While community-weighted means of plant traits have been linked to mean environmental conditions at large scales, the drivers of trait variation within communities are not well understood. Local environmental heterogeneity (such as microclimate variability), in addition to mean environmental conditi

Harsh abiotic conditions such as low temperatures that lead to spring and summer frost events in high-elevation and high-latitude ecosystems can have strong negative consequences for plant growth, survival, and reproduction. Despite the predicted increase in episodic frost events under continued cli

Intraspecific variation in flower color is often attributed to pollinator-mediated selection, yet this mechanism cannot explain flower color polymorphisms in self-pollinating species. Indirect selection mediated via biotic and abiotic stresses could maintain flower color variation in these systems.

Anthropogenic climate change has already altered the timing of major life history transitions, such as the initiation of reproduction. Both phenotypic plasticity and adaptive evolution can underlie rapid phenological shifts in response to climate change but their relative contributions are poorly un

Preface Introduction National Forests in Arkansas Ouachita Ouachita Mountains Border Lands Ozark Alum Cove Blanchard Springs Magazine Mountain St. Francis Crowley's Ridge National Forests in Colorado Arapaho Hoosier Pass Elk Park Grand Mesa Grand Mesa Gunnison Slumgullion Slide Taylor River Pike Rio

As human population and concomitant development increase, human-caused disturbances play an ever larger role in the fitness of wildlife. An increasing number of studies have implicated anthropogenic disturbance in having harmful effects on birds and other wildlife. Most studies, however, concentrate

Ecosystem Responses to Warming-Induced Plant Species Loss and Increased Nitrogen

With the current climate changes occurring globally, it is important to learn about how species distributions will react in the future. Questions have arisen as to whether species, including conifers, exist in a single or multiple climate envelopes which are described by their current distributions.

Changes in the morphology and physiology of Ipomopsis aggregata and changes in en- vironment were assessed along a roughly 1000 m elevation gradient at seven sites in the Rocky Mountains of central Colorado. Sites at the ends of the gradient had the lowest soil moisture, the lowest two being in sage

In this study we attempted to discover some of the possible plant responses to global climate change, to assess plant responses we used two plant leaf functional traits: leaf maximum assimilation rate of CO2 (Amax) and Specific Leaf Area (SLA). To evaluate increasing temperature we used a natural el

Changes in nitrogen availability can alter plant community structure, composition, and abundance as well as higher order interactions. The goal of this study is to investigate the relationships between soil nitrogen, plant reproductive success, and solitary bee behavior and reproduction. Three diffe

Aquatic insect colonization dynamics were studied in an attempt to understand patterns of diversity in sub-alpine wetlands. More specifically, this study investigated three alternate hypotheses: species-level diversity in habitat patches is a function of 1) patch size, 2) patch complexity, or 3) sou

Invasive and native plant interactions are well studied, but the influence of invasive plants on native pollination systems is largely ignored. Native pollinators, specifically bees, feed their young with pollen and nectar they harvest from plants. An invasive plant could greatly augment the foragin

Janet Coles. November 13, 1998.

The Denver Post November 27th 1998

Alex F. Chappell. Colorado Division of Wildlife. June 1998.

Author: Larry Gerber Organization: The Associated Press Date: December 26th 1998