How an Emphasis on SOTL Has Transformed Our Lady of the Lake College

Four faculty members, representing four very different disciplines, offer their perspectives on how an institution-wide emphasis on the scholarship of teaching and learning at Our Lady of the Lake College in Baton Rouge since 2006 has improved student learning, lifted faculty morale, and moved the institution toward the learning paradigm. Panel members will share institutional and discipline-specific methods for increasing the emphasis on SOTL. Attendees will explore the opportunities for and obstacles to SOTL integration at their own institutions in small groups. Attendees and panel members will then collaboratively analyze the commonalities and differences across institutions and join forces to create a list of best practices for integrating SOTL

Putting eDNA to the Test: A Field Comparison of eDNA Metabarcoding to Established Protocols for Assessing Biodiversity in Missouri’s Ozark Highland Streams

Aquatic biodiversity monitoring to inform conservation and management efforts in stream systems has increasingly begun to incorporate eDNA-based sampling methods. We conducted a comparison of eDNA metabarcoding to a traditional protocol of combined seining and electrofishing methods to assess fish biodiversity of wadeable stream sites in six separate drainages in the Ozark Highlands of Missouri. The study further focused on the headwaters of the Meramec River, which included eleven sites and seasonal sampling (summer and winter). We compared estimates of diversity across sampling methods, assessed hypothesized relationships of habitat (depth and velocity) and season (summer vs winter) to eDNA detection, and tested the effects of sampling method and site locality on fish assemblage structural dynamics. eDNA sampling detected approximately double the number of species detected compared to traditional methods, providing higher diversity estimates while maintaining the relative ranking of sites. eDNA detection probabilities were positively associated with stream depth and velocity and were generally higher in summer than in winter but not for all species. Assemblage differences between tributary and mainstem sites were attributable to a small number of species that were found predominantly in one stream size category or the other, indicating that eDNA was sensitive to within-drainage assemblage structure relationships. Improved species detection and a more comprehensive understanding of assemblage structural dynamics are important benefits encouraging the use of eDNA metabarcoding as a primary collection method in future stream biodiversity assessment and monitoring programs

Putting eDNA to the test: A field comparison of eDNA metabarcoding to established protocols for assessing biodiversity in Missouri's Ozark Highland streams

AbstractAquatic biodiversity monitoring to inform conservation and management efforts in‐stream systems has increasingly begun to incorporate environmental DNA (eDNA)‐based sampling methods. We conducted a comparison of eDNA metabarcoding to a traditional protocol of combined seining and electrofishing methods to assess fish biodiversity of wadeable stream sites in six separate drainages in the Ozark Highlands of Missouri (USA). The study further focused on the headwaters of the Meramec River, which included 11 sites and seasonal sampling (summer and winter). We compared estimates of diversity across sampling methods, assessed the influences of water flow (depth, velocity, and discharge) and season, and tested the effects of sampling method and site locality on fish assemblage composition. eDNA sampling detected approximately double the number of species compared to traditional methods, providing higher diversity estimates while maintaining the relative ranking of sites. eDNA detection probabilities were positively associated with stream depth and velocity and were generally higher in summer than in winter but not for all species. Estimated species richness was positively associated with discharge for both methods but the relationship was stronger with eDNA sampling. Assemblage differences between tributary and mainstem sites were attributable to a small number of species that were found predominantly in one stream size category or the other, indicating that eDNA was sensitive to within‐drainage assemblage structure relationships. We highlight improved species detection, a more comprehensive understanding of assemblage structural dynamics, and the potential ability to integrate data across sampling methods as important benefits that encourage the use of eDNA metabarcoding as a primary collection method in future stream biodiversity assessment and monitoring programs