Click to download pdf (23.8 MB) view in Adobe Acrobat
Click to view this document as an ebook (note: video not enabled; for best viewing download the file using the above link)
Click to view this document as an ebook (note: video not enabled; for best viewing download the file using the above link)
Lauren Doyle, Hugh Hulse, and Rob Rix (UNM)
Project Description: The goal of our dispersion module is to allow students to interactively explore the processes behind the evolution of varying coat coloration in rock pocket mice. Through the use of animation, students will be able to visualize not only the external phenomena that lead to differing coat colors, but the internal phenomena as well. We will show how lava flow interrupting the natural habitat could lead to selective predation, which would result in dark coats dominating on the lava flow. Also, we will show the differences in gene expression that manifest in the dark coat coloration. We wants students to ask: how did external pressures lead to the different coat colorations? What underlying genetic factors contributed to this? Our module will display this information in an e-book. Each topic will have a two-page layout: one page will have the text (minimal) and information, while the opposite page has an animation showing the information. It is our hope that students will be able to take our example of the rock pocket mouse and apply it to other areas where similar phenomena have occurred (Arizona, Hawaii, etc.) as well as to other species in the same area (lizards, snakes, etc.).
Project Description: The goal of our dispersion module is to allow students to interactively explore the processes behind the evolution of varying coat coloration in rock pocket mice. Through the use of animation, students will be able to visualize not only the external phenomena that lead to differing coat colors, but the internal phenomena as well. We will show how lava flow interrupting the natural habitat could lead to selective predation, which would result in dark coats dominating on the lava flow. Also, we will show the differences in gene expression that manifest in the dark coat coloration. We wants students to ask: how did external pressures lead to the different coat colorations? What underlying genetic factors contributed to this? Our module will display this information in an e-book. Each topic will have a two-page layout: one page will have the text (minimal) and information, while the opposite page has an animation showing the information. It is our hope that students will be able to take our example of the rock pocket mouse and apply it to other areas where similar phenomena have occurred (Arizona, Hawaii, etc.) as well as to other species in the same area (lizards, snakes, etc.).
