Biology Commons^™

Potential Distribution Of Six North American Higher-Attine Fungus-Farming Ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Species, Sarah F. Senula, Joseph T. Scavetta, Joshua A. Banta, Ulrich G. Mueller, Jon N. Seal, Katrin Kellner

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Ants are among the most successful insects in Earth’s evolutionary history. However, there is a lack of knowledge regarding range-limiting factors that may influence their distribution. The goal of this study was to describe the environmental factors (climate and soil types) that likely impact the ranges of five out of the eight most abundant Trachymyrmex species and the most abundant Mycetomoellerius species in the United States. Important environmental factors may allow us to better understand each species’ evolutionary history. We generated habitat suitability maps using MaxEnt for each species and identified associated most important environmental variables. We quantified niche overlap …

Shotgun Sequencing Decades-Old Lichen Specimens To Resolve Phylogenomic Placement Of Type Material, Steven D. Leavitt, Rachel Kueler, Clayton C. Newberry, Roger Rosentreter, Larry L. St. Clair

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Natural history collections, including name-bearing type specimens, are an important source of genetic information. These data can be critical for appropriate taxonomic revisions in cases where the phylogenetic position of name-bearing type specimens needs to be identified, including morphologically cryptic lichen-forming fungal species. Here, we use high-throughput metagenomic shotgun sequencing to generate genome-scale data from decades-old (i.e., more than 30 years old) isotype specimens representing three vagrant taxa in the lichen-forming fungal genus Rhizoplaca, including one species and two subspecies. We also use data from high-throughput metagenomic shotgun sequencing to infer the phylogenetic position of an enigmatic collection, originally …

A First Phylogenetic Assessment Of Dictyonemo S.Lat In Southwestern North America Reveals Three New Basidiolichens, Described In Honor James D. Lawrey, Manuel Dal Forno, Laurel Kaminsky, Roger Rosentreter, R. Troy Mcmullin, André Aptroot, Robert Lücking

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Three species of lichenized basidiomycetes in the Dictyonema clade from southeastern North America are described as new to science: Cyphellostereum georgianum, C. jamesianum and Dictyonema lawreyi, all with a crustose-filamentous growth form. Based on ITS sequences, the species form well-supported monophyletic clades in a phylogeny and are represented by at least two specimens each. They are also distinguishable by morphological and anatomical characters. These new findings emphasize the importance of lichenological studies in North America, especially in historically understudied taxonomic groups, such as basidiolichens. This study is dedicated to James D. Lawrey on the occasion of his 70^{th …}

Human-Carnivore Relations: Conflicts, Tolerance And Coexistence In The American West, Juan M. Requena-Mullor

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Carnivore and humans live in proximity due to carnivore recovery efforts and ongoing human encroachment into carnivore habitats globally. The American West is a region that uniquely exemplifies these human-carnivore dynamics, however, it is unclear how the research community here integrates social and ecological factors to examine human-carnivore relations. Therefore, strategies promoting human-carnivore coexistence are urgently needed. We conducted a systematic review on human-carnivore relations in the American West covering studies between 2000 and 2018. We first characterized human-carnivore relations across states of the American West. Second, we analyzed similarities and dissimilarities across states in terms of coexistence, tolerance, number …

Integrating Anthropogenic Factors Into Regional-Scale Species Distribution Models: A Novel Application In The Imperiled Sagebrush Biome, Juan M. Requena-Mullor, Kaitlin C. Maguire, Douglas J. Shinneman, Timothy Trevor Caughlin

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Species distribution models (SDM) that rely on regional-scale environmental variables will play a key role in forecasting species occurrence in the face of climate change. However, in the Anthropocene, a number of local-scale anthropogenic variables, including wildfire history, land-use change, invasive species, and ecological restoration practices can override regional-scale variables to drive patterns of species distribution. Incorporating these human-induced factors into SDMs remains a major research challenge, in part because spatial variability in these factors occurs at fine scales, rendering prediction over regional extents problematic. Here, we used big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.) as a model species to …

Culturing Embryonic Cells From The Parthenogenetic Clonal Marble Crayfish Marmorkrebs Procambarus Virginalis Lyko, 2017 (Decapoda: Astacidea: Cambaridae), Heriberto Deleon Iii, Juan Garcia Jr., Dionn Carlo Silva, Oscar Quintanilla, Zen Faulkes, John M. Thomas Iii

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The parthenogenetic marbled crayfish, or Marmorkrebs (Procambarus virginalis Lyko 2017), is an emerging model organism. We describe a method to isolate cells from early-stage embryos and culture them in vitro. The identity of the cells was confirmed by sequencing the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene. This technique can be applied for use in the manipulation of embryonic parthenogenetic crayfish cells.

