University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point

Museum collections are indispensable for understanding biodiversity including parasites, hosts, and their interactions. Technological advances have revolutionized modern museum practices, changing the skills future scientists need to engage with museums and utilize their resources to address global environmental and health challenges. Concurrently, museum specimens and digital resources are becoming more accessible and relevant to formal classroom education, fostering the development of critical thinking, data analysis, and problem-solving skills among students. Parasitology collections offer unique insights into host-parasite dynamics and support training in systematic classification and diagnostic methods, counteracting the decline in organismal biology courses and expertise. In this review, we explore the evolving role of museums in parasitology education, highlighting current resources available and identifying areas for further development. We begin by uncovering the historical connections between early parasitology collections and teaching, where instructors collected specimens for educational purposes and students gained hands-on training and expertise in diagnosis and identification through creating their own collections. We describe how modern parasitology collections embody aspects of the extended specimen concept by incorporating comprehensive information about hosts and interactions along with parasite specimens. We outline the need for specialized education and training in museum methods for undergraduate students in parasitology. This includes planning and designing field collections with the extended specimen concept in mind, as well as preserving, curating, databasing, digitizing, and georeferencing specimens. We identify the positive impact of museum resources on enhancing educational opportunities, including Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs). As more parasite specimens and collections become accessible through digitization, instructors can integrate virtual specimen images, data, inquiry-based teaching modules, CUREs, and mentored curatorial or research experiences in their classrooms and laboratories. We suggest that museum-based teaching materials can address knowledge gaps in biodiversity literacy, quantitative skills, and critical thinking, ultimately preparing students for future careers in parasitology and related fields such as conservation biology, ecology, natural resources, and veterinary and human medicine.

Employee turnover has the potential to cause considerable financial liability for any organisation, regardless of size or locality. Therefore, assessing job candidates with hiring criteria that will identify applicants least likely to quit is essential. One overlooked hiring criterion is grit, passion plus perseverance toward long-term goals (Duckworth et al., 2007). While grit has long been studied in psychology and education for predicting success, research connecting it to turnover is limited, especially in business. This longitudinal study explored grit's potential relationship to turnover. Online survey data were collected at two time points from 53 employers in the Midwest USA. Results indicated that, when hiring, companies valuing grit effort, the perseverance portion of passion plus perseverance, at time 1 saw lower turnover at time 2. Even while controlling for other skills commonly associated with job performance, companies hiring for grit effort tended to see lower turnover. Recommendations for grit-focused hiring are provided.

By 2050, nearly 70% of the global population will live in cities (UN, 2018), increasing the demand for urban green spaces. Urban areas are facing increasing risks from climate change, including heatwaves, flooding, wildfires, and growing social inequality, which challenges urban planning and design. Urban forests form the backbone of green infrastructure supporting resilient, equitable, and sustainable cities. Importantly, their cost-effective benefits advance sustainable development, climate action, and biodiversity conservation. Urban forests include all woody and understorey vegetation within and around dense settlements, from cultivated trees in streets, parks, and gardens to self-sustaining stands in remnant and peri-urban woodlands (FAO, 2016). As essential nature-based solutions (Cohen-Shacham et al., 2016), urban forests provide multiple ecosystem services. They help cool urban temperatures, reduce air pollution, enhance soil infiltration, slow stormwater runoff, buffer extreme weather, and support human health (Livesley et al., 2016). They contribute significantly to climate adaptation and moderately to mitigation by reducing the energy demand for cooling (McPhearson et al., 2023). Urban forests also enhance biodiversity by providing habitats and climate refugia at multiple scales (Alvey, 2006). Trade-offs in urban forest benefits, costs, and the impacts of policy interventions, such as those related to measurement, outcomes, or implementation, remain complex (Vogt et al., 2015), but the loss of canopy reduces air quality, biodiversity, and resilience to floods, droughts, pests, and extreme heat (Nowak, 2018). Canopy loss impairs recreation and impacts physical and mental health (Carrus et al., 2015). Because urban forests are inherently dynamic systems, the death or removal of large and mature trees should be anticipated through proactive planning for their replacement, including careful consideration of which species are selected and why. Unequal access drives social-environmental injustice and health inequities, which can be addressed through greenspace expansion, equitable distribution, and better management (Esperon-Rodriguez et al., 2025). Urban forests are increasingly at risk due to significant stewardship gaps. Despite the existence of international management standards, ongoing tree losses result from pests introduced through trade, climate and pollution stress, inadequate legal protections, rapid urban densification, and insufficient maintenance (Esperon-Rodriguez et al., 2022; Paap et al., 2017; Vogt et al., 2015). Planting alone cannot offset accelerated mature tree losses or replace the vital functions these trees provide over their shortened lifespans in urban environments. Closing the stewardship gap demands urgent investment, robust funding, and stronger policy to sustain diverse and resilient urban forests. Urban forests are among the most effective, equitable nature-based solutions available. When protected and resourced, they cool neighborhoods, manage stormwater, store carbon, support biodiversity, and improve health, especially in underserved communities. Yet mature tree loss outpaces replacement amid increasing climate and biological stresses. We urge COP30 policymakers to treat urban forests as essential and critical city infrastructure: safeguard mature trees, set and finance SMART canopy, diversity and access targets, mainstream urban forests in climate and biodiversity plans, and fund long-term operations, monitoring, nursery capacity, and biosecurity. Implementing this visionary action delivers cooler, healthier, more biodiverse, and more equitable cities now and for future generations. MER and MGT led the initiative and drafted the letter. All authors provided feedback, edited, and agreed with the content of the letter. All authors, except MER and MGT, are listed alphabetically. MER received funding from Western Sydney University's Research Theme Program. KDP was supported by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO, grant 12A0L25N). RMM was supported by a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (project DE200100649), funded by the Australian Research Council of the Australian Government. JCS received funding from the Danish National Research Foundation (grant DNRF173) and EARTHKEEPER (Global South Biodiversity Leadership Initiative). CS's contribution was funded by the National Research Foundation of South Africa (grant no 84379). We declare no conflict of interest. There are no data associated with the article.

