Institutional Repository
The UDSpace Institutional Repository collects and disseminates research material from the University of Delaware.
- Faculty, staff, and graduate students can deposit their research material directly into UDSpace. Faculty may use UDSpace to fulfill the University of Delaware Faculty Senate Open Access Resolution, and in many cases may use it to fulfill open access requirements from grant funding agencies.
- Departments can use UDSpace to publish or distribute their working papers, technical reports, or other research material.
- UDSpace also includes all doctoral dissertations from winter 2014 forward, and all master's theses from fall 2009 forward.
To learn more about UDSpace, and how you can make your research openly accessible to the public, visit our UDSpace Policies website.
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Recent Submissions
Investigating Student Noticing of Quantitative Reasoning in Introductory Biology Labs
(CBE-Life Sciences Education, 2025-01-15) Hsu, Jeremy L.; Gartland, Sara; Prate, Joelle; Hohensee, Charles
Quantitative reasoning (QR) is a key skill for undergraduate biology education. Despite this, many students struggle with QR. Here, we use the theoretical framework of student noticing to investigate why some students struggle with QR in introductory biology labs. Under this framework, what students notice when given new information and data influences how they process this information and connect it with other events to form new conceptions. Students must mentally isolate given features, create mental records of those features, and identify features or objects that they connect to existing knowledge. Identifying these features or objects is thus critical since they form the foundation upon which learning takes place. We conducted observations of groups in introductory biology labs involving QR, which informed follow-up interviews to examine what students notice, the level/relevance of their noticing, and factors that shape student noticing. We find that some students are noticing more perceptual features, often focusing on less relevant trends and features, with others noticing deeper, more relevant patterns that facilitate conceptual sensemaking. In addition, we find multiple factors, including students’ expectations and their attitude toward QR and biology, that shape student noticing. We conclude with implications for instructors and the biology education research community.
The Role of Host-Range Expansion and Co-Speciation in Host–Parasite Associations With the Divergence of the Great Tit Species Complex
(Ecology and Evolution, 2025-01-21) Huang, Xi; Ellis, Vincenzo A.; Peng, Yangyang; Ishtiaq, Farah; Wang, Haitao; Liang, Wei; Wu, Qiang; Bensch, Staffan; Dong, Lu
During the evolution of parasites, co-speciation and host-range expansion are thought to play roles in establishing associations with hosts, while sorting events can lead to dissolution of those associations. To address the roles of these processes, we focus on avian haemosporidian parasites infecting hosts of the intensively studied great tit species complex. We estimated the phylogeography of lineages detected in the species complex, and quantified their transition probabilities among hosts. Lineages detected in different host species presented a strong geographical signal but did not form monophyletic groups. Yet, distributions of lineages are not merely the result of their dispersal limitations, as many lineages that infect only one focal species can be found in birds sympatric with other focal species. Besides, closely related lineages that infect the same host species reach more similar rates of infection than expected by chance. Finally, Haemoproteus and Leucocytozoon lineages infecting P. major, the most recently dispersed species, were more generalized than others, consistent with a pattern of generalist parasites expanding their host ranges by infecting newly encountered host species. Our results suggest that host–parasite associations in this system are mainly the result of sorting events and host-range expansion of parasites, rather than co-speciation.