Cul3 Regulates Cyclin E1 Protein Abundance Via A Degron Located Within The N-Terminal Region Of Cyclin E, Brittney Marie Davidge, Katia De Oliveira Rebola, Larry N. Agbor, Curt D. Sigmund, Jeffrey D. Singer

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

mammalian cells. Increased levels of cyclin E are found in some cancers. Additionally, proteolytic removal of the cyclin E N-terminus occurs in some cancers and is associated with increased cyclin E–Cdk2 activity and poor clinical prognosis. Cyclin E levels are tightly regulated and controlled in part through ubiquitin-mediated degradation initiated by one of two E3 ligases, Cul1 and Cul3. Cul1 ubiquitylates phosphorylated cyclin E, but the mechanism through which Cul3 ubiquitylates cyclin E is poorly understood. In experiments to ascertain how Cul3 mediates cyclin E destruction, we identified a degron on cyclin E that Cul3 targets for ubiquitylation. Recognition of …

Species-Specific Effects Of Passive Warming In An Antarctic Moss System, Hannah M. Prather, Angélica Casanova-Katny, Andrew F. Clements, Matthew Chmielewski, Mehmet Ali Balkan, Erin Shortlidge, Todd Rosenstiel, Sarah Eppley

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Polar systems are experiencing rapid climate change and the high sensitivity of these Arctic and Antarctic ecosystems make them especially vulnerable to accelerated ecological transformation. In Antarctica, warming results in a mosaic of ice-free terrestrial habitats dominated by a diverse assemblage of cryptogamic plants (i.e. mosses and lichens). Although these plants provide key habitat for a wide array of microorganisms and invertebrates, we have little understanding of the interaction between trophic levels in this terrestrial ecosystem and whether there are functional effects of plant species on higher trophic levels that may alter with warming. Here, we used open top chambers …

Where To Forage When Afraid: Does Perceived Risk Impair Use Of The Foodscape?, Samantha P.H. Dwinnell, Hall Sawyer, Jill E. Randall, Jeffery L. Beck, Jennifer S. Forbey, Gary L. Fralick, Kevin L. Monteith

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The availability and quality of forage on the landscape constitute the foodscape within which animals make behavioral decisions to acquire food. Novel changes to the foodscape, such as human disturbance, can alter behavioral decisions that favor avoidance of perceived risk over food acquisition. Although behavioral changes and population declines often coincide with the introduction of human disturbance, the link(s) between behavior and population trajectory are difficult to elucidate. To identify a pathway by which human disturbance may affect ungulate populations, we tested the Behaviorally Mediated Forage‐Loss Hypothesis, wherein behavioral avoidance is predicted to reduce use of available forage adjacent to …

Modeling The Effects Of Climate Change On The Distribution Of Tagetes Lucida Cav. (Asteraceae), Julianna Katherine Schaefer Kurpis, Miguel Angel Serrato-Cruz, Teresa Patricia Feria-Arroyo

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Climate change threatens the future distributions of native, tropical species all around the world as increasing global temperature and, in several regions decreasing precipitation cause less suitable habitat to become available. Of particular interest in this paper is to construct a model of the potential impact of climate change on the distribution of the Pericón or Mexican Mint Marigold, Tagetes lucida, a native medicinal plant of important cultural and economic value in Mexico. We projected the future distribution of this species using the maximum entropy algorithm (MaxEnt) and five bioclimatic variables. Models were created using three global circulation …

