No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Land-use practices in Mongolia can lead to environmental degradation and consequently affect the structure and function of biological communities. The main aim of this study was to determine land-use effects on freshwater macroinvertebrate communities based on their response to grazing and mining, using a trait-based approach (TBA). The functional structure of macroinvertebrate communities was examined using 86 categories of 16 traits. A total of 13 physical and chemical variables were significantly different among the levels of land-use intensity. Significant declines in functional diversity were observed with increased land-use intensity. The community weighted mean of 19 trait categories for 11 traits varied significantly among different levels of land-use intensity. Traits were significantly explained by environmental variables across a land-use intensity gradient. Water temperature, gravel, nitrate, silt, and cobble were the main predictor variables and explained 28% of the total variance of the trait variation. The functional structure of the macroinvertebrate community was strongly related to environmental conditions. The TBA is an important method in assessing disturbance responses in freshwater communities of steppe and taiga regions, such as in Mongolia and other countries in Central Asia and will be useful in finding best management practices for conserving aquatic ecosystems. Handling editor: Checo Colón-GaudElectronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.

The importance of education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines is again a topic of discussion among policy makers and scientists, particularly given perceived declines in STEM performance by students in the U.S. Service-learning has been used in innovative and creative ways to enhance learning in a variety of STEM-related courses. Improving STEM literacy is also a focal point of STEM education and has been explicitly linked to servicelearning projects. Herein the authors review literature linking service-learning to academic achievement in STEM-related courses. They then examine whether service-learning enhances STEM literacy in a STEM-centered communications course at an aeronautics engineering university and in two biology courses at a small rural college. Despite early calls by researchers for improved rigor in the field of service-learning research, the literature review indicates that few studies over the past 15 years employed rigorous research techniques when examining whether service-learning affects academic achievement in STEM courses. Results of mixed-methods analyses showed that service-learning enhanced science literacy in the three STEM-related courses. First, students scored significantly higher on a post-service survey of skills and content relative to the pre-survey survey at the aeronautics engineering university. Second, students earned significantly higher grades in a written report of their service-learning project relative to a non-service-oriented project in the small rural college. Third, students indicated through comments on evaluations and reflections that the service-learning projects enhanced the STEM content in the courses.