Feeding behavior and diet of native bull trout Salvelinus confluentus and introduced brook trout S. fontinalis in two Eastern Oregon streams

One of the greatest threats to native bull trout Salvelinus confluentus populations is the presence of non-native brook trout S. fontinalis. This study, conducted in two second-order Eastern Oregon streams, investigates the effect of brook trout on the feeding behavior arid diet of bull trout. Feeding behavior, microhabitat use, and agonistic interactions were examined in a controlled in-stream experiment where twenty enclosures were randomly assigned one of three treatments: two bull trout, four bull trout, or a mix of two bull trout and two brook trout. Results provide little evidence of a niche shift for bull trout in the presence of brook trout or of resource partitioning between sympatric bull trout and brook trout. All fish held focal feeding points in similar microhabitats and fed primarily from the water column. Brook trout showed the greatest growth, were highly aggressive, and consistently dominated bull trout of equal size. Examination of stomach contents revealed allopatric bull trout, sympatric bull and brook trout fed primarily on larvae of Ephemeroptera, Trichoptera, and aquatic Diptera and terrestrial insects. Sympatric bull trout and brook trout had a high degree of dietary overlap. All fish exhibited size selective predation, and piscivory was rare. Similar habitat use, feeding behavior and diet of bull trout and brook trout, and aggressive interactions between these species suggest that, when habitat and prey resources are scarce, direct interference competition is likely, and the dominant behavior of brook trout may potentially displace bull trout

Persistence of Triploid Grass Carp in Devils Lake, Oregon

Grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idella are sometimes used as a biological tool for managing aquatic vegetation in reservoirs. Sterile, triploid fish were stocked in Devils Lake, Oregon, during 1986, 1987, and 1993 to control aquatic vegetation. We present a case study for using multiple measures on the same fish to determine whether illegal stocking of fertile, diploid grass carp occurred. An investigation into the estimated age of a dead grass carp found in Devils Lake suggested that it was significantly younger than would otherwise be expected, given the only stocking events occurred during 1986, 1987, and 1993. To determine whether illegal stocking or reproduction by presumed sterile grass carp had occurred in Devils Lake, we conducted a study that balanced the needs of lethally sampling grass carp for biological measures with the socially and politically sensitive sentiment of the pro–grass carp citizenry of Devils Lake. These considerations, in combination with a low catch per-unit effort, resulted in a modest sample size for grass carp. We sampled grass carp and recorded multiple measures for each fish. Ploidy testing of blood samples indicated the grass carp were all triploid. Based on gonadal histopathology, six fish were male, two were female, and two were sex-indeterminate with severe gonadal dysgenesis. Age estimates from lapillus otoliths were consistent with fish originating from the legal stocking events in Devils Lake. The grass carp were 21–30 y old, and we were unable to find published reports of grass carp anywhere else in the world that are older. The grass carp were significantly smaller than much younger fish from other regions. The small size of these grass carp relative to their age in Devils Lake suggests food limitations that stunted growth. The dead grass carp that was the impetus for this study was aged by anatomical structures that we have since found to be unreliable. This suggests that the dead grass carp was probably in fact older and originated from the legal stockings. The use of multiple biological measurements on a modest sample size of grass carp, combined with the knowledge that no juvenile grass carp have been observed since legal stocking occurred, lead us to conclude that the grass carp in Devils Lake are sterile fish that originated from legal stocking events.Keywords: maximum age, sterile, intersex, gonadal histology, Asian carpKeywords: maximum age, sterile, intersex, gonadal histology, Asian car

Radical care as a science and engineering education response to climate change

Science education and science education research have long taken a lead in educating the public about climate change by arguing that the public needs to understand the scientific models that explain the mechanisms of global warming and predict future impacts. However, as of yet, this focus on understanding climate models has failed to have an impact on motivating a coherent societal response to climate change or the preparation for its consequences. One issue is the prevalence of technocratic, neoliberal, and settler colonial discourses in science and engineering education standards documents that perpetuate colonialism and racism and undermine the potential impact of science literacy as a response to climate change. In her article “Just worlding design principles: Childrens’ multispecies and radical care priorities in science and engineeringeducation,” Anastasia Sanchez provided a clear vision for how radical care could offer a principal ethic by which to create a more just and caring response to climate change, a defining issue of our time. At its core, radical care is about building relationality. One strategy for fostering relationality is perspective-taking. Nurturing perspective-taking in science and engineering education could build the sense of co-responsibility for each other that is essential for community-based strength and resistance in the face of cultural and ecological disruption and destruction. We indeed live in precarious times, and radical care will be necessary for us to survive.12 month embargo; first published 26 August 2023This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Repairing Elementary School Science

