The objective is for students to relate physiological attributes of organisms with constraints imposed by environmental conditions. Investigative laboratories are proposed to stress interdisciplinary approaches to learning. Equipment to be purchased will facilitate an understanding of homeostatic mechanisms, a fundamental biological principle. Instrumentation includes CO2 and O2 analytic equipment, porometers, a digital imaging system, vapor pressure osmometers, temperature controlling devices, a physiological telemetry system, and data acquisition hardware and software. Students will be able to measure rates of photosynthesis and respiration, metabolism during torpor, osmotic and ionic regulation, leaf conductance, leaf surface areas. and other essential physiological and ecological indicators. Environmental chambers will allow students to create environmental conditions in the laboratory that mimic those in nature. The project focus is on two courses, Ecology and Animal & Plant Physiology. Laboratory exercises will stress the interactive nature of these two disciplines. In each of three proposed laboratories, students in the two courses will address the same hypothesis. Ecologists will study how the environment shapes ecological adaptations of plants or animals, while the physiologists will measure the functional attributes of those organisms. Following collaboration, each student will evaluate the hypothesis. The intent is to demonstrate that biology is more than a set of distinct courses and to encourage the development of critical thinking skills by promoting collaborative problem solving. Instrumentation will support additional comparative organismal physiology exercises in Animal & Plant Physiology and in other courses including a course for nonmajors. As a result, there will be a significant increase in student investigations that consider multidisciplinary aspects of biological study.