This communication presents the design of an educational sustainability doctoral program that aims to foster transformative learning and ethical action. The program focuses on practices and pedagogies that target key sustainability competencies and cover a holistic range of sustainability topics, as presented in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). To evaluate the effectiveness of the program in educating for sustainability, we conducted a survey and interviews with current students and alumni. The results indicate that practices, such as the cohort model and in-person residences, and pedagogies connected to action research were critical in supporting student learning. We also found that the program iteratively improved overtime, with cohort 1 expressing greater challenges in learning and conducting research as compared to later cohorts. The educational sustainability doctoral program at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point was launched in 2017 with cohort-1 but underwent a leadership change in 2019, leading to substantial changes in program design and implementation processes. Due to the stark contrast between the early years of the program and the current state, the study is on-going, and the results presented here are considered preliminary.

ABSTRACT The discovery that mitochondrial genomes can harbor functional mutations despite the evolutionarily conserved role of mitochondria has spurred interest in better understanding the ecological and evolutionary consequences of such mitochondrial genetic variation. Because mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) encodes products that must function in concert with products of the nuclear genome, and because mitochondria are largely maternally inherited, outstanding questions remain as to how, when, and why variation in mtDNA may affect phenotype. In this study, we developed a set of intraspecific “mitonuclear strains” of Drosophila melanogaster fruit flies that vary across 13 mtDNA haplotypes and 3 nuclear genetic backgrounds. We created a new apparatus called the Drop Tower to test the performance of these strains in negative geotaxis, a locomotory trait we predicted to be sensitive to variation at the level of mitochondria, across both sexes and two age classes. We found that both mitochondrial and nuclear genetic variation significantly altered how negative geotaxis performance changed with age and across the sexes, though interactions between mitochondrial and nuclear strains did not affect performance. Across most strains, male flies performed more poorly and suffered a steeper decline with age than did females, and young males appeared to vary more in performance across mitochondrial strains. In addition, we discovered a strong effect of small differences of parental age on negative geotaxis— and this effect also varied by mitochondrial strain. Collectively, the results of our study reveal that intraspecific variation in both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA can affect age- and sex-related differences in fruit fly locomotory performance. Further exploring the mechanisms linking these subtle genetic differences to locomotory phenotype and creating differences in response between the sexes will be important to understanding the evolutionary forces shaping the patterns we detected.

