Correlation and Causation in Biological Systems with Applications to Asymmetry
Significant correlations between variables in biological systems often occur. However correlation does not imply direct causation as most associations arise through multiple interactions. Students wil...

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Inducing Evolution in Bean Beetles
Demonstrating and measuring evolution in a laboratory environment with animal species is typically very challenging. However, insects are among the most amenable species for such studies and the bean ...

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Intraspecific competition in Bean Beetles
In this study, we challenge students to design experiments to determine (1) whether females attempt to minimize competition among their offspring and (2) what the effects of competition are offspring ...

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Dispersal Cues Used by Parasitic Wasps: Phototaxis, Geotaxis and Mated Melittobia
The purpose of this laboratory exercise is to help you: • Understand how light and gravity may affect dispersal of mated female Melittobia. • Develop and test hypotheses about other factors tha...

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Teach Ecology Concepts with Mud Dauber Nests
This document describes the use of mud daubers in ecology experiments.

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A Simulated Pollination Exercise
It is generally not clear from general biology texts, or from popular videos on the subject,why certain flowers require a very specific animal to carry its pollen from one plant to another. This exerc...

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Strong Evidence for Intraspecific Competition in Bean Beetles, Callosobruchus maculatus
Beck and Blumer presented a Major Workshop at ABLE 2008 in which female bean beetles, Callosobruchus maculatus, preferentially laid eggs on beans that did not have the eggs of another female. T...

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An Examination of the Influence of Diet on the Growth,Development and Survival of Manduca sexta
In this multi-week lab, students are asked to design and implement an experiment to investigate how nutrition influences the growth, development and survival of Manduca sexta.

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Fruit Fly (Drosophila melanogaster) Preferences for Different Types of Fruits
This exercise investigates the fruit fly’s preference for certain fruits. The fruit used to start the population of fruit flies can be modified to any fruit the student wishes. I normally recommend pi...

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The Effectiveness of Carrot Seed Oil and Citronella as Repellants of Bean Beetles (Callosbruchus maculatus)
Bean beetles, Callosobruchus maculatus, can cause problems with the harvesting of beans of farmers. These farmers need an effective repellent of bean beetles in order to protect their beans. Ci...

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