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Home > Contents
of Proceedings > Volume 9
Tested Studies for Laboratory Teaching
Volume 9
University of Minnesota, June 15-19, 1987
Editor and Host: Richard (Rick) W. Peifer
The complete volume (all chapters) is available as
a PDF
file.
1. Use of the Rabbit Intestine in Smooth Muscle Pharmacology
Experiments: A New Approach
Richard L. Walker and Charles
C. Scott, University of Calgary [abstract]
[full text]
2. Tracheid Length Measurement in Selected Conifer Species
J. Tidswell, W. J. Mullin,
K. G. Tidswell, University of New Brunswick [abstract]
[full text]
3. Community Ordination Utilizing Winter Stoneflies
Vinnedge M. Lawrence, Washington
and Jefferson College [abstract]
[full
text: pdf | html]
4. The Use of Echosounding Equipment in Limnology and Ecology
Classes
Peter Vaughan, University of
Minnesota [abstract] [full
text]
5. A Handbook for Collecting Releve Data in Minnesota
John C. Almendinger, Minnesota
Natural Heritage Program [abstract]
[full text]
6. The Electroetinogram of the Horseshoe Crab, Limulus polyphemus:
A Laboratory Exercise in Sensory Physiology
Robert A. Linsenmeier, Charles
M. Yancey, Wesley W. Ebert, Northwestern University [abstract]
[full text]
7. Methods to Process and Identify Symbiotic Fungi in the Roots
of Vascular Plants
Iris Charvat, University of
Minnesota [abstract] [full
text]
8. Teaching Botany Through Inquiry
Gordon E. Uno, University of
Oklahoma [abstract] [full
text]
9. A Laboratory Introduction to DNA Restriction Analysis
David A. Micklos, DNA Learning
Center of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and Greg A. Freyer, Columbia
University College of Physicians
and Surgeons [abstract] [full
text]
10. Resource Partitioning in Potentially Competing Insect Taxa
John A. Haarstad, University
of Minnesota [abstract] [full
text: pdf | html]
11. Supercooling and Freezing in Winter Dormant Animals
William D. Schmid, University
of Minnesota [abstract] [full
text: pdf | html]
12. The Use of Yeast for Teaching Microbiological Techniques
and Principle
Robert J. Doyle, University
of Windsor [abstract] [full
text]
13. Ideas to Stimulate the Non-Majors Biology Student
Roberta B. Williams, University
of Nevada, and Haven Sweet, University of Central Florida, and
Barbara Newman, Southwest Missouri
State University [abstract] [full
text: pdf | html]
14. Laboratory Safety Principles
Jerry Staiger, Keith Carlson,
Jim Laver, Roy Arnston, University of Minnesota [abstract]
[full text]
15. Plant Growth Respones to a Nitrogen Gradient
Mary Lynn Cowan, University
of Minnesota [abstract] [full
text]
1 -- Use of the Rabbit Intestine in Smooth Muscle
Pharmacology Experiments: A New Approach
Richard L. Walker, Charles C. Scott [full
text]
Key Words: physiology, pharmacology, smooth muscle, neurotransmitters,
autonomic control.
A technique for demonstrating the pharmacological properties of
smooth muscle using the rabbit intestine will be presented. By including
a segment of the sympathetic nerve along with a section of the gut,
the autonomic control of intestinal smooth muscle activity can be
demonstrated through stimulation of the nerve and application of
various neurotransmitters. Removal of sections of the intestine
along with the sympathetic nerve will be demonstrated as well as
a method for recording muscle contraction. This exercise is suitable
for general physiology or zoology teaching laboratories.
2 -- Tracheid Length Measurement in Selected Conifer
Species
J. Tidswell, W. J. Mullin, K. G. Tidswell [full
text]
Key Words: tracheids, staining, mounting, measuring, light microsopy.
Tracheids in conifer wood can be easily separated and their lengths
measured with a light microscope. This workshop will illustrate
the techniques for macerating the wood and staining, mounting and
measuring the tracheids. Mean tracheid length is different for each
conifer species, therefore this laboratory can be expanded into
a larger scale comparative measurement exercise.
