Hellbender Salamander Conservation Genetics
The Hellbender Conservation Genetics Lab Activity is a unique activity developed as an application to the genetics unit. It also incorporates concepts from ecology, evolution, and environmental science. I developed this as a part of my master's project based on conservation genetics research I conducted on hellbender salamanders. There are two versions of the activity: regents and advanced. The regents version is designed for the average regents level biology class. The advanced version is designed for an honors or advanced placement biology class. Both versions are very similar, with slight differences between the two versions. Below are links to all of the materials needed to conduct the activity. THE ANSWER KEY DOCUMENTS ARE PASSWORD PROTECTED! You can send me an email to show me that you are a teacher, and I will send you the password to open the answer keys. You can also email me if you have any questions on the activity.
Here is a link to a PowerPoint presentation on the genetics lab techniques that I used as a part of this research on hellbenders and incorporated into the lesson plan and activity. This PowerPoint is intended for teacher background information, although parts of it or the entire PowerPoint could be shown to students if the teacher wishes to teach students more detail about genetics lab techniques, which may best go with the advanced version.
Genetics lab techniques PowerPoint (teacher resource)
Here is a link to my published paper on this hellbender activity:
Chudyk, S., McMillan, A. & Lange, C. (2014). Using the eastern hellbender salamander in a high school genetics & ecological conservation activity. The American Biology Teacher, 76(5), 338-344.
Here are links to some more teacher resources and background information on hellbender salamanders:
Rustling river monsters for science
Hellbender salamanders have appeared on the NYS Living Environment Regents Exam! Below is a snapshot of the questions on hellbenders from the August 2015 Regents Exam:
