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RMBL MENTORS 2016 (last updated 2.13.16)

Below is a list of RMBL mentors and a description of their research. Please do not contact

researchers directly, as we receive well over 200 applications for 40 spots. When you are

accepted, we will match you with an appropriate mentor.

Student applicants writing essays for the RMBL Education Application are welcome (but not

required) to discuss in their essays some broad topics in biology: climate change, plant ecology,

entomology, pollination, mutualisms, evolution etc. that interest them. If students choose to list

mentors’ whose research interests them, we recommend listing a number of mentors, rather than

1 or 2, since students with broad interests are easier to match.

Jill Anderson, University of Georgia

Benjamin Blonder, University of Oxford (UK)

Dan Blumstein, UCLA

Carol Boggs and Rachel Steward, University of South Carolina

Alison Brody, University of Vermont

Berry Brosi, Emory University

Diane Campbell, UC Irvine

Ross Conover, Paul Smith’s College

Charlotte deKeyzer, University of Toronto

Amy Ellwein, RMBL

Brian Enquist, University of Arizona

Jessica Forrest, University of Ottawa

Kate Gallagher, UC Irvine

John Harte, UC Berkeley

Jeremiah Henning, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Amy Iler, Aarhus University, Denmark and University of Maryland, USA.

Rebecca Irwin, North Carolina State University

Tom Mitchell-Olds, Lauren Carley, Duke University and Robin Bingham, WSCU

Emily Mooney, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs

Kailen Mooney, UC Irvine

Jane Ogilvie, RMBL

Kate Maher, Stanford

Anne Marie Panetta, University of California Davis

Mary Price and Nick Waser, University of Arizona

Jennifer Reithel, RMBL

Jenn Rudgers, University of New Mexico

Rosemary Smith, Idaho State

Brad Taylor, North Carolina State University

Dirk Van Vuren and Jaclyn Aliperti, University of California, Davis

Noah Whiteman, UC Berkeley

Ken Whitney, University of New Mexico

Ken Williams, LBNL

Rick Williams, Idaho State

Scott Wissinger, Allegheny College

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Jill Anderson, University of Georgia

Student Research Projects 2016

Our lab seeks to understand the evolutionary and ecological responses of natural plant

populations to climate change. At the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, we study on a

native species of mustard, Drummond’s rockcress (Boechera stricta, Brassicaceae), which spans

an impressive elevational gradient. We test key eco-evolutionary hypotheses using a large-scale

field experiment in 5 common gardens at different elevations around the RMBL (N >30,000

juvenile plants and seeds from ~200 local genotypes). In early spring, we expose half of these

experimental transplants to contemporary climates and half to early snow removal to simulate

changing climatic conditions. We also manipulate growing season temperatures via open top

chambers. This experiment examines local adaptation and natural selection in the context of

climate change.

There are many opportunities for students to develop independent projects associated with our

overall objectives, including studies on: 1) population divergence in ecologically-relevant traits,

especially drought and UV tolerance and herbivore resistance; 2) phenotypic plasticity at

multiple spatial scales; 3) population density and species composition of the herbivore

community that attacks Drummond’s rockcress; 4) phenotypic variation in foliar, phenological or

ecophysiological traits along elevation gradients; and 5) flower color polymorphism.

In summer 2016, my field crew will consist of a postdoctoral associate, and undergraduate and

graduate researchers (5-6 people total). One or two students will work directly with me to

develop a research project. My students conduct research projects mostly in the field, though

some lab work is involved. My fieldwork will focus on quantifying fitness and phenotypes in

our large experiment. Students who take on a project related to that experiment will work

closely with me and my team in the field. I am also happy to mentor students who are interested

in other questions related to plant ecology and evolutionary biology, but those students will do

most of their fieldwork independently. I meet with students at least weekly, but more frequently

during project development in June.

Benjamin Blonder, Environmental Change Institute and University of Oxford (UK)

Student research projects for summer 2016 I am exploring the idea that communities’ functional composition and climate niches cannot

change rapidly enough to track ongoing climate change and disturbance, creating ecological

disequilibrium and lagged dynamics that are not captured by current global-change ecosystem

models. I do this not only by building and testing disequilibrium models, but also by pushing the

limits of equilibrium ecophysiology models.

