Gas Exchange as a Primary Component of a Research-Oriented Biology Curriculum

气体交换作为研究型生物学课程的主要组成部分新的生物课程整合了该专业所有四年的研究型实验室，以增强学生进行独立研究所需的经验、信心和技能。一系列的实验室活动将引导学生逐步体验更重要的研究体验，从引入生物学概念到指导自己的实验设计，再到研究方案的制定。这一系列课程包括三门连续的课程：生物学前沿、组织生物学和植物生理学，并为涉及生物新陈代谢和气体交换的独立研究项目做好准备。红外线气体分析系统让生物前沿的学生发展光合作用和呼吸作用的概念。组织生物学专业的学生使用扩散光度计和便携式光合作用系统来研究蒸腾作用的控制机制、限制光合作用的因素以及矿物质营养对光合作用和蒸腾作用的影响。在植物生理学中，学生应用基础课程中使用的气体交换技术来制定研究方案，以调查沙漠灌木的水分利用效率、本地植物的果实成熟以及叶片衰老的机制。

Gas Exchange as a Primary Component of a Research-Oriented Biology Curriculum A new biology curriculum integrates project-oriented laboratories in all four years of the major to empower students with experience, confidence, and skills necessary to undertake independent research. A series of laboratory activities leads students through progressively more significant research experiences from introduction of biological concepts through guided design of their own experiments to development of research protocols. This series develops throughout three sequential courses: Frontiers in Biology, Organismal Biology, and Plant Physiology and prepares students for independent research projects involving organismal metabolism and gas exchange. Infrared gas analysis systems engage Frontiers in Biology students in the development of concepts in photosynthesis and respiration. Students in Organismal Biology use a diffusion phorometer and a portable photosynthesis system to investigate mechanisms of control of transpiration, factors that limit photosynthesis, and the effects of mineral nutrition on photosynthesis and transpiration. In Plant Physiology, students apply gas exchange techniques used in prerequisite courses to develop research protocols for investigating water use efficiency of desert shrubs, fruit ripening in native plants, and mechanisms of senescence in leaves.