High Elevation Plant Communities and Climate Responses
studies how plant communities and their underground fungal partners respond to changing climate conditions along mountain elevation gradients, which is crucial for predicting ecosystem changes in alpine environments.
Concept (29) →
ecosystem function
The functioning of ecosystems including processes such as carbon and nutrient cycling and storage, community- and ecosystem-level responses, and overa...
elevational gradients
Spatial gradients in elevation that capture variation in temperature, soil age and type, disturbance regimes, and land-use histories providing importa...
visual ecology
space use
Way in which individuals distribute themselves across landscape, including movement patterns and spatial organization like home range size and overlap
species diversity
A measure of community diversity that accounts for both species richness and relative abundance, calculated using the Shannon-Weiner index
tree mortality
plant-microbial coupling
The coordination between plant and microbial diversity, wherein both communities experience large shifts in composition following disturbance or when ...
nutrient uplift
climate-induced range shifts
Changes in species geographic distributions in response to changing climate conditions, typically involving movement to higher elevations or latitudes
Species-area relationship
The positive relationship between species richness and the surveyed area, described by the power-law S=cA^z where c is the intercept and z measures th...
Show 19 more concepts
arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi
Fungal symbionts that form specialized structures (arbuscules, vesicles) within plant root cells and are important for nutrient exchange
fungal colonization
The extent to which fungal symbionts colonize plant tissues, measured as percentage of tissue colonized
meta-analysis
Quantitative synthesis of results from multiple independent studies to identify general patterns
joint species distribution models
Statistical framework that simultaneously models multiple species responses to environmental gradients while accounting for species associations and p...
carbon mass balance
Accounting framework that tracks carbon inputs, transformations, and outputs in environmental systems to quantify net carbon fluxes
dark septate endophytes
A group of fungal endophytes characterized by dark-pigmented, septate hyphae that commonly colonize plant roots and can increase under environmental s...
molecular formula abundance
Species Interaction-Abiotic Stress Hypothesis
Predicts that species interactions should disappear at the stressful end of environmental gradients where abiotic conditions constrain species ranges
temporal overlap
phylogenetic diversity
A measure of the evolutionary history represented in an ecological community, calculated as the sum of branch lengths connecting species in a phylogen...
Akaike Information Criterion
A model selection criterion that balances goodness of fit with model complexity by penalizing models with more parameters
linear mixed effects model
Statistical model accounting for both fixed and random effects to analyze hierarchical or repeated measures data
dominant species removal
Experimental removal of the most abundant plant species to test effects of species loss on community structure and function
resilience
The ability of a system to change but maintain its basic attributes; a resilient forest stand subjected to disturbance will return to conditions simil...
population structure
The organization of genetic variation within and among populations, reflecting patterns of gene flow, drift, and selection
Relative Euclidean Distance
root weight fraction
The ratio of dry root weight to total dry plant weight, used as an indicator of soil nutrient availability with higher values indicating nutrient-poor...
population extermination
Complete or near-complete elimination of local populations due to environmental catastrophe
indicator species
Taxa that are significantly associated with particular habitat conditions and can be used to assess ecosystem state or restoration success
Protocol (14) →
soil respiration measurement
Continuous measurement of soil CO2 concentrations at multiple depths using automated sensors to calculate soil CO2 fluxes via gradient approach. Inclu...
quadrat sampling method
Measurement of plant species-specific cover, identification of focal species, and collection of plant biomass and functional traits including specific...
DNA metabarcoding
Surface sterilization of plant tissues followed by DNA extraction and high-throughput sequencing of the ITS region to characterize fungal endophyte co...
McGonigle method (Poaceae)
Microscopic assessment of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal colonization and other fungal colonization of plant roots using crosshair intercept method and...
Holshof & Swenson trait sampling protocol
Systematic monitoring of plant disease dynamics across elevation gradient to capture environmental variation effects. Involves establishment of standa...
Factorial field experiment
Factorial experiment crossing nitrogen addition treatments with dominant species removal treatments in replicated plots to test community responses to...
Alpine soil inocula collection and preparation
Collection of soil inocula from resident (high elevation) and novel (low elevation) sites across elevation gradients in mountain ecosystems, with subs...
PRISM climate data
Extraction of environmental variables from spatial data platform using zonal functions to calculate average climate values within tree polygon boundar...
soil incubation (Asteraceae)
Factorial greenhouse experiment testing effects of soil inoculum source and sterilization on alpine grass growth, traits, and fungal colonization. Pla...
species-area relationship
Nested sampling design to construct species-area relationships across multiple spatial scales by subdividing plots into equal-area quadrats and averag...
Show 4 more protocols
Mantel test
Calculation of multiple phylogenetic diversity metrics for plant communities using established phylogenetic trees and null model approaches to test fo...
Historical herbarium database analysis for biographical reconstruction
Method for extracting and analyzing historical herbarium specimen data to reconstruct the life and career patterns of past collectors, including tempo...
line-intercept technique
Systematic point sampling along transects to quantify vegetation composition and forage quality metrics. Modified from standard methods described in W...
Elevational fungal transplant experiment (Poaceae)
A controlled field experiment transplanting grass species across elevational gradients with manipulated fungal soil communities to test effects of pla...
Author (11) →
Joshua S. Lynn
Nathan J. Sanders
Jennifer A. Rudgers
Aimee T Classen
Quentin D Read
Stephanie N. Kivlin
Jeremiah A Henning
Melanie R Kazenel
C.F. (Rick) Williams
Leah N. Veldhuisen
Show 1 more authors
Publication (35) →
Climate and multiple dimensions of plant diversity regulate ecosystem carbon exchange along an elevational gradient
Altitudinal gradients fail to predict fungal symbiont responses to warming
Aboveground resilience to species loss but belowground resistance to nitrogen addition in a montane plant community
Warming disrupts plant–fungal endophyte symbiosis more severely in leaves than roots
Plant removal across an elevational gradient marginally reduces rates, substantially reduces variation in mineralization
Plant Identity Influences Foliar Fungal Symbionts More Than Elevation in the Colorado Rocky Mountains
Intraspecific variation in traits reduces ability of trait-based models to predict community structure
Soil microbes that may accompany climate warming increase alpine plant production
Microbes on mountainsides: contrasting elevational patterns of bacterial and plant diversity
Fungal colonization of plant roots is resistant to nitrogen addition and resilient to dominant species losses
Show 25 more publications
Consistently inconsistent drivers of patterns of microbial diversity and abundance at macroecological scales
Fungal symbionts alter plant responses to global change
Rare species do not disproportionately contribute to phylogenetic diversity in a subalpine plant community
Elevation alters ecosystem properties across temperate treelines globally
Context dependence of warming induced shifts in montane soil microbial functions
Plant dominance in a subalpine montane meadow: biotic vs. abiotic controls of subordinate diversity within and across sites
Community and Ecosystem Responses to Elevational Gradients: Processes, Mechanisms, and Insights for Global Change
Estimating species richness at large spatial scales using data from discrete plots
Biogeography of plant-associated fungal symbionts in mountain ecosystems: A meta-analysis
Pocket gopher (<i>Thomomys talpoides</i>) soil disturbance peaks at mid-elevation and is associated with air temperature, forb cover, and plant diversity
Estimating species-area relationships from plot to landscape scale using species spatial-turnover data
Determinants of pika population density vs. occupancy in the Southern Rocky Mountains
Mountain mosquitoes of the Gothic, Colorado area
Sixty-five years of change in montane plant communities in Western Colorado, USA
Climate change and extinction risk
On the generality of a climate-mediated shift in the distribution of the American pika (<i>Ochotona princeps</i>)
Accounting for the nested nature of genetic variation across levels of organization improves our understanding of biodiversity and community ecology
Does a foliar endophyte improve plant fitness under flooding?
Patterns of selective caching behavior of a generalist herbivore, the American Pika (<i>Ochotona princeps</i>)
On the implications of species-area relationships for endemism, spatial turnover, and food web patterns
A mutualistic endophyte alters the niche dimensions of its host plant
Hydrologic and Biotic Effects of Grazing vs. Non-Grazing near Grand Junction, Colorado
Habitat of Pocket Gophers in Cochetopa Creek Drainage, Colorado
Grand Junction, Colorado: How A Community Drew On Its Values To Shape A Superior Health System
Notes on the mammals of the Gothic region, Gunnison County, Colorado
Dataset (31) →
Plant and carbon data, snowmelt manipulation experiment, Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL), 2023
These data are from a 2023 snowmelt manipulation experiment in Vera Meadow at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory. We experimentally advanced the...
Data for Context-dependent biotic interactions control plant abundance across altitudinal environmental gradients, 2014, 2016, Colorado, USA
Many biotic interactions influence community structure, yet most distribution models for plants have focused on plant competition or used only abiotic...
Percent plant cover, Warming and Removal in Mountains (WaRM) experiment, Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, 2013-2022
These data were collected from 2013 to 2022 near the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Colorado. They are from a climate change experiment that ...
Range size and local abundance data for angiosperm communities across an elevation gradient, Rocky Mountain Biological Lab, 2021-2022
This dataset contains abundance and range size data for angiosperm communities at three sites in Washington Gulch near the Rocky Mountain Biological L...
Langenheim Plant Species Data (1953) and Associated Resurvey Datasets (2014), Gunnison Basin, Colorado, USA
Quantitative plant abundance data were collected from the same 121 sites at two time periods separated by 65 years (1948-1952 and 2012-2014) in the Co...
Data for Context-dependent biotic interactions control plant abundance across altitudinal environmental gradients, 2014, 2016, Colorado, USA.
Many biotic interactions influence community structure, yet most distribution models for plants have focused on plant competition or used only abiotic...
Data for 'Weak latitudinal gradients in insect herbivory for dominant rangeland grasses of North America'
Patterns of insect herbivory may follow predictable geographical gradients, with greater herbivory at low latitudes. However, biogeographic studies of...
Data for Lynn et al. “Soil microbes that may accompany climate warming increase alpine plant production”
Climate change is causing species with non-overlapping ranges to come in contact, and a key challenge is to predict the consequences of such species r...
Data from: Aboveground resilience to species loss but belowground resistance to nitrogen addition in a montane plant community
Data from: Aboveground resilience to species loss but belowground resistance to nitrogen addition in a montane plant community, Read, Quentin D., Henn...
Langenheim Plant Species Data (1953) and Associated Resurvey Datasets (2014), Gunnison Basin, Colorado, USA
Quantitative plant abundance data were collected from the same 121 sites at two time periods separated by 65 years (1948-1952 and 2012-2014) in the Co...
Show 21 more datasets
Plant composition data from 67 grassland sites of the Upper Gunnison Basin, CO, USA, 2014
Here, we deposit data from a vegetation survey conducted in 2014. The data was collected to document current vegetation patterns in the region, parame...
The impact of warming on peak-season ecosystem carbon uptake is influenced by dominant species in warmer sites
Climatic warming affects ecosystem-scale carbon fluxes directly through its impact on photosynthesis and respiration, and indirectly by altering the p...
Effects of Plant Removal on Mineralization Rates at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, Gunnison County, Colorado: 2018
[object Object]
NEON AOP Survey of Upper East River CO Watersheds: Waveform LiDAR Binary Data
The waveform Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data in this package were generated through a National Ecological Observatory Network Airborne Observ...
Forage Resources in Warming and Removal Plots, Almont, CO, 2019
This is data collected to explore the impacts of warming and dominant species removal on the quantity and quality of plants for cattle foraging. The d...
Supplemental Tables for "Phylogenetic patterns over sixty-five years of vegetation change across a montane elevation gradient" by Veldhuisen et al.
This repository contains three supplemental tables for Veldhuisen et al.'s paper titled "Phylogenetic patterns over sixty-five years of vegetation cha...
Landscape Flowering Phenology Field Data for Sites in the Vicinity of Crested Butte, CO.
This dataset represents field observations of reproductive development (flowering phenology) in 135 species of flowering plants collected at 12 fiel...
Herbarium-Derived Phenological Data in North America
We present infrastructure for developing large-scale and long-term phenological datasets across multiple herbaria, as well as a sample dataset that ha...
A field-validated ensemble species distribution model of Eriogonum pelinophilum, an endangered subshrub in Colorado, USA
Understanding the suitable habitat of endangered species is crucial for agencies such as the Bureau of Land Management to plan management and conserva...
Depth profiles of soil CO2 Concentrations, soil temperature, and soil moisture (Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, Gothic, Colorado, 2011-2016)
Soil respiration (the flux of CO2 from the soil surface) is one of the largest and most variable fluxes in the global carbon cycle, and yet also one o...
Pocket gopher (<i>Thomomys talpoides</i>) soil disturbance peaks at mid-elevation and is associated with air temperature, forb cover, and plant diversity
Burrowing mammals can be ecosystem engineers by increasing soil aeration and erosion and altering the structure of plant communities. Studies that cha...
Occurrence Download
A dataset containing 905116 species occurrences available in GBIF matching the query: { "and" : [ "BasisOfRecord is Specimen", { "or" : [ "DatasetKey ...
Occurrence Download
A dataset listing the 1870 species recorded in GBIF matching the query: { "DatasetKey" : [ "is Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory" ] } The dataset's...
RMBL Digitized Herbarium Records
Vascular Plants curated within the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory Herbarium. Specimens date to 1929 and are primarily from the East River and up...
Occurrence Download
A dataset containing 215207 species occurrences available in GBIF matching the query: { "and" : [ "BasisOfRecord is Specimen", "Country is United Stat...
AmeriFlux US-UR4 Gunnison - UCRB
This is the AmeriFlux version of the carbon flux data for the site US-UR4 Gunnison - UCRB. Site Description - This site is located in Gunnison, Colora...
Occurrence Download
A dataset containing 648 species occurrences available in GBIF matching the query: { "DatasetKey" : [ "is Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory Mammal ...
TNC Fact Sheet: Managing for Change in the Gunnison Basin: Building Resilience
Our actions today to build ecosystem resilience to climate change will help us protect the Gunnison Basin’s natural resources—clean air and wildlife h...
Iron_Vegetation_Modifiedwhitakerplots
Initial baseline (2016 or 2017) Modified Whitaker Plots conducted for sites associated with the interactive Roaring Fork Observation Network (iRON) in...
UAV Imagery of Marmot Burrows in Colorado
UAV flights were conducted between August 26, 2024, and September 1, 2024, at and around the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in the East River Va...
Lek Disturbance Buffer Analysis data, Western Colorado, Derived from Gunnison Sage Grouse Location Data 2010 - 2014
This data release consists of three files (Crawford_and_WGB_Location_Data_S1.csv, Lek_Dist_S2.csv, and Home_Range_Area_S3.csv). The first data set rep...