Identification Of Key Parameters Controlling Demographically Structured Vegetation Dynamics In A Land Surface Model: Clm4.5(Fates), Elias C. Massoud, Chonggang Xu, Rosie A. Fisher, Ryan G. Knox, Anthony P. Walker, Shawn P. Serbin, Bradley O. Christoffersen, Jennifer A. Holm, Lara M. Kueppers, Daniel M. Ricciuto

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Vegetation plays an important role in regulating global carbon cycles and is a key component of the Earth system models (ESMs) that aim to project Earth's future climate. In the last decade, the vegetation component within ESMs has witnessed great progress from simple “big-leaf” approaches to demographically structured approaches, which have a better representation of plant size, canopy structure, and disturbances. These demographically structured vegetation models typically have a large number of input parameters, and sensitivity analysis is needed to quantify the impact of each parameter on the model outputs for a better understanding of model behavior. In this study, …

Precipitation Mediates Sap Flux Sensitivity To Evaporative Demand In The Neotropics, Charlotte Grossiord, Bradley O. Christoffersen, Aura M. Alonso-Rodríguez, Kristina Anderson-Teixeira, Heidi Asbjornsen, Luiza Maria T. Aparecido, Z. Carter Berry, Christopher Baraloto, Damien Bonal, Isaac Borrego

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Transpiration in humid tropical forests modulates the global water cycle and is a key driver of climate regulation. Yet, our understanding of how tropical trees regulate sap flux in response to climate variability remains elusive. With a progressively warming climate, atmospheric evaporative demand [i.e., vapor pressure deficit (VPD)] will be increasingly important for plant functioning, becoming the major control of plant water use in the twenty-first century. Using measurements in 34 tree species at seven sites across a precipitation gradient in the neotropics, we determined how the maximum sap flux velocity (vmax) and the VPD threshold at which …

Phylogenomics Resolves Major Relationships And Reveals Significant Diversification Rate Shifts In The Evolution Of Silk Moths And Relatives, J. R. Barber

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Silkmoths and their relatives constitute the ecologically and taxonomically diverse superfamily Bombycoidea, which includes some of the most charismatic species of Lepidoptera. Despite displaying spectacular forms and diverse ecological traits, relatively little attention has been given to understanding their evolution and drivers of their diversity. To begin to address this problem, we created a new Bombycoidea-specific Anchored Hybrid Enrichment (AHE) probe set and sampled up to 571 loci for 117 taxa across all major lineages of the Bombycoidea, with a newly developed DNA extraction protocol that allows Lepidoptera specimens to be readily sequenced from pinned natural history collections.

Results: …

The Convolvulaceae Family In The Municipality Of Victoria, Tamaulipas, Mexico, Estefania Guadalupe Fernandez-Puga, Arturo Mora-Olivo, J. Andrew Mcdonald, Edilia De La Rosa-Manzano

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: The Convolvulaceae a plant family of near-cosmopolitan distribution includes 58 genera and 1,880 species. This family presents a remarkable amount of morphological diversity and even includes parasitic species. Knowledge of Convolvulaceae in Mexico is still scanty, since few geographical areas of Mexico have been investigated with respect to this family or any of its genera.

Questions: How many and which species of Convolvulaceae are found in the municipality of Victoria? How are they distributed within the study area and worldwide?

Species study: Species of the family Convolvulaceae.

Site and years of study: Victoria, Tamaulipas, Mexico, 2017-2018.

Methods: Botanical material …

Cancer Testis Antigen Promotes Triple Negative Breast Cancer Metastasis And Is Traceable In The Circulating Extracellular Vesicles, Anabarasu Kannan, Julie V. Philley, Kate L. Hertweck, Harrison Ndetan, Karan P. Singh, Subramaniam Sivakumar, Robert B. Wells, Ratna K. Vadlamudi, Santanu Dasgupta

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) has poor survival, exhibits rapid metastases, lacks targeted therapies and reliable prognostic markers. Here, we examined metastasis promoting role of cancer testis antigen SPANXB1 in TNBC and its utility as a therapeutic target and prognostic biomarker. Expression pattern of SPANXB1 was determined using matched primary cancer, lymph node metastatic tissues and circulating small extracellular vesicles (sEVs). cDNA microarray analysis of TNBC cells stably integrated with a metastasis suppressor SH3GL2 identifed SPANXB1 as a potential target gene. TNBC cells overexpressing SH3GL2 exhibited decreased levels of both SPANXB1 mRNA and protein. Silencing of SPANXB1 reduced migration, invasion …

