the impacts of urbanization, and the conservation challenges it poses to wildlife, in particular avifauna. Introductory ecology topics such as the theory of...

    Keywords: birdsurbanizationPoisson Distributionnative plantsGeneralized linear models

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    Island biogeography, spatial ecology, and macroinvertebrate species diversity in Richmond’s rock pools
    Students investigate questions of community ecology and biogeography using data from an urban rock pool ecosystem. Using ArcGIS 10, students learn to create effective maps, calculate landscape...

    Keywords: aquatic macroinvertebratesCommunity Ecologyspecies diversityGeographic Information System (GIS)spatial analysisJames River

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    Sampling Distributions and Null Distributions: two swirl lessons in R
    There are two complementary lessons. The first covers how sampling distributions are made and ID's their key properties. The second covers how null distributions and how the test statistic of a...

    Keywords: The Analysis of Biological Datateaching with technologySwirl

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    Diversity Indices: Simpson's D and E
    This module introduces Simpson's diversity index in the context of understanding how to mathematically measure the species diversity in a community. It is intended for an introductory biology...

    Keywords: ecologydiversityFunctionsOpenStaxdiversity index

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    Impact of Introduction of American Bullfrogs on Species Diversity
    This module explores the introduction of the American bullfrog on their ecosystem. Using species diversity calculations and data collection techniques, students explore how the bullfrog affected...

    Keywords: ecologyconservationspecies richnessBiodiversityspecies diversitydiversity indicessamplingspecies evenness

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    Evaluating Local Adaptation and Conservation with Life Tables
    This module contains a sequence of activities designed for an undergraduate ecology lesson on stage-structured population models or life tables that use published data. Two versions are provided:...

    Keywords: ecologypopulation modelmatrix modelsclimate changelife cyclessensitivity analysispopulation ecologylife tablestage-structured modelsnet reproductive rateconservation planning

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    Diversity Indices: Shannon's H and E
    This module introduces Shannon's diversity index in the context of understanding how to mathematically measure the species diversity in a community. It is intended for an introductory biology...

    Keywords: ecologydiversityFunctionsOpenStaxdiversity index

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    Bacteria to Brains in Backyard Coyotes: An Interdisciplinary Pedagogical Case Study
    Our interdisciplinary pedagogical case study explores the differences between rural and urban coyotes at the levels of organismal and community ecology. The focus is on how coyotes’ gut microbiomes...

    Keywords: Vision and Changeecologyintroductory biologyImmunologymicrobiologydietanimal behaviormicrobiomecore conceptscoyotesBraingut-brain axisImmunoReachcytokinedysbiosis

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    Case Study — World records as measures of senescence or randomness
    This is a project meant to accompany the Case Study that Carl Bergstrom, which uses R to explore whether declining track and field world record performance could be an artifact of sample size (less...

    Keywords: RRStudioprogrammingsampling distributionProbability & Statisticsrandomnesscontinuous probability distribution

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    Infectious Chocolate Joy with a Side of Poissonian Statistics: An activity connecting life science students with subtle physics concepts
    Lesson on what it means for biological processes to be Poissonian, published in CourseSource

    Keywords: quantitative biologybioinformaticsmicrobiologyphysicsNIBLSEHIVCourseSourcemultiplicity of infectionPoisson Distribution

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    Building Biodiversity Datasets for Invasive Species
    A module guiding students through the process of mapping biodiversity data and building a biodiversity dataset to study the spread and impacts of the invasive aquatic plant species, European...

    Keywords: Management Of Datanatural historyField researchconservation ecologyAquatic invasive speciesbiodiversity informatics

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    Digital Herbarium Lab with RStudio: Are shifting abundances of native species detectable over time?
    This 2- to 3-hour lab activity introduces sophomore-level students to digitized herbarium collections, R-coding, and potential reasons for shifting abundances in native and non-native plant species...

    Keywords: data analysistool:rstudionatural historyplant biologyinvasive plantsherbariumnative plantsdigitized natural history collectionsR code

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    Island Frogs
    This is an exercise in island biogeography that allows students to reconstruct splits in the evolutionary history of several hypothetical frog species.

    Keywords: Resources @ SimBio

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