The authors reviewed the current literature on inquiry-based learning in laboratory courses and found that most exercises were guided inquiry. The majority of studies included assessment data showing learning gains. Few exercises were assessed in multiple courses or at multiple institutions. Therefore, whether results can be generalized is unclear.

The Earth is getting brighter at night, as artificial light at night (ALAN) continues to increase and extend its reach. Despite recent recognition of the damaging impacts of ALAN on terrestrial ecosystems, research on ALAN in marine systems is comparatively lacking. To further our understanding of the impacts of ALAN on marine organisms, this study examines how the reproductive fitness of the common clownfish Amphiprion ocellaris is influenced by the presence of ALAN. We assessed how exposure to low levels of ALAN affects (i) frequency of spawning, (ii) egg fertilization success, and (iii) hatching success of A. ocellaris under control (12 : 12 day–night) and treatment (12 : 12 day–ALAN) light regimes. While we found exposure to ALAN had no impact on the frequency of spawning or fertilization success, ALAN had dramatic effects on hatching. Amphiprion ocellaris eggs incubated in the presence of ALAN simply did not hatch, resulting in zero survivorship of offspring. These findings suggest ALAN can significantly reduce reproductive fitness in a benthic-spawning reef fish. Further research in this field is necessary to fully understand the extent of this impact on population and community dynamics in the wild.

Increasing the opportunity for students to be involved in inquiry-based activities can improve engagement with content and assist in the development of analysis and critical thinking skills. The science laboratory has traditionally been used as a platform to apply the content gained through the lecture series. These activities have exposed students to experiments which test the concepts taught but which often result in a predicted outcome. To improve the engagement and learning outcomes of our large first year biology cohort, the laboratories were redeveloped. Superlabs were run with 100 students attending weekly sessions increasing the amount of contact time from previous years. Laboratories were redeveloped into guided-inquiry and educators facilitated teams of students to design and carry out an experiment. To analyse the impact of the redevelopment on student satisfaction and learning outcomes, students were surveyed and multiple choice exam data was compared before and after the redevelopment. Results suggest high levels of student satisfaction and a significant improvement in student learning outcomes. All disciplines should consider including inquiry-based activities as a methodology to improve student engagement and learning outcome as it fosters the development of independent learners.

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Twenty-six species of anemonefish of the genera Amphiprion and monospecific Premnas, use only 10 species of anemones as hosts in the wild (Families: Actiniidae, Stichodactylidae and Thalassianthidae). Of these 10 anemone species some are used by multiple species of anemonefish while others have only a single anemonefish symbiont. Past studies have explored the different patterns of usage between anemonefish species and anemone species; however the evolution of this relationship remains unknown and has been little studied over the past decade. Here we reopen the case, comparing the toxicity of crude venoms obtained from anemones that host anemonefish as a way to investigate why some anemone species are used as a host more than others. Specifically, for each anemone species we investigated acute toxicity using Artemia francisca (LC50), haemolytic toxicity using ovine erythrocytes (EC50) and neurotoxicity using shore crabs (Ozius truncatus). We found that haemolytic and neurotoxic activity varied among host anemone species. Generally anemone species that displayed greater haemolytic activity also displayed high neurotoxic activity and tend to be more toxic on average as indicated by acute lethality analysis. An overall venom toxicity ranking for each anemone species was compared with the number of anemonefish species that are known to associate with each anemone species in the wild. Interestingly, anemones with intermediate toxicity had the highest number of anemonefish associates, whereas anemones with either very low or very high toxicity had the fewest anemonefish associates. These data demonstrate that variation in toxicity among host anemone species may be important in the establishment and maintenance of anemonefish anemone symbiosis.

Cnidarians are amongst the most venomous animals on the planet. They are also under significant threat due to the impacts of climate change. Corals and anemones undergo climate-induced bleaching during extreme environmental conditions, where a loss of symbiotic photosynthetic algae (zooxanthellae) causes whitening in colour, loss of internal food supply, and reduction in health, which can ultimately lead to death. What has yet to be determined is whether bleaching causes a reduction in the production or quality of venom. In this study, the sea anemone Entacmaea quadricolor was exposed to long-term light-induced bleaching to examine the effect that bleaching has on venom. Venom quality and quantity, as determined through lethality and haemolysis measures and nematocyst production was highly preserved over the five-month imposed bleaching event. Maintenance of venom and nematocyst production, despite a loss of an internal food source provided by endosymbiotic algae, indicates both the ecological importance of maintaining toxicity and a remarkable resilience that anemones have to major environmental stressors.

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Employability development is a strategic priority for universities across advanced western economies. Despite this, there is no systematic study of employability development approaches internationally. In this study, we considered how universities portray employability on the public pages of their websites. We undertook website content analysis of 107 research-intensive universities in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US). Using Farenga and Quinlan (2015), we classified these strategies as Portfolio, Handsoff, Award and Non-embedded. Portfolio or Award strategies were the most common across all four locations; Hands-off and Non-embedded strategies were more common to US universities; and Award was more common in the UK.Universities focused on either possessional or positional approaches to employability (Holmes, 2015). We advocate for a pedagogical shift towards processual approaches in which responsibility for employability development is shared.