Engineering Dna Recognition And Allosteric Response Properties Of Tetr Family Proteins By Using A Module-Swapping Strategy, Rey P. Dimas, Benjamin R. Jordan, Xian-Li Jiang, Catherine Martini, Joseph S. Glavy, Dustin P. Patterson, Faruck Morcos, Clement T.Y. Chan

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The development of synthetic biological systems requires modular biomolecular components to flexibly alter response pathways. In previous studies, we have established a module-swapping design principle to engineer allosteric response and DNA recognition properties among regulators in the LacI family, in which the engineered regulators served as effective components for implementing new cellular behavior. Here we introduced this protein engineering strategy to two regulators in the TetR family: TetR (UniProt Accession ID: P04483) and MphR (Q9EVJ6). The TetR DNA-binding module and the MphR ligand-binding module were used to create the TetR-MphR. This resulting hybrid regulator possesses DNA-binding properties of TetR and …

A Csra-Binding, Trans-Acting Srna Of Coxiella Burnetii Is Necessary For Optimal Intracellular Growth And Vacuole Formation During Early Infection Of Host Cells, Shaun Wachter, Matteo Bonazzi,, Kyle Shifflett, Abraham Moses, Rahul Raghavan, Michael F. Minnick

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Coxiella burnetii is an obligate intracellular gammaproteobacterium and zoonotic agent of Q fever. We previously identified 15 small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs) of C. burnetii. One of them, CbsR12 (Coxiella b urnetii small RNA 12), is highly transcribed during axenic growth and becomes more prominent during infection of cultured mammalian cells. Secondary structure predictions of CbsR12 revealed four putative CsrA-binding sites in stem loops with consensus AGGA/ANGGA motifs. We subsequently determined that CbsR12 binds to recombinant C. burnetii CsrA-2, but not CsrA-1, proteins in vitro. Moreover, through a combination of in vitro and cell …

Adaptive Responses Of Animals To Climate Change Are Most Likely Insufficient, Viktoriia Radchuk, Thomas Reed, Céline Teplitsky, Martijn Van De Pol, Anne Charmantier, Christopher Hassall, Peter Adamík, Frank Adriaensen, Markus P. Ahola, Karl S. Berg

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Biological responses to climate change have been widely documented across taxa and regions, but it remains unclear whether species are maintaining a good match between phenotype and environment, i.e. whether observed trait changes are adaptive. Here we reviewed 10,090 abstracts and extracted data from 71 studies reported in 58 relevant publications, to assess quantitatively whether phenotypic trait changes associated with climate change are adaptive in animals. A meta-analysis focussing on birds, the taxon best represented in our dataset, suggests that global warming has not systematically affected morphological traits, but has advanced phenological traits. We demonstrate that these advances are adaptive …

Correcting Forensic Dna Errors, Greg Hampikian

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

DNA mixture interpretation can produce opposing conclusions by qualified forensic analysts, even within the same laboratory. The long-delayed publication of the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) study of 109 North American crime laboratories in this journal demonstrates this most clearly. This latest study supports earlier work that shows common methods such as the Combined Probability of Inclusion (CPI) have wrongly included innocent people as contributors to DNA mixtures.The 2016 President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology report concluded,“In summary, the interpretation of complex DNA mixtures with the CPI statistic has been an inadequately specified—and thus inappropriately subjective—method. …

How To Make A Weed: The Saga Of The Slender False Brome Invasion In The North American West And Lessons For The Future, Mitchell B. Cruzan

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Historical herbarium collections and genetic analyses indicate that slender false brome (Brachypodium sylvaticum) was first introduced in test gardens in Oregon in the early 1900 s as part of the USDA’s plant introduction program. A small number of naturalized populations were established, but it was not until several decades later that this alien species became an aggressive invader. The Oregon invasive strains of false brome were generated as a consequence of mating among genetically divergent lineages. The resulting hybrid populations contained high levels of genetic variation that fueled the evolution of specific adaptations to the Pacific Northwest climate and ultimately …

