Authentic research experiences are valuable components of effective undergraduate education. Research experiences during the first years of college are especially critical to increase persistence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. The Science Education Alliance Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science (SEA-PHAGES) model provides a high-impact research experience to first-year students but is usually available to a limited number of students, and its implementation is costly in faculty time and laboratory space. To offer a research experience to all students taking introductory biology at Gonzaga University (n = 350/yr), we modified the traditional two-semester SEA-PHAGES course by streamlining the first-semester Phage Discovery lab and integrating the second SEA-PHAGES semester into other courses in the biology curriculum. Because most students in the introductory course are not biology majors, the Phage Discovery semester may be their only encounter with research. To discover whether students benefit from the first semester alone, we assessed the effects of the one-semester Phage Discovery course on students’ understanding of course content. Specifically, students showed improvement in knowledge of bacteriophages, lab math skills, and understanding experimental design and interpretation. They also reported learning gains and benefits comparable with other course-based research experiences. Responses to open-ended questions suggest that students experienced this course as a true undergraduate research experience.

Synopsis: Courtship behavior in salamanders is often complex and involves well-documented communication from males to females in multiple sensory modalities. Historically, behaviors exhibited during the major stages of courtship have been predominately framed as a male acting and signaling to “persuade” a passive female to participate in courtship and remain with him until sperm release is completed. In this review, we use courtship descriptions for lungless salamanders (Plethodontidae) as a case study to illustrate this historical bias of a male-centered perspective. We then re-examine the literature and summarize the many ways females are active participants during plethodontid courtships. We also relate female behaviors to the types of female-to-male communication that may occur. For example, females have been documented to approach a male and initiate courtship, participate in mutual head rubbing, and step astride the male’s tail to begin the tail-straddling walk (a key courtship behavior observed in all plethodontids). Additionally, females have glands that may produce chemical signals that males respond to during courtship. We conclude that communication during courtship is more accurately described as a two-way interaction where each partner’s behavior is coordinated with the other’s via multi-modal signaling. Shifting the lens through which we view courtship and behavior provides insight into which female behaviors and anatomical features are most likely to be used for communication with males.

It is difficult to determine how long salamanders live in the wild. The maximum age estimates using skeletochronology tend to be lower than estimates based on recaptures and size-frequency studies. This discrepancy between techniques suggests it may well be difficult to discern the lines of arrested growth in bones when salamanders are old and their growth rate very low. I review techniques used to estimate longevity, compare age estimates from field (recapture and size frequency comparisons) studies with those from skeletochronology, review growth models, and suggest future work that specifically addresses salamander longevity. Based on observations from captive animals, plethodontids can live a long time (e.g., 36 years). A better understanding of natural longevity is important for understanding the actual age structure of populations and for conservation efforts.

All amphibians are thought to possess two distinct types of dermal gland: mucous and granular. Mucous glands typically produce an acidic, flocculent

The skin glands and cloacal morphology of the Korean crevice salamander, Karsenia koreana, were similar to those of other plethodontids. The skin contained mucous, granular, and modified granular glands in varying frequencies and sizes. Males had sexually dimorphic glands in the skin of the chin (mental glands) and the dorsal tail base (caudal courtship glands). On the ventral surface of the tail base, modified granular glands were sexually dimorphic in size, with male glands larger than those in females. The cloacal glands in males, as in other plethodontids, consisted of four eosinophilic gland clusters (dorsal pelvic glands, lateral pelvic glands, caudal pelvic glands, and vent glands) and three basophilic glands (anterior ventral glands, posterior ventral glands, and Kingsbury's glands). In females, the only cloacal gland was the spermatheca, which, as in other plethodontids, was a compound tubulo-alveolar gland in the roof of the cloaca.