Fieldwork has primarily focused on long-term demography and microclimate and trait

measurements within a set of intensively studied alpine plant communities. Working with me is a

chance to learn about demography, functional traits, ecophysiology, and biophysics, while

spending days outdoors on beautiful mountaintops.

This summer I have opportunities to work on a range of questions. Some project areas that are

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suitable for a summer field season include (but are not limited to):

- the relationship between plant demography / fitness components and functional traits

- the role of microclimate (temperature) variation in structuring plant performance and fitness

- tests of whole-plant functional integration across different growth strategies

I am also interested in supporting independent projects on related themes in other locations.

Regardless, I look forward to working with creative and independent students who enjoy being

on mountaintops as much as I do.

More information about my scientific work can be found at

http://www.benjaminblonder.org/ or at my photo-blog at

http://bblonder.wordpress.com. Posts related to RMBL work can be found in the June, July, or

August archives of any year.

Mentor style and logistics: My lab group is small, typically comprised of myself, a research

technician, and one or two undergraduates conducting independent research. In addition, I

collaborate with Dr. Brian Enquist and Dr. John Harte and their research groups.

Students work closely and directly with me to develop a research project. My students conduct

research projects primarily in the field, with more limited lab work. I meet with students at least

weekly and usually more often during project development. Once studies are in place, students

may do most of their field work by themselves or with me, depending on the details of their

independent project. Because my primary field site is in the alpine, students working with me

should be comfortable hiking several miles daily.

My field season tends to run from late June to late August, though I tend to arrive in early

June. My students may arrive and stay later than the regular program dates, e.g. arriving in late

June and leaving in late August.

I am half Chinese, from a second-generation immigrant family on my mother's side, and feel

strongly that ecology should be open to everyone. I believe in providing a safe and welcoming

community for all my students. I encourage anyone with enthusiasm and curiosity, regardless of

past experience, to develop their interest in the mountains.

Dan Blumstein, UCLA

Possible Student Research Projects for 2016

1) Who do white-crowned sparrows listen to? Animals live in a rich acoustic community.

Many species ‘eavesdrop’ on the warning vocalizations of other species. The student will

capitalize on a well-studied and abundant population of white-crowned sparrows to begin to map

out the set of heterospecifics that they respond to. Experiments may include both social and

alarm vocalizations from a variety of birds and mammals.

2) Marmot Research: Many animals are lateralized in the way that they interact with their

environment (humans, for instance, are handed). Theory predicts that animals should respond

with different eyes if they need to acquire information about social factors versus predator-

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related factors. We will design experiments and make observations to study laterality in the well-

studied yellow-bellied marmot.

3) Marmot Research: Many animals respond to the sounds of conspecific screams but how

generally evocative are these screams. Screams from different species sound quite similar, thus,

we will design a playback experiment to determine whether marmots generally respond to

screams from a variety of different species.

4) Deer habituation: We have been engaged in a number of studies looking at how animals

respond to muliti-modal predator stimuli. A key question that has emerged is whether habituate

more quickly to unimodal stimuli. To address this question, we will present deer with predator

smells and sounds (that have previously been shown to elicit responses) and look at the time it

takes for them to forage at a feed block.

Logistics and Mentor Style Several mentored students will need to arrive in late May or early June.

My labgroup is large, typically 8-9 people work out of my lab at one time. All students will

work directly with me to develop a research project. Because animal care protocols are approved

well in advance of summer, the summer’s experiments are already determined. My students

conduct research projects almost entirely in the field. Statistical analyses require significant

computer time during the second half of the summer. I or my graduate students meet with

students at least weekly, and usually much more frequently. Students working on bird or deer

projects tend to do most of their field work by themselves. Students working with marmots will

spend time working with the larger labgroup, comprised of myself, graduate students, and RAs.

Carol Boggs and Rachel Steward, University of South Carolina

Independent Research Projects for Undergraduates, Summer 2016 The Boggs lab studies the ecology and evolutionary biology of butterflies. We use Rocky

Mountain butterfly species to answer broader questions about resource allocation, population

dynamics, life history evolution, and constraints on local adaptation in changing habitats.