Conservation Genomics In The Sagebrush Sea: Population Divergence, Demographic History, And Local Adaptation In Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus Spp.), Kevin P. Oh, Cameron L. Aldridge, Jennifer S. Forbey, Carolyn Y. Dadabay, Sara J. Oyler-Mccance

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Sage-grouse are two closely related iconic species of the North American West, with historically broad distributions across sagebrush-steppe habitat. Both species are dietary specialists on sagebrush during winter, with presumed adaptations to tolerate the high concentrations of toxic secondary metabolites that function as plant chemical defenses. Marked range contraction and declining population sizes since European settlement have motivated efforts to identify distinct population genetic variation, particularly that which might be associated with local genetic adaptation and dietary specialization of sage-grouse. We assembled a reference genome and performed whole-genome sequencing across sage-grouse from six populations, encompassing both species and including several …

Complex History Of Codiversification And Host Switching Of A Newfound Soricid-Borne Orthohantavirus In North America, Schuyler W. Liphardt, Hae Ji Kang, Laurie J. Dizney, Luis A. Ruedas, Joseph A. Cook, Richard Yanagihara

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Orthohantaviruses are tightly linked to the ecology and evolutionary history of their mammalian hosts. We hypothesized that in regions with dramatic climate shifts throughout the Quaternary, orthohantavirus diversity and evolution are shaped by dynamic host responses to environmental change through processes such as host isolation, host switching, and reassortment. Jemez Springs virus (JMSV), an orthohantavirus harbored by the dusky shrew (Sorex monticola) and five close relatives distributed widely in western North America, was used to test this hypothesis. Total RNAs, extracted from liver or lung tissue from 164 shrews collected from western North America during 1983–2007, were analyzed for orthohantavirus …

Herbivory And Inbreeding Affect Growth, Reproduction, And Resistance In The Rhizomatous Offshoots Of Solanum Carolinense (Solanaceae), Chad T. Nihranz, Rebecca L. Kolstrom, Rupesh R. Kariyat, Mark C. Mescher, Consuelo M. De Moraes, Andrew G. Stephenson

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Resource sharing within clonal plant networks can occur via the translocation of water, nutrients, and photoassimilates through rhizomes and stolons. Similar mechanisms may mediate the sharing of information (e.g., about herbivory or other environmental stressors) among ramets via molecular or biochemical signals. The storage of such information in belowground structures could facilitate the transmission of appropriate phenotypic responses across growing seasons in perennial species. However, few previous studies have explored the potential transfer of ecologically relevant information within such networks. This study addresses the effects of foliar herbivory and belowground overwintering on the growth and flowering, physical defenses, and herbivore …

Phylogeny Of The Ciliate Family Psilotrichidae (Protista, Ciliophora), A Curious And Poorly-Known Taxon, With Notes On Two Algae-Bearing Psilotrichids From Guam, Usa, Xiaotian Luo, Jie A. Huang, Lifang Li, Weibo Song, William A. Bourland

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: The classification of the family Psilotrichidae, a curious group of ciliated protists with unique morphological and ontogenetic features, is ambiguous and poorly understood particularly due to the lack of molecular data. Hence, the systematic relationship between this group and other taxa in the subclass Hypotrichia remains unresolved. In this paper the morphology and phylogenetics of species from two genera of Psilotrichida are studied to shed new light on the phylogeny and species diversity of this group of ciliates.

Results: The 18S rRNA gene sequences of species from two psilotrichid genera were obtained. In the phylogenetic trees, the available psilotrichid …

Trophic Interactions And Abiotic Factors Drive Functional And Phylogenetic Structure Of Vertebrate Herbivore Communities Across The Arctic Tundra Biome, Jennifer Forbey

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Communities are assembled from species that evolve or colonise a given geographic region, and persist in the face of abiotic conditions and interactions with other species. The evolutionary and colonisation histories of communities are characterised by phylogenetic diversity, while functional diversity is indicative of abiotic and biotic conditions. The relationship between functional and phylogenetic diversity infers whether species functional traits are divergent (differing between related species) or convergent (similar among distantly related species). Biotic interactions and abiotic conditions are known to influence macroecological patterns in species richness, but how functional and phylogenetic diversity of guilds vary with biotic factors, and …

