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    The Great Petunia Carnage of 2017: A Clicker Case Study Using Petunias to Describe the Effect of Genetic Modification on the Biochemistry of Flower Color and Phenotype in Plants
    In this single class period case study, students examine the difference between genotype and phenotype by studying the mechanisms by which commercially available petunias have been bred to have...

    Keywords: case studyGenetic ModificationsBiochemistry of Flower ColorGMO regulationsGenotype-Phenotype Connections

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    Learning the Landscape: An Active and Applied Lesson on Landscape Ecology for General Ecology Courses
    Landscape ecology is an important subtopic of ecology. As a field, it is inherently interdisciplinary and provides opportunities to teach not only content, but transferable ecological and...

    Keywords: landscape ecologyspatial scaleecosystem managementHabitat fragmentation

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    Fish, forests, and phosphorus: How do tropical fish, rainforest canopies, and volcanic groundwater inputs affect stream phosphorus cycling?
    Rainforest stream nutrient concentrations vary with groundwater source, and different stream fish species feed on aquatic and/or terrestrial prey. Explore how phosphorus cycling changes with stream...

    Keywords: nutrient cyclesBiogeochemistrykeystone speciesfood webFunctional Diversity

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    Biting into "Science Cookies": Are seed fates determined by seed size or chemistry?
    By understanding how animals make seed dispersal decisions, we can predict how plant traits affect seed survival and plant recruitment. Using wild agoutis, we experimentally tested how seed...

    Keywords: predationplant animal interactionsSymbiosisTrophic interactionsTropical ecosystemsArtificial seedsSeed dispersalTerrestrial mammal

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    Breaking It Down: What Factors Control Microbial Decomposition Rates?
    Demonstrating and modeling changes in ecosystem processes in the laboratory classroom can be logistically difficult and expensive. This complexity often leaves little time for students to generate...

    Keywords: data analysishypothesis testingdata visualizationdata managementMicrobial RespirationDecompostionAbiotic ConditionsResults Communication

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    Spreading seeds: How can a better understanding of seed dispersal improve tropical forest restoration?
    Learn about seed dispersal by animals and how this ecological process can be harnessed to facilitate forest recovery through a forest restoration experiment in Costa Rica. Apply what you learn to a...

    Keywords: conservationRestorationtropical forestsbiodiversity lossSeed dispersal

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    What is a species? Using DNA barcodes to identify species and determine insect responses to global warming
    Combining ecology, molecular tools and physiology, students investigate insect adaptation to temperatures along tropical mountains. Students integrate species concepts, DNA barcoding and thermal...

    Keywords: global warmingbeetleBiological species conceptCephaloleiacrticial thermal maximumcryptic specieselevational gradientsthermal limitstropical insectsZingiberales

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    Implementing an online module about acoustic biodiversity monitoring in the tropics for use in an undergraduate course
    This implementation plan for an online module organizes activities for understanding physical concepts and biological considerations regarding acoustic monitoring, and provides a Spanish version of...

    Keywords: Biodiversityconservation biologyTropical ecologyacoustic monitoring

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    Student-Generated Analogies for Learning about Information Flow
    Using analogies is a standard practice for both teaching and communicating ideas in science. Here we upend the traditional lesson, where the instructor provides a fully constructed analogy and...

    Keywords: critical thinkingcentral dogmaanalogical reasoning

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    Exploring Indigenous Viewpoints in the Undergraduate Biology Classroom: An Environmental Case Study Incorporating Hawaiian Traditional Ecological Knowledge
    Changing science education to foster greater equity and inclusion for Indigenous students will require effort from instructors and institutions. Instructors can help by including Traditional...

    Keywords: ecologycase studyenvironmentsystems thinkingTraditional ecological knowledgeindigenous knowledgehawai'idecolonizing scienceNative knowledgeFish ponds

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    Causes and consequences of resisting herbivory: How long-lived plants avoid damage from diverse short-lived insect herbivores
    This module guides students through decades-long studies of tropical plant-insect interactions to elucidate the ecology and evolution of plant defenses while encouraging students to consider the...
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    Between a rock and a hard place. What can turning rocks tell us about land-use change impacts on animals living in a rock outcrop?
    Unique rock outcrops in the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot in India provide a setting that challenges students to develop a study to assess the impact of land-use change on threatened animals...

    Keywords: conservationagricultureland useamphibianstropicalbiodiversity losslateritic outcropopen natural ecosystemsreptilesrocks

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    A Momentum-First Approach to Newton’s Second Law
    Students frequently struggle with seeing the connection between forces and motion in introductory physics. This lesson is part of a combined momentum and kinematics unit that first teaches...

    Keywords: group workMomentumNewton's Laws

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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...

    Keywords: dietanimal behaviorimmune systemmicrobiomeNervous systemgut-brain axisImmunoReachdysbiosisCoyoteCytokines

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    Ethics in ecological forecasting: four case-based teaching modules
    Working with ecological data often involves ethical considerations, particularly when data are applied to address societal needs. However, data science ethics are rarely included as part of...

    Keywords: data scienceremote sensingethicsuncertaintyecological forecastingindigenous knowledgetropical forestscultural competenceconflicts of interestmarine fisheriesflying foxesfreshwater qualityinequities

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    The Power of Place: A Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience Studying Urban Ecology, Local Apple Trees and Disease Susceptibility
    Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) offered early in an undergraduate student’s career have the potential to include a greater number and diversity of students than...

    Keywords: Disease ecologyurban ecologyUrban food forestsUrban heat islandsGenetic resistance

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    What Shapes a River: Field Lesson
    This lesson introduces students to field methods and theoretical concepts regarding the factors that shape river environments and ecosystems. Introductory material is followed by instruction in...

    Keywords: substrateRiver Field Studies Network Fluvial GeomorphologyWolman Pebble CountBankful FlowSediment Transport.

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    Snail Races: An Inquiry-Based Approach to Learn Invasive Species Ecology
    Inquiry-based lessons allow learning that is hands-on and student-driven, fostering engagement and retention of knowledge in any discipline. Here, we use this learning framework to engage students...

    Keywords: ecologyenvironmentInvasive SpeciesScience CommunicationScientific InquiryDispersal

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    Fostering Student to Student Collaboration Across Institutions in a Protein Centric CURE
    Collaboration is an essential component of research because it allows scientists to share expertise and tackle difficult scientific questions. While many undergraduate science courses include...

    Keywords: communicationBiochemistrycollaborationCUREhypothesisStudent to StudentInter institutionalProtein CentricAssignments

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    A CURE in traits and species distributions: Reproductive modes, range sizes, and natural history collections
    This course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) focuses on developing hypotheses about how traits influence the range sizes of species. Topics with substantive content include symbioses,...

    Keywords: Evolutionbiostatisticsecologynatural history collectionsSymbiosisspecies distributionsherbariumplant functional traitsLichenReproductive biologyAppalachian mountains

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