Pieris macdunnoughii is a native butterfly stuck in an evolutionary trap. Evolutionary traps arise

when specialized recognition systems (sets of behavioral responses to environmental cues) are

compromised by rapid environmental change, causing previously reliable cues to produce costly

or maladaptive behaviors. P. macdunnoughii females identify suitable food plants for their

caterpillars using chemical cues found in the leaves. Invasive Thlaspi arvense produces

chemicals similar to those found in the native plants, but, when females lay their eggs on this

mustard, all of the caterpillars die. The fitness costs associated with this trap should select for

increased avoidance by females or improved survival of caterpillars. However, in over a century

since T. arvense was introduced to the area, no adaptive response has occurred. There are many

possibilities for independent research projects within this system. Current graduate research is

focused on resolving the issues of heritability, movement and cue similarity as evolutionary

constraints. One potential direction is to explore the role of motivation and learning in making

this type of egg-laying mistake. We are also interested in resolving the novel plant defenses

causing caterpillars to die, through comparative feeding studies. Additionally, there are several

other invasive mustards becoming more abundant in the Gunnison Basin, and assessing egg-

laying behavior and caterpillar performance in relation to these plants could reveal additional

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evolutionary traps with consequences for the long term stability of P. macdunnoughii

populations.

Although our preference is for a student to work on the system described above, we also study

two other species, Euphydryas gillettii and Speyeria mormonia, with opportunities for

independent research projects in both systems. The lab consists of Dr. Carol Boggs, Rachel

Steward (PhD student) and several undergraduate students. We work closely with students to

develop a research question and experimental design, with meetings at least weekly but usually

more frequently throughout the summer. Our group works collaboratively to tackle several

research projects concurrently, in both the field and the lab, and undergraduate students are

rarely working alone.

Alison Brody, University of Vermont

Student Research Projects for Summer 2016 I am broadly interested in the suite of interactions among plants, their mutualist pollinators and

antagonists such as herbivores and seed predators. The interactions among these multiple species

affect both the ecology, i.e., abundance and distribution, of plants as well as the evolution of

floral traits. Most recently, I’ve been investigating how the interactions among plants and their

pollinators, pre-dispersal seed predators and pollen thieves, affect the stability of plant sex-ratios.

In some species, e.g., sticky Polemonium, plants produce hermaphroditic or perfect flowers, as

well as flowers that function only as females and produce little or no pollen. One might imagine

that the two sex morphs interact differently with pollinators looking for floral rewards in nectar

and pollen, and seed predators looking for food (i.e., seeds) for their offspring. The relative

strength of these interactions will provide selective feed-backs affecting sex-ratios within and

among populations.

Students working with me could embark on a variety of projects including, but not limited to: 1)

a study of the importance of pollen thieves to plant fitness, 2) examining pollinator and seed

predator choices and visitation patterns to hermaphrodite and female flowers, 3) examining how

pre-dispersal seed predators manipulate their host plants.

My labgroup is small, typically 1 or 2 students work directly with me to develop a research

project. In some cases, a pair of students may work together on complementary projects. My

students conduct research projects entirely in the field; little lab work is involved. I meet with

students at least weekly, though they tend to do most of their field work by themselves. My

research can accommodate students during the regular program dates, as well as those who arrive

later in June and leave later in August.

Berry Brosi, Emory University

Student Research Projects 2015 (Projects will be similar in 2016) My research explores the impact of native bee declines on alpine plant communities. Projects are

most suited for students interested in pollination biology, insect taxonomy, plant ecology or

community ecology.

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Pollinator Diversity and Foraging Specialization: My research group is exploring competition

between pollinator species and the importance it plays in shaping pollinator specialization as

well as what changes occur when certain pollinator species are lost. To test this hypothesis, we

temporarily and non-destructively reduce bee and plant diversity and abundance in meadow

sites, and compare manipulated to non-manipulated sites. We measure short-term specialization

of pollinators through 1) monitoring foraging behavior; 2) analyzing pollen loads carried by

bees; 3) analyