Assistant Professor of Biology SUNY Plattsburgh Plattsburgh, New York, United States
Abstract: Today’s ecologist may have a different set of credentials as compared to those a decade ago. Emphasis on broad training in not only field work, but also molecular ecology and geospatial analysis is growing. I aim to share a case study in wildlife research that is transferable to an undergraduate classroom. This project centers around the common northern forest species Plethodon cinereus (Red-backed Salamander) and emphasizes collaboration across disciplines (ecology, microbiology, genetics) with growth in both student and faculty skills alike. There are a host of known threats to herpetofauna including habitat split, pollution, climate change, and disease spread. The mucosome of amphibians is an important first line of defense against desiccation and disease. Numerous studies have shown that microbiome diversity affords many herpetofaunal species protections against fungal infection such as chytridiomycosis. During two consecutive years, students in SUNY Plattsburgh’s upper-level Wildlife Ecology and Management course surveyed herpetofaunal species richness patterns across a variety of sites and noted forest structure and site conditions. In addition, these students swabbed the epithelial mucosome of each individual and plated these samples on sterile Petri dishes. Bacterial morphotype richness was determined by species-specific and site-specific colony morphotype prior to performing molecular ecology. Microbial DNA was extracted from bacterial colonies, a 16s rRNA polymerization chain reaction (PCR) was performed, and Sanger sequencing services were employed to identify microbial species. Students learned that herpetofaunal species richness varied across sites, forest structure, and other microhabitat conditions. Additionally, they determined that microbiome varies by herpetofaunal species and across sites and included members of the genera Pedobacter, Aminobacter, Pseudomonas, Serratia, Pantoea, and Sphingobacteria. During the semester, students networked and troubleshot issues with collaborating faculty whose expertise complemented that of their primary professor and presented their results at conferences. At primarily undergraduate institutions, faculty are often constrained logistically by resources; however projects such as this offer an opportunity to increase the scope of student research opportunities. Interdisciplinary research projects can be embedded in courses as pedagogical modules that leverage faculty expertise, consumables, and equipment, while setting an example for students about the importance of collaboration.
