We developed 21 microsatellite (13 dinucleotide and 8 tetranucleotide) primers specifically for pumas ( Puma concolor ). The primers were tested across 243 individuals from California and Nevada, and displayed an average of 5.5 alleles per locus. Previously, domestic cat ( Felis catus ) primers have been adapted for puma genetic studies. Puma-specific loci may reduce concerns associated with ascertainment bias, improve genetic structure resolution and provide additional tetranucleotide loci valuable for forensic applications. These pumaspecific microsatellites will aid studies involving parentage, kinship and population structure, along with forensic case applications including poaching and puma-associated injuries to humans and domestic animals.

The myriad of problems facing the world today are increasingly complex, dynamic, and transcend multiple domains. This necessitates the need for trans-disciplinary approaches capable of providing a framework to help solve these problems. Systems thinking provides the skills necessary for people to approach these types of problems. However, a lack of awareness and understanding of systems thinking hinders a potential systems-literate and systems-capable society. Systems thinking is comprised of four underlying concepts or skills: distinction-making, organizing systems, inter-relating, and perspective-taking. The path to becoming a systems thinker follows a process comprised of three levels—sensibility (awareness of systems), literacy (knowledge of systems), and capability (understanding of systems)—repeated across multiple learning phases. During this research study, a method was defined to measure whether non-experts learned the underlying systems thinking concepts according to this learning process. An experiment was conducted with 97 middle and high school students who were asked to draw a fish-tank system before and after being taught to apply the systems thinking concepts as skills for identifying elements, interactions, and roles/purposes. The results provide evidence to conclude that student learning of systems thinking significantly increased from the first drawing to the second drawing.

We developed 10 polymorphic microsatellite loci for Yellow-billed Magpies (Pica nuttalli). The primers were tested across a population of 57 Central California Yellow-billed Magpies and displayed an average of 3.9 alleles per locus. Forty-one American Crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) from California were polymorphic for seven of the loci with an average of 2.9 alleles per locus. One additional microsatellite-containing locus displayed diagnostic allele sizes and may be useful to distinguish between the two species. These corvid specific microsatellites will aid ecological studies of the population-level effects of diseases, such as West Nile virus.

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