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The lab emphasizes student-led experimental design, literature use, and quantitative analysis of large data sets. Soil microbial community diversity is assessed with EcoPlates (carbon utilization patterns), while functional nitrogen analysis measures nitrate, nitrite, and ammonium to capture nitrogen-cycle effects. Formative and summative assessment runs throughout the module.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/an-open-ended-investigative-microbial-ecology-laboratory-for-introductory-biology/595482/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/an-open-ended-investigative-microbial-ecology-laboratory-for-introductory-biology/595482.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Well Done","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-08","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":44},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What is the main focus of this investigative microbial ecology laboratory?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It focuses on microbial ecology and diversity together with nitrogen cycling, using both community and functional analyses to study how experiments affect the nitrogen cycle.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How do students assess soil microbial community diversity in the module?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Students use EcoPlates to profile sole source carbon utilization patterns, generating large datasets for quantitative analysis.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"Which nitrogen-related measurements are used for functional analysis?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The module includes assays for nitrate, nitrite, and ammonium to evaluate experimental effects on the nitrogen cycle.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},595482,1792908299,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":44,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":34,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},5909892210082,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/56001069da27c9f41e8?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1789614185077863061","An Open-Ended Investigative Microbial Ecology Laboratory for  \nIntroductory Biology  \nSusan Jones-Held1, Robert Paoletti2, David Glick2 and Michael E. Held3  \n1Visiting Scientist, Dept. of Plant Biology and Pathology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8525, 2Department of Biology, King‘s College, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711, 3Department of Biology, Saint Peter‘s College, Jersey City, NJ 07306  \n[E-mail:](E-mail: mheld@spc.edu)[ ](E-mail: mheld@spc.edu)[mheld@spc.edu](E-mail: mheld@spc.edu)  \nAbstract: In this article we describe a multi-week investigative laboratory in microbial ecology/diversity and nitrogen cycling that we have used in our introductory biology course. This module encourages active student involvement in experimental design, using the scientific literature and quantitative analysis of large data sets. Students analyze soil microbial community diversity using EcoPlates (sole source carbon utilization patterns) . Also, functional analysis of these communities includes assays for nitrate, nitrite and ammonium to determine experimental effects on the nitrogen cycle. Students are continually assessed by various strategies throughout the module.  \nKeywords: Investigative, introductory biology, quantitative analysis, microbial diversity, soil microcosms, nitrogen cycle  \nINTRODUCTION  \nNumerous reports continue to emphasize the need for reform in science curricula (Handelsman et al., 2004; DeHaan, 2005) . These reform efforts encourage active learning, investigative approaches and collaboration. Laboratory experiences are extremely important in learning the process of science. Here, we describe a multi-week investigative laboratory module based on microbial community ecology for an introductory college biology laboratory course (Jones-Held, et al., 2004) . Typically, we use this module with first year students from various science disciplines. The scheduled laboratory sessions are three hours in length.  \nWe focused on microbial community ecology because this theme illustrates that organisms do not exist in isolation from each other and from their environment. Furthermore, the community ecology approach introduces the concept of biodiversity and its relationship to microbial communities that cannot be directly observed. Additionally, the method used for evaluating microbial diversity generates large data sets that students analyze and this helps improve and reinforce their quantitative and computer skills. We coupled the microbial community analysis to the microbial cycling of nitrogen as it illustrates the role of living organisms on chemical transformations, reinforcing the link between biology and chemistry that is so important for students at the beginning stages of their science studies. The specific learning objectives ofthis module are to design and initiate an experiment that will examine environmental effects on soil microbe community diversity; to understand the importance of soil microbes and their diversity in nutrient cycling within ecosystems.  \nEcologists often characterize communities in terms of species diversity. Species diversity is usually determined by using diversity indices that take into account both richness, reflecting the number of species present, and evenness, indicating the relative abundance of species in a community (Molles, 2008) . These indices rely on taxonomic identification that is fairly straightforward for plants and animals. Microbial diversity in the environment is much more difficult to address or quantify because taxonomic identification of naturally occurring microbes is usually inconclusive and difficult (Kirk et al., 2004) . However, characterizing naturally occurring microbial communities is extremely important because of their essential role in ecosystem functions like nutrient cycling and in assessing the effects of any environmental perturbations on the community. An important component to terrestrial nutrient cycling is the soil environment and its diverse micr","cbCailqEZmA9ixNr","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCailqEZmA9ixNr","pdf",411162,"English","# Introduction\n## Rationale for microbial community ecology\n## EcoPlate-based functional diversity assessment\n## Module learning objectives and assessment framework\n# Materials and Methods","[{\"question\":\"What is the main focus of this investigative microbial ecology laboratory?\",\"answer\":\"It focuses on microbial ecology and diversity together with nitrogen cycling, using both community and functional analyses to study how experiments affect the nitrogen cycle.\"},{\"question\":\"How do students assess soil microbial community diversity in the module?\",\"answer\":\"Students use EcoPlates to profile sole source carbon utilization patterns, generating large datasets for quantitative analysis.\"},{\"question\":\"Which nitrogen-related measurements are used for functional analysis?\",\"answer\":\"The module includes assays for nitrate, nitrite, and ammonium to evaluate experimental effects on the nitrogen cycle.\"}]","An Open-Ended Investigative Microbial Ecology Laboratory for Introductory Biology | PDF",1792081228,18]