The threat of climate change makes it increasingly important for biologists and the public to understand how organisms respond to temperature. The Metabolic Theory of Ecology (MTE) predicts that temperature should affect organism performance, with implications for species interactions and ecosystems that span disciplines including mathematics,…

The purpose of this quantitative pretest-posttest quasi-experimental study was to examine the effect on student success rates in biology courses with laboratory components taken via distance education at a California community college. This study examined success rates for nine different courses, including 98 sections (2,299 students) taught only…

The problem addressed through this study was the absence of a critical examination of laboratory exercises used with first-year nonbiology majors and the deployment of virtual laboratories in the biology department at the project site university without critical analyses associated with the efficacy of virtual labs. Grounded in Mayer's cognitive…

The primary purpose of this study was to compare academic variables from students participating in mixed teaching methods/course revitalization biology courses to those in traditional courses at two community colleges in Tennessee. A two-group comparison design using archived data was used, which evaluated differences in final grades, exam scores,…

The purpose of this three-article dissertation was to expand knowledge and theory regarding digital tool use in biology laboratory courses, such as microbiology, which requires specific laboratory skill development through the perception of instructors and students. Article 1 establishes the broad digital literacy and fluency problem in education…

The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to determine the effectiveness of virtual laboratories relative to traditional or blended laboratories in the attainment of conceptual knowledge and skill in microscopy; and (2) to explore how such technologies are integrated in real world classrooms. Four sections of a non-major's introductory biology…

Two problems at two different abstraction levels of computational biology are studied. At the molecular level, efficient pattern matching algorithms in DNA sequences are presented. For gene order data, an efficient data structure is presented capable of storing all gene re-orderings in a systematic manner. A common characteristic of presented…

Transition metals play an important role in many biological processes, however, they are also toxic at high concentrations. Therefore, the uptake and efflux of these metals must be tightly regulated by the cell. Bacteria have evolved a variety of pathways and regulatory systems to monitor the presence and concentration of metals in the cellular…

The science education literature documents the benefits of student engagement with scientific practices. Lab reports could be an opportunity for developing student reasoning, but often prioritize learning terminology and genre-specific writing. There is potential for instructors to give students feedback that helps them to engage with scientific…

Color is a complex and rich perceptual phenomenon that relates physical properties of light to certain perceptual qualia associated with vision. Hering's opponent color theory, widely regarded as capturing the most fundamental aspects of color phenomenology, suggests that certain unique hues are mutually exclusive as components of a single color.…

In recent years, new bioinformatics technologies, such as gene expression microarray, genome-wide association study, proteomics, and metabolomics, have been widely used to simultaneously identify a huge number of human genomic/genetic biomarkers, generate a tremendously large amount of data, and dramatically increase the knowledge on human…

Dramatic biodiversity changes occurring globally from species loss and invasion have altered native food webs and ecosystem processes. My research objectives are to understand the consequences of fish diversity to freshwater systems by (1) examining the food web consequences of multiple top predators, (2) determining how biodiversity influences…

The purpose of this study was to examine whether there is a difference in high school students' achievement and retention on standardized tests between students who participate in inquiry-based laboratory activities and those that participate in traditional style laboratory activities. Additionally, student and teacher opinions of…

A recent focus on contemporary evolution and the connections between communities has sought to more closely integrate ecology with evolutionary biology. Studies of coevolutionary dynamics, life history evolution, and rapid local adaptation demonstrate that ecological circumstances can dictate evolutionary trajectories. Thus, variation in species…