CAREER: Phenotypic Plasticity in Physiological Traits and Environmental Change: Mentored Research Experiences and Service Learning Projects in Undergraduate Education

贯穿本课程的一个共同主题是让本科生参与创造新知识的研究和新知识的交流。然而，这项工作的一个基本前提是，让研究型大学的所有本科生参与这种研究经历，本身并不能培养出能够综合和分析、具有领导能力和解决问题能力、能够在学术课程和他们所生活的社区之间建立有意义联系的探究型学生。为了实现这一目标，需要许多教学策略和方法，包括由垂直整合的科学家团队进行的研究项目，使用基于探究的方法的课堂项目，跨学科的创意项目，以及与商业，工业，非营利组织和政府的指导实习。作为罗德岛大学正在开发和实施的自然资源科学新课程的一部分，PI将修订两门现有的本科课程，开发一门新的生理生态学“顶点”课程，帮助开发一门新的新生实地课程，开发我的研究项目可以让本科生参与新的特殊项目的方法，并利用创新的方法来评估和评估拟议的教育活动。研究了候鸟身体组成和消化器官的表型可塑性及其生态学意义。研究目标包括(a)评估新的无损测量鸣禽身体成分动态的方法，(b)检验关于饮食质量和禁食对鸣禽膳食营养代谢途径影响的当代假设，(c)检验关于某些生理过程对动物组织稳定同位素比率影响的关键假设，以及(d)开展涉及本科生的重要教育活动的研究项目。pi建议使用稳定同位素来追踪身体成分的使用和合成，以验证这些假设。这将是第一个利用稳定同位素来测量外源性和内源性营养物质代谢的同时操纵迁徙鸣禽身体成分的研究。拟议的研究和教学计划将建立一个学术生涯的基础，致力于发展新颖的综合和基于探究的方法来研究和教育动物生物学，一般来说，特别是生理生态学。

A common theme used throughout this program is the involvement of undergraduate students in research that creates new knowledge and in the communication of this new knowledge. However, a basic premise of the work is that involving all undergraduates at research universities in such research experiences will not by itself produce inquiring students who can synthesize and analyze, who have leadership and problem-solving skills, and who can make meaningful connections between their academic coursework and the community in which they live. To achieve such a goal requires many pedagogical strategies and approaches including research projects conducted by vertically-integrated teams of scientists, classroom projects that use inquiry-based approaches, interdisciplinary creative projects, and mentored internships with business, industry, non-profit organizations, and government. As part of a new curriculum being developed and implemented in natural resource sciences at University of Rhode Island, the PI will revise two existing undergraduate courses, develop a new "capstone" course in physiological ecology, help develop a new freshman field course, develop ways that my research projects can involve undergraduates in new special programs, and utilize innovative methods for evaluation and assessment of the proposed education activities. The research is on phenotypic plasticity of body composition and digestive organs in migrating birds and its ecological implications. Goals of the research include (a) evaluate new nondestructive methods for measuring body composition dynamics in songbirds, (b) test contemporary hypotheses about the effect of diet quality and fasting on the metabolic routing of dietary nutrients in songbirds, (c) test key assumptions about the effect of certain physiological processes on stable isotope ratios in animal tissues, and (d) develop research projects that involve undergraduates in key educational activities. The PIs propose to test the hypotheses using stable isotopes to trace use and synthesis of body components. This will be the first study to manipulate body composition of migratory songbirds while using stable isotopes to measure metabolism of exogenous and endogenous nutrients. The proposed research and teaching program will establish a foundation for an academic career devoted to the development of novel integrative and inquiry-based approaches to research and education in animal biology, in general, and physiological ecology, in particular.