ABSTRACTOrganic soils, particularly peatlands, are important carbon sinks. In Europe, almost half of the area has been drained mainly for agriculture, which causes problems with high carbon dioxide emissions. In Poland, peatlands are drained in 86% of the area, and most of them are used as grasslands. The aim of the study was to analyze changes in agriculturally used organogenic soils between 1975 and 2017 using data from 476 reference soil profiles. The results showed a significant decrease in organic soils (≥ 12% SOC), with an increase in percentage organo‐mineral and mineral soils (< 12% SOC). The depth of SOC‐rich layers also decreased significantly and was accompanied by an increase in shallow soils (21–50 cm). The average SOC stock loss was almost 273 Mg C·ha−1 (from 500.4 Mg C·ha−1 to 228.0 Mg C·ha−1), with the median being four times lower, and it was observed in 64% of sites. The most significant decrease in SOC stock, by 64.7% compared to 1975, occurred in organic soils (from 762.2 Mg C·ha−1 to 269.3 Mg C·ha−1). Our analyses show that with increasing degradation of organic soils, factors that influence carbon content in soil change. In general, after 50 years, for organic soils, drainage was important, while for organo‐mineral and mineral soils, chemical properties, especially nutrient availability, were crucial. Carbon loss was most evident in the driest region of the country. The results indicate that continuous grassland use on organic soils does not offset SOC losses caused by drainage. At the same time, in organo‐mineral and mineral soils, a restraint of SOC stock loss was observed. This suggests that over 50 years of agricultural use of organogenic soils (mainly peat) along with their transformation, a balance between carbon output and input has been established. Considering this, it is an urgent task to update the area covered by organic soils used for agriculture, as it is important for reliable emission reporting and setting goals of organic soil protection and restoration.

Dam construction contributes to declines in the distribution and abundance of many fishes. Increasing connectivity through adult transfer can be demographically and genetically beneficial, but assessing the effects resulting from transfer can be difficult if resident fish exist upstream. Genotypes of adult and larval lake sturgeon ( Acipenser fulvescens) were used to quantify contributions to larval recruitment from adults transferred upstream of dams on the Menominee River, USA. We evaluated whether transfer timing, sex, and adult size were associated with the odds of reproduction. Elevator transfer operations in Fall 2019, Fall 2020, and Spring 2021 resulted in 152 male and 81 female lake sturgeon transferred upstream. In 2020 and 2021, 580 and 518 larvae were genotyped. We found that 86% (201/233) of adults reproduced and 62.3% (684/1098) of offspring had transferred parents. In total, we estimated that 392 resident adults contributed to offspring production. Mixed matings accounted for 53% of offspring genotyped, increasing levels of offspring genetic diversity relative to offspring produced from resident-only matings. Transferring adults may be a viable restoration alternative for other iteroparous fish in river systems where connectivity to spawning areas has been impeded.

Abstract American black bear (Ursus americanus) populations are abundant across many parts of the United States and provide diverse hunting experiences for thousands of outdoor enthusiasts annually. We must understand factors that influence harvest vulnerability of black bears to effectively set harvest quotas, manage hunter harvest, and meet management objectives. Hard mast, such as acorns, makes up a large portion of a black bear's autumn diet throughout much of their range and the abundance of mast can alter the annual vulnerability of bears to hunting. Across the United States, various methods are used to dictate harvest, some of which allow hunting with the aid of dogs or bait. We used historical data from 2000‒2020 on acorn production and black bear harvest from California, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, USA, to investigate the influence that acorn production, harvest methods, season structure, and bear density had on autumn bear harvest. When acorn production was high there was a lower number of bears harvested, median age of harvested females, and proportion of the harvested bears that were females. Use of bait increased harvest of adult female bears when acorn production was low, whereas use of dogs increased harvest of adult female bears when acorn production was high. Hunting seasons that started later in the year resulted in a lower proportion of the harvested bears that were female and young bears. Total number and number of young bears harvested were positively related to density of bear hunting licenses issued. Depending on the bear population and existing regulations, these results can be used by managers to better align harvest of black bears with management objectives by adjusting the density of available licenses, the overall season length, or allowing use of bait and dogs to increase harvest.

With the Internet being a prevalent tool for seeking out information and researching, K-12 students must learn key skills to evaluate online information for trustworthiness. Studies have shown that students and even preservice teachers have difficulty identifying trustworthy online resources. This chapter discusses the essential need to build website evaluation skills. Website analysis involves consideration of authorship/authority, currency, bias, and accuracy. Lateral reading, the skill of evaluating the credibility of the source by comparing it to other sources, is essential to determining the credentials of the author, identify potential bias, and corroborate accuracy. Website analysis skills must be integrated across content area instruction. Lesson ideas to support K-12 teachers in fostering website analysis skills, a component of digital literacy skills, are discussed.