Equipment for Teaching and Student Research in Plant Ecologyand Evolutionary Biology

通过本项目购买的设备是为了改善实验室教学，增加本科生研究植物生态学和进化生物学的机会。正在安装的几个功能相关项目包括植物生长室、天平、便携式光合作用系统、便携式叶面积计、数据记录器和从植物组织中提取生化化合物的设备。这种新设备通过帮助教师(1)引入水生生物学和种群生物学的新课程，(2)在现有的进化生物学课程中增加新的实验室组成部分，(3)改进其他五门现有课程的实验室教学，来响应学生对生态学和进化生物学日益增长的兴趣。(4)增加学生可以作为独立研究进行的项目种类。在教学实验室，新设备正在用于各种练习，包括在自然环境和受控条件下调查环境参数对植物生长、发育和代谢的影响；受控环境条件下植物竞争的实验研究以及受多基因影响的性状（数量性状）的遗传研究。受资助机构将从非联邦来源获得等额的NSF奖励。

The equipment purchased through this project is to improve laboratory instruction and enhance opportunities for undergraduate student research in plant ecology and evolutionary biology. Several functionally related items being installed include plant growth chambers, balances, a portable photosynthesis system, a portable leaf area meter, a datalogger, and equipment for extracting biochemical compounds from plant tissues. This new equipment responds to increased student interest in ecology and evolutionary biology by assisting the faculty to (1) introduce new courses in Aquatic Biology and Population Biology, (2) add a new laboratory component to the existing Evolutionary Biology course, (3) improve laboratory instruction in five other existing courses, and (4) increase the kinds of projects that students may conduct as independent research. In the instructional laboratories, the new equipment is being used in a variety of exercises that include investigations of the effects of environmental parameters on plant growth, development, and metabolism in both natural environments and under controlled conditions; experimental studies of plant competition under controlled environmental conditions; and studies of the inheritance of traits affected by many genes (quantitative traits). The grantee institution is matching the NSF award with an equal sum obtained from non-Federal sources.