2. Chukar Diet

Chukar Diet

In this module, students will:

  • Understand the relevancy of diet quality to understand the physiology of animals.
  • Use scientific practices to quantify and compare diet diversity and digestibility.
  • Understand how the environment and animal morphology influences the physiological process of digestion.
  • Archive digital data on diet diversity and digestion by your animal for future iteration, collaboration and discovery.

Contents:

  • Lab 3: Diet & Digestion
  • Lab 3 Supply List
  • Folder: Diversity Indices (This folder contains resources for calculating the Shannon Evenness Index of Diet Diversity)
    • Guide: Calculate Shannon Evenness Index of Diet Diversity
    • Guide: Shannon Diversity Index
    • Lab: Calculating Biodiversity (Species Richness, Species Diversity, and How to Know When to Stop Sampling)

Notes:

  • At BSU, this module followed the Chukar Dissection module (Labs 1 and 2).
  • The plan is to have a prestocked supply tote for this module that can be sent to participating colleges and universities.
  • Remote options:
    • For diet diversity, pictures of crop contents can be provided for digital analysis.
    • For particle size, autoclaved feces can be provided. A sieve or perhaps a household strainer would be required.
  • Graduate students are available to assist in teaching this lab remotely. Depending on travel and availability, they may be able to teach in person.

Materials:

Chukar_Diet_Summary.pdf285.31 KB
Chukar_Diet_Materials.zip740.52 KB

Institution
Boise State University

Principal Investigator(s)
Jennifer Forbey


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