Life Sciences Commons^™

Assessing The Impact Of Historical Story Telling On Student Learning Of Natural Selection, Janice Marie Fulford

Dissertations

Research suggests that because of its historical nature, the learning of evolutionary biology is problematic compared to that of other science disciplines. While explanations used in historical sciences often employ historical narratives, which are distinct from narratives in other contexts, such as stories, the two types of narratives have structural similarities that suggest the potential role of stories based in the history of science for the teaching of evolutionary biology. Stephen Klassen, a prominent science educator, has studied how stories from the history of physics can promote the learning of and attitudes towards science. Klassen’s pioneering work identifies structural components …

Population Demographics And Genetics Of Spix's Disk-Winged Bat: Insights Regarding Survival, Mate Choice, Gene Flow And Effective Population Size, Michael Buchalski

Dissertations

Simultaneous study of the demographics and genetics of populations are relatively rare within the literature, despite insights their combined use offers regarding the life history, ecology, and evolution of species. Here I take a comprehensive approach, using capture-recapture data, polymorphic microsatellite markers, and various modeling techniques to examine the demographics and genetics of multiple local populations of Spix’s disk-winged bat (Thyroptera tricolor) in southwestern Costa Rica. T. tricolor is a highly gregarious, neotropical bat species known to form kin-based social groups with high retention of offspring of both sexes. The implications of this highly unusual social structure for …

Inbreeding, Male Diploidy, And Complementary Sex Determination In The Solitary Wasp Euodynerus Foraminatus, Julie Kozaczka Stahlhut

Dissertations

In the insect order Hymenoptera, which includes wasps, bees, and ants, females normally develop from fertilized eggs and are diploid, while males develop from unfertilized eggs and are haploid. Underlying mechanisms of sex determination are more complex and vary among different hymenopteran taxa. One such method is single-locus complementary sex determination, or sl-CSD, in which sex is determined by a single gene locus with many alleles. In species with sl-CSD, diploid individuals that are heterozygous at the sex locus develop as normal females and hemizygous (haploid) individuals as normal males, but diploids homozygous at the sex locus will also develop …

An Account Of Novice Phylogenetic Tree Construction From The Problem-Solving Research Tradition, Terrance E. Brisbin

Dissertations

Both the content and strategic knowledge used in phylogenetic tree construction are described to account for novice performance. A review of the literature is used to place this research with respect to studies in: problem solving studies (both expert, and novice), the history and practice of evolutionary systematics, and the teaching of evolution. The computer-based problem-solving environment is discussed along with model problems used for the research.

Each of the five research problems consists of an encoded matrix containing phylogenetic data organized by taxa and characters. Twelve participants (high school students) volunteered to solve the research problems, on their own …

Highway Deicing Salts And The Mobilization Of Selected Heavy Metals From Stream Sediments, Harlie David Cole

Dissertations

This study was undertaken to: (a) determine the effect of sodium chloride concentration on mobilizing cadmium, copper, lead, nickel, and zinc from stream sediments; (b) determine if chloro-metal complexes may play a role in any such mobilization; and (c) determine the correlations between chloride ion and each of these metals in an urban stream during winter road-salting periods.

The drainage basin of the Red Run, an urban stream draining all or parts of several cities north of Detroit, Michigan, was chosen as a study site. Stream sediments containing the five heavy metals were stirred with sodium chloride or sodium nitrate …

The Relationship Between Adjacent Residential Development And Breeding Bird Populations, Steven L. Harbron

Dissertations

The breeding bird populations of a 40.9 acre grassland-thicket, the Colony Farm Tract, Kalamazoo, Michigan, were studied over 18 years, from 1961-1979. The purpose of the study was to discover any variations in the avian populations that resulted from the construction of an adjacent residential development. Particular attention was directed toward establishing the kinds of relationships that existed between the breeding bird populations and the adjacent residential development.

A Limnological Investigation Of A Tropical Fresh-Water Ecosystem: The Belize River, Belize, Central America, Victor J. Gonzalez

Dissertations

The limnology of the Belize River, from the region of Spanish Lookout to the region of Belize City, was investigated from 1977 through 1979. The investigation was done primarily during the months of May through August, covering the two seasonal changes--wet and dry--that occur in this tropical region. The investigation sought to describe various parameters of the Belize River so as to gain an understanding of this tropical fresh-water ecosystem and to provide basic information needed for the development of management programs.

Water samples were collected from eight stations and analyzed for acidity, alkalinity, carbon dioxide, chloride, sodium chromate, hexavalent …

Biota And Environment Of The Muskegon, Michigan, Combined Industrial And Municipal Wastewater Storage Lagoons, W. Randolph Frykberg

Dissertations

No abstract provided.