The heterogendered cultural discourse that privileges heterosexuality and normalizes sexual and gender binaries damages the science knowledge and opportunities to engage in science learning that children experience in elementary school science. This article analyzes a typical science lesson on crayfish to show how the heterogendered obsession with dichotomies and categorization hides the diversity of sexual morphologies and reproductive processes of the natural world. Furthermore, although sexuality, defined here as an innate desire to satisfy curiosity and use bodily experiences to build knowledge, is a foundation of science, typical elementary school science lessons repress children's curiosity and constrain their embodied understandings. Repairing elementary school science by providing a more expansive view of the diversity of life, inspiring and following children's curiosity, and providing opportunities for children to build embodied knowledge can create a more gender and sex-inclusive curriculum and encourage all children to flourish as learners of science.18 month embargo; published online: 14 Nov 2018This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Queering Science for All: Probing Queer Theory in Science Education

Queer theory is concerned with disrupting binaries, opening space for new identities, and interrupting heteronormativity. In the context of education, queer theory examines both how schools function to make non-heteronormative identities invisible and to disconnect learning and knowledge from pleasure and desire. School science plays a strong role in silencing queer identities and limiting science knowledge and learning. Yet, queering science education supports many of the reform efforts in science education. In the era of Science for All, queering science education is important for making school science accessible for all students and transforming science education for the benefit of all students. This paper explores, through personal vignettes and published literature, how queer theory applies to education in general, and science education in particular.About the AuthorKristin L. Gunckel is an assistant professor of science education at the University of Arizona. She received her Ph.D. in Curriculum, Teaching, and Educational Policy at Michigan State University in 2008. Her research focuses on science curriculum reform and preparing elementary teachers to teach science

The imperative to move toward a dimension of care in engineering education

The push for STEM has raised the visibility of engineering as a discipline that all students should learn. With the release of the Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), engineering now has an official place in the science curriculum. In both the Framework and the NGSS, engineering is framed as a way to solve the world's greatest problems. Despite this potential, there are troubling aspects in the way that the Framework and NGSS present engineering and how engineering is taken up in the curriculum. In this article, we use critiques of technocracy, utilitarianism, and neoliberalism to analyze the portrayal of engineering in the Framework and NGSS. We claim that the Framework and NGSS promote a technocratic perspective that engineered solutions can all problems, ignoring the sociopolitical foundations of many of the world's most pressing problems. Furthermore, both standards documents reflect a utilitarian ethic that promotes all progress as good and ignores issues of justice. Lastly, the Framework and NGSS betray neoliberal foundations that undermine education and engineering as public goods. To address some of these issues, others have argued for a greater emphasis on ethics. In response, we raise cautions because ethical framings present further intractable dilemmas. Instead, we draw on feminist theory to argue for reframing engineering education around an ethos of empathy and care. We call for a dimension of care that situates design problems in the full socio-political context and centralizes issues of justice. We provide an illustration of how an NGSS example activity for designing solar cookers could incorporate a dimension of care that addresses issues of harm, power and inequality, and ecological (in)stability to provide students with opportunities to weigh and take responsibility for the real costs and benefits of their designs.12 month embargo; first published: 30 March 2018This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Imagination, Brokers, and Boundary Objects: Interrupting the Mentor–Preservice Teacher Hierarchy When Negotiating Meanings

The mentor-preservice teacher hierarchy, that privileges mentor teacher talk and experience, often dominates mentor-preservice conversations. To realize the full potential of teacher education approaches designed to engage preservice and mentor teachers together in shared learning and teaching tasks, attention is needed to better understand the dynamics and implications of mentor-preservice teacher interactions. We analyzed how and when preservice and mentor teachers introduced ideas to group conversations and whose ideas were taken up by the group during a co-learning task. We found that mentor teachers tended to dominate group sense-making. However, preservice teacher use of imagination, the actions of teacher educators as brokers, and the use of boundary objects temporarily interrupted the dominant hierarchy. We conjecture that these moments raised preservice teacher status within the group so that mentor teachers took up preservice teachers' ideas. Implications for promoting more equitable preservice teacher participation in sense-making with mentor teachers are discussed.This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]