Stream water quality and service learning in an introductory biology class.

Northland College is a small environmental liberal arts college in northern Wisconsin near Lake Superior. In the fall of 2007 and 2008 students in a mixed science majors/non-majors introductory biology course engaged in a semester-long, service-learning project to monitor E. coli in city stormwater draining into Bay City Creek, a small stream that flows through campus and the town of Ashland before flowing into Lake Superior.

MEASURING SELECTION ON REACTION NORMS: AN EXPLORATION OF THE EUROSTA-SOLIDAGO SYSTEM.

The sensitivity of genotypic expression to the environment can be depicted as the reaction norm, which is defined as the array of phenotypes produced by a single genotype over a range of environments. We studied selection on reaction norms of the gall-inducing insect Eurosta solidaginis (Diptera; Tephritidae), which attacks tall goldenrod Solidago altissima (Compositae). Gall size was treated as a component of insect phenotype and attributes of the host plant as environmental influences on gall development.

Are transferrin and leucine aminopeptidase electromorphs reliable genetic markers in the prairie vole, Microtus ochrogaster?

The reliability of TF and LAP electromorphs as genetic markers in Microtus ochrogaster was examined by taking 18 voles captured in the wild during the summer and subjecting them to winter conditions for one month. During this time voles were bled each week and their plasma scored for TF and LAP phenotypes using starch gel electrophoresis. There were no changes in the mobility of the TF and LAP electromorphs in the same animal when fresh samples were used for electrophoresis.