Meeting Abstract
Invertebrates are an excellent addition to undergraduate classrooms, providing learning opportunities in behavior, ecology, genetics, and many other areas of life science. Many of these benefits are best realized from extended cultures of organisms, but scientists and teachers often do not know how to keep invertebrate animals alive, healthy and exhibiting normal behavior for an extended period. Extended culture lowers costs so that instructors do not need to collect or order new animals every term and permits longer experiments and activities in the classroom. We explain basic husbandry techniques for a variety of invertebrates including marine, freshwater, and terrestrial animals and provide instructions for proper disposal or preservation of cultures. Additionally, we outline helpful tips such as keeping slugs from turning into mush; fruit fly food recipes; feeding jellyfish; exploring local ponds, vacant lots, supermarkets, and more. We give simple lesson plans for invertebrate activities that go beyond supplier’s information sheets. Examples include: keeping jellyfish alive without a special tank, examining the radula from a marine snail, observing courtship behaviors and learning in fruit flies, trail following in a variety of invertebrates, tube ventilation in marine worms, and more. Our advice is drawn from a combined fifty years of trial and error. Instructors without previous experience in extended cultures can keep invertebrates in their classrooms and teaching labs with these effective protocols. We encourage others to add to this store of practical advice.
