Despite the broad impacts microbial dormancy has on ecosystems and ecosystem models, dormancy as a response to climate-change-related environmental stressors is poorly understood. Dormancy is an essential bet-hedging strategy used by microbes to tolerate unfavorable conditions and increase overall c

Groundwater in high elevation watersheds is difficult to quantify, but remains a major component in the hydrologic budget for the western United States. Concentration-discharge (C-Q) data can provide a framework for characterizing groundwater flow in small alpine catchments by indicating fluid resid

In the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, changes in the availability of floral resources through the growing season may affect the ability of bumble bee colonies to successfully complete their life cycle and produce reproductive individuals in the season’s end. A way bees could potentially deal with this

It has often been stated that the bill shape of hummingbirds is an example of ecological adaptation, as the morphology of their bills are strongly associated with flower nectar resources (Bleiweiss 1999). ​ Broad­tailed hummingbirds (​Selasphorus platycercus) are considered the most characteristic h

Gene flow in hybrid zones acts as a barrier to speciation, yet we still see cases in which separate hybridizing species are maintained. Selection for different floral traits at each end of a hybrid zone by pollinators and for different vegetative traits by environmental gradients are two possible so

This study aims to explore the exciting mysteries of road dust. In the beautiful Rocky Mountains, at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in western Colorado, there is an amazing diversity of plants, but one in particular near unpaved roads is Ipomopsis aggregata, Scarlet gilia, a perennial flow

Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is a critical chemical attribute of freshwater systems, affecting nutrient availability, toxicity and solubility of metals, and biological activity via the absorption of light and microbial consumption of O2 during DOC mineralization. Although DOC contributions to stre

Average temperatures are increasing globally and causing shifts in the timing of weather events such as spring snowmelt, which may have profound consequences on the phenology of many organisms. Working at the Rocky Mountain Biological Lab in central Colorado, we examined the relationship between spr

A plant’s functional traits, which aid with survival, growth, and reproduction, are shaped by different abiotic and evolutionary elements. Some communities have a larger degree of variation in their functional traits, and this study aimed to see if this variation is directly linked to the level of e

We investigated habitat selection in Nicrophorus investigator, an obligate carrion breeder. The source-sink hypothesis states that some environments will be resource rich and produce a high amount of offspring while other environments will be resource low and produce a low amount of offspring. Carca

Our study examined the frost sensitivities of subalpine flowering plants near the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, in Gothic, CO. Most studies on the impacts of climate change have focused on the effects of temperature warming and how it affects species. Our study examined the frost sensitiviti

Studying the relationships between plants and insects is important in natural and agricultural communities. It has been shown that plant community composition has an effect on insect pollinators and herbivores. However, these relationships have only been researched independently and no study has com