Dietary Plasticity In A Specialist Predator, The Gyrfalcon (Falco Rusticolus): New Insights Into Diet During Brood Rearing, Bryce W. Robinson, Travis L. Booms, Marc J. Bechard, David L. Anderson

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Climate and landscape change are expected to affect species’ distributions and interactions, with potentially harmful consequences for specialist predators. Availability of optimal prey can affect reproductive success in raptors, especially in the Arctic, where dramatic differences in prey availability occur both within and between years. However, behavioral responses of dietary specialist, resident predators such as Gyrfalcons (Falco rusticolus) to changes in prey availability remain poorly understood. To improve understanding of how climate-driven changes in prey availability may affect diet of avian predators in the Arctic, we characterized Gyrfalcon diet on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska, in 2014 and 2015 …

Antioxidant Capacity And Anoxia-Tolerance In Austrofundulus Limnaeus Embryos, Josiah Tad Wagner, Michael J. Knapp, Jason E. Podrabsky

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Embryos of Austrofundulus limnaeus can tolerate extreme environmental stresses by entering into a state of metabolic and developmental arrest known as diapause. Oxidative stress is ubiquitous in aerobic organisms and the unique biology and ecology of A. limnaeus likely results in frequent and repeated exposures to oxidative stress during development. Antioxidant capacity of A. limnaeus was explored during development by measuring antioxidant capacity due to small molecules and several enzymatic antioxidant systems. Diapause II embryos can survive for several days in 1% hydrogen peroxide without indications of negative effects. Surprisingly, both small and large molecule antioxidant systems are highest during …

Genotype Network Intersections Promote Evolutionary Innovation, Devin P. Bendixsen, James Collet, Bjørn Østman, Eric J. Hayden

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Evolutionary innovations are qualitatively novel traits that emerge through evolution and increase biodiversity. The genetic mechanisms of innovation remain poorly understood. A systems view of innovation requires the analysis of genotype networks—the vast networks of genetic variants that produce the same phenotype. Innovations can occur at the intersection of two different genotype networks. However, the experimental characterization of genotype networks has been hindered by the vast number of genetic variants that need to be functionally analyzed. Here, we use high-throughput sequencing to study the fitness landscape at the intersection of the genotype networks of two catalytic RNA molecules (ribozymes). We …

Rapamycin Directly Activates Lysosomal Mucolipin Trp Channels Independent Of Mtor, Xiaoli Zhang, Wei Chen, Qiong Gao, Junsheng Yang, Xueni Yan, Han Zhao, Lin Su, Meimei Yang, Chenlang Gao, Nirakar Sahoo

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Rapamycin (Rap) and its derivatives, called rapalogs, are being explored in clinical trials targeting cancer and neurodegeneration. The underlying mechanisms of Rap actions, however, are not well understood. Mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR), a lysosomelocalized protein kinase that acts as a critical regulator of cellular growth, is believed to mediate most Rap actions. Here, we identified mucolipin 1 (transient receptor potential channel mucolipin 1 [TRPML1], also known as MCOLN1), the principle Ca2+ release channel in the lysosome, as another direct target of Rap. Patch-clamping of isolated lysosomal membranes showed that micromolar concentrations of Rap and some rapalogs activated lysosomal TRPML1 …

A Framework To Guide Undergraduate Education In Interdisciplinary Science, Brie Tripp, Erin E. Shortlidge

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

An expanded investment in interdisciplinary research has prompted greater demands to integrate knowledge across disciplinary boundaries. Vision and Change similarly made interdisciplinary expectations a key competency for undergraduate biology majors; however, we are not yet synchronized on the meaning of interdisciplinarity, making this benchmark difficult to meet and assess. Here, we discuss aspects of interdisciplinarity through a historical lens and address various institutional barriers to interdisciplinary work. In an effort to forge a unified path forward, we provide a working definition of interdisciplinary science derived from both the perspectives of science faculty members and scientific organizations. We leveraged the existing …