A generalist vector-transmitted parasite exhibits population genetic structure among host genera
(Parasitology, 2025-01-21) Ellis, Vincenzo A.; Duc, Mélanie; Ciloglu, Arif; Hellgren, Olof; Bensch, Staffan
Generalist parasites experience selective pressures from the various host species they infect. However, it is unclear if parasite transmission among host species precludes the establishment of host-specific adaptations and population genetic structure. We assessed the population genetic structure of the vector-transmitted avian haemosporidian parasite Haemoproteus majoris (lineage WW2; n = 34 infections) in a single site in southern Sweden among 10 of its host species. The 2 best-sampled host genera were Phylloscopus (2 species, n = 15 infections) and Sylvia (4 species, n = 15). We designed a sequence capture protocol to isolate 1.13 Mbp (ca. 5%) of the parasite genome and identified 1399 variable sites among the sequenced infections. In a principal components analysis, infections of Phylloscopus and Sylvia species mostly separated along the first 2 principal components. Sites with the highest FST values between the genera were found in genes that have mostly not been implicated in infection pathways, but several sites code for amino acid changes. An analysis of molecular variance confirmed significant variation among host genera, but not among host species within genera. The distribution of Tajima’s D among sequenced loci was negatively skewed, plausibly reflecting a history of bottleneck followed by population expansion. Tajima’s D was lower in infections of Phylloscopus than Sylvia, plausibly because WW2 began infecting Phylloscopus hosts after it was already a parasite of Sylvia hosts. Our results provide evidence of vector-transmitted parasite population differentiation among host species in a single location. Future work should focus on identifying the mechanisms underlying this genetic population structure.
A Framework for Embracing Interdisciplinarity in the Context of Job-Readiness Imperatives in College Curricula
(Academic Labor: Research and Artistry, 2024) Molloy, Cathryn
When I was earning a BA in English literature in the late 1990s/early 2000s, I was among the first in my family who were fortunate enough to attend a four-year degree program. The sentiment in my social circles, therefore, was that I was extremely lucky to be able to go to college at all, and I should simply major in a subject in which I had some strengths. I began teaching in an inner-city Philadelphia elementary school in 2002 and taught my first college course in the fall of 2004 as a graduate teaching assistant. Since my teaching assignments were mainly in first-year writing, I had the pleasure of working with students from across campus and across the disciplines. In those early days of teaching, some students talked about majoring in things that were tied to specific careers, such as engineering or computer science. And while the cliché of the overqualified and underemployed barista was already a part of the popular imagination, and the Avenue Q “What do you do with a BA in English/It Sucks to be me” (Lopez & Marx 2003) song had come out the year before, there was still a sense that many people would major in things that they were passionate about—things they were good at—with the idea that having a degree at all would be the leg up they’d need to get a good job, or, at least, to set them on a path toward a fulfilling future career.
Embodied Belonging in the Social Science Lab
(ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies, 2025-01-13) Embodiment Lab; Abou Ali, Hanan; Bryan, James Edward; Chennault, Carrie; Grover, Dharni; Haghdadi, Mehrnaz; Islam, Faisal Bin; Kim, Nari; Lucas, Nora; Mohana, Nusrat T.; Naylor, Lindsay; Nixon, Rebecca; Obringer, Kelsey M.; Ramsay, Georgina; Sultana, Naznin Nahar; Thakkar, Kaanan; Thayer, Nathan
The Embodiment Lab, rooted in critical human geography, is grounded in embodiment, belonging, mentorship, care, and temporal dynamics to challenge norms in the neoliberal university. We argue that the Lab serves as a counter-practice within the academy by prioritizing our individual and collective well-being over productivity metrics. Weekly practices cultivate radical vulnerability, creating a foundation for a caring environment. Delving into multifaceted spatial dimensions our experiences suggest that the Lab becomes a living example of a feminist ethic of care. Belonging emerges as an antidote to the exclusions ingrained in academic spaces. The Lab empowers its scholars to challenge uneven power dynamics, fostering inclusion where diverse voices are heard. The Lab's emphasis on collective action and intentional processes of growth contrasts with a conventional fast, metric-driven tempo. In this paper, we offer a model to center care in lab spaces by reflecting on our own experiences in a space that values scholars as whole individuals rather than vessels of productivity. We illustrate the reflexive character of the Lab, acknowledging its adaptability and dynamism over time. Rejecting the neoliberal norms that too often dictate research spaces, the Lab exemplifies the messy and ongoing process of creating care-full academic spaces.