Parasitoid lab practicals for teaching Evolutionary Genetics 

Nasonia parasitoids have been used as laboratory model for close to a century for various scientific fields. They have greater ease and cheaper cost of handling than even Drosophila fruit flies. We developed Nasonia into a classroom model to teach evolutionary genetics through lab practicals. Practicals may have a lab format with live material and collecting of data, or be based on existing dataset and thus only require the use of a computer. Some practicals have both lab and computer-only formats available. The five downloadable topics of these practicals are:

1) Parasitoid Biology 
How do parasitoids kill hosts and reproduce?

2) Haplodiploid Inheritance
How do sex determination and genetics work in the many species with no sex chromosomes?

3) Sex Allocation
What controls the balance of male versus female offspring?

4) Speciation 
What defines a species and helps it reproduce with the right partner?

5) Levels of Selection
How can we computationally model special modes of selection? 

Downloadable files for each practical include:

1) An instructors’ version (with detailed instructions on how to conduct the practical, and answers to theoretical questions). Where applicable, internal notes are included on how to make the practical computer-only with pre-existing datasets if a physical experiment is not possible (e.g. due to unavailability of space or materials or other prohibitive circumstances)

2) A students’ version (the version students receive, without answers or internal notes)

3) Supporting material such as pre-existing datasets and background lectures