3 -- Community Ordination Utilizing Winter Stoneflies
Vinnedge M. Lawrence [full
text: pdf | html]
Key Words: community ecology, taxonomy, winter stonefly, Taeniopterygidae,
Capniidae, computerized key, ordination.
This exercise in community ecology can be carried out in mid-winter
and introduces participants to useful taxonomic and statistical
procedures. Species determinations of winter stoneflies are facilitated
by a computerized key featuring color illustrations. Taxonomic data
are used to construct a two-dimensional ordination of the communities
from which specimens were collected. Correlations are then sought
between differences exhibited by communities and gradients of environmental
conditions.
4 -- The Use of Echosounding Equipment in Limnology
and Ecology Classes
Peter Vaughan [full
text]
Key Words: limnology, echo sounding, ecology, lake morphometry,
zooplankton, macrophyte, oxygen, temperature, chlorophyll.
This workshop will demonstrate the use of commercially available
echo sounding equipment as a tool in ecological studies which are
appropriate for class field projects. The type of information that
can be obtained is: lake basin morphometry, depth of the mixed-layer,
spatial distribution of macrophytes and zooplankton and the location
and size of fish. During the workshop, we will do several transects
of Lake Minnetonka with the echo sounder, and measure depth profiles
for oxygen, temperature and chlorophyll. We will then return to
the Gray Institute to discuss the interpretation of recordings.
5 -- A Handbook for Collecting Releve Data in Minnesota
John C. Almendinger [full
text]
Key Words: vegetation sampling, releve method, plot method, physiognomic,
species composition, multivariate analysis, field methods.
The releve method is a semi-quantitative plot method that records
both physiognomic (structural) and species composition data. The
workshop will demonstrate releve field methods and discuss the multivariate
analysis of releve data. The application of releve data to problems
of habitat evaluation, forest inventory, and research projects in
Minnesota will be presented by experts from the Minnesota Natural
Heritage Program, the Minnesota County Biological Survey, and the
Univ. of Minnesota. All participants will receive a releve handbook
that covers the history of the method, field instructions, data-entry
forms, and an overview of a menu-driven computer system (SAS Version
5) used to manage a releve database.
6 -- The Electroretinogram of the Horseshoe Crab,
Limulus polyphemus: A Laboratory Exercise in Sensory Physiology
Robert A. Linsenmeier, Charles M. Yancey, Wesley W. Ebert
[full text]
Key Words: horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus, sensory
physiology, electroretinogram.
The eye of the horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus represents
an easily-excised and durable preparation for investigating various
parameters of a typical sensory system. One can study the time course
of dark adaptation as well as the dependence of response amplitude
and latency on stimulus intensity in both the dark-adapted and light-adapted
eye. Requirements for specialized, technical equipment are minimal.
Suitable for undergraduates in advanced general biology, physiology,
and special projects.
7 -- Methods to Process and Identify Symbiotic
Fungi in the Roots of Vascular Plants
Iris Charvat [full
text]
Key Words: fungi, symbiotic fungi, Vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizae
(VAM), processing, staining, clearing, identification.
Vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizae (VAM) are present in the roots
of almost all vascular plants. VAM play a crucial role in the mineral
nutrition of these plants by transferring phosphorus and other minerals
from the soil to the plant. Techniques for obtaining VAM samples
from natural sources and from inoculated samples will be demonstrated.
Methods of processing, staining and clearing root samples, and identification
of the fungal structures will be demonstrated.
8 -- Teaching Botany Through Inquiry
Gordon E. Uno [full
text]
Key Words: inquiry method, laboratories, plant physiology, photosynthesis,
plant anatomy, scientific method, botany.
The introductory botany course at the Univ. of Oklahoma is taught
using the "inquiry method," integrating the laboratory experience
with the lecture and discussion. Workshop attendees will participate
in the inquiry method, focusing on first-day activities we use in
our class. Inquiry-oriented laboratories on plant physiology, including
photosynthesis, and plant anatomy also will be demonstrated.
9 -- A Laboratory Introduction to DNA Restriction
Analysis
David A. Micklos and Greg A. Freyer [full
text]
Key Words: restriction enzymes, DNA, agarose gel electrophoresis,
lambda virus, molecular biology.
This workshop will serve as an introduction to laboratory exercises
in molecular biology. DNA from lambda virus will be digested with
various restriction enzymes, and the resulting fragments separated
using agarose gel electrophoresis. The separation patterns will
be visualized, photographed and used to illustrate the relationship
between DNA fragment size and electrophoretic mobility.
10 -- Resource Partitioning in Potentially Competing
Insect Taxa
John A. Haarstad [full
text: pdf | html]
Key Words: interspecific competition, community structure, resource
partitioning, insects, coexisting species, niche.
Field exercises in quantifying the niche relationships (e.g. extent
of spatial, temporal, and food resource overlap) in coexisting and
potentially competing invertebrate species such as ants and carrion
beetles will be conducted.
11 -- Supercooling and Freezing in Winter Dormant
Animals [online article]
William D. Schmid [full
text: pdf | html]
Key Words: winter dormancy, cryoprotectant biochemicals, antifreeze,
supercooling, winter ecology, goldenrod gallfly, Eurosta solidagensis,
physiology, nucleator chemicals.
Winter dormant organisms, both plants and animals, have two general
categories of adaptation for survival of exposure to cold climate
stress. They can resist the formation of internal ice by supercooling
through the production of antifreeze compounds; or, they can tolerate
internal ice by addition of cryoprotectant biochemicals to their
body fluids. In the latter case, nucleator chemicals may be produced
to promote the formation of ice in extracellular fluids. We will
use techniques to measure supercooling points of a winter dormant
animal, the goldenrod gallfly, and to evaluate its seasonal production
of cryoprotectant chemicals.
12 -- The Use of Yeast for Teaching Microbiological
Techniques and Principles
Robert J. Doyle [full
text]
Key Words: yeast, cell culture, techniques, nutrition, growth,
mutation, biological engineering, media.
Cell culture methods, so critical in modern biology, may be taught
cheaply, safely and simply by using standard brewers yeast or simple
mutants derived from it. Media and methods designed to be student
proof, and a variety of simple experiments on life cycle, nutrition,
growth, and mutation will be described. Applications in biological
engineering will also be discussed.
13 -- Ideas to Stimulate the Non-Majors Biology
Student
Roberta B. Williams, Haven Sweet, Barbara Newman [full
text: pdf | html]
Key Words: undergraduate, non-major, biology laboratory education,
techniques.
This workshop will give the participants a chance to experience
several different techniques that have been used by the presenters
in biology classes for the non-biology major. Topics such as introduction
to microscopy, nutrition, body composition, body systems, genetics
and evolution will be presented. The workshop will include a number
of stations where participants can do experiments, run computer
programs and obtain resource materials. Thinking scientific methodology
will be stressed and hopefully the ideas presented can be easily
incorporated into the participants existing course. The three sections
to this workshop are: Understanding Human Energy Requirements: A
Laboratory Exercise (Williams); Ideas to Stimulate the Non-Major
Biology Student (Sweet); and Biology from the Human Perspective
(Newman).
14 -- Laboratory Safety Principles
Jerry
Staiger, Keith Carlson, Jim Laver, Ray Arntson [full
text]
Key Words: laboratory safety, regulations, hazardous materials
radioactive, toxic, reactive, carcinogenic, teratogenic, infectious
agents, fire, physical hazards.
This workshop will cover major principles and regulations pertinent
to working in laboratories with hazardous materials. It will be
divided into 45 minute segments dealing with: Radioactive Materials
(Staiger); Toxic, Reactive, Carcinogenic, and Teratogenic Chemicals
(Carlson); Infectious Agents (Laver); and Fire Safety Concepts and
Physical Hazards (Arnston).
15 -- Plant Growth Responses to a Nitrogen Gradient
Mary Lynn Cowan [full
text]
Key Words: growth response, plant physiology, field experiments,
greenhouse experiments, techniques, nutrient gradients, soil sampling.
Techniques used in setting up field experiments to study the growth
responses of herbaceous plants to a resource gradient will be discussed
and demonstrated in the field. Methods of setting up light and nutrient
gradients, soil sampling, seed collection and preparation, data
collection and analysis will be included. Participants will observe
on-going studies in the field at the Cedar Creek Natural History
Area, and view slides of smaller scale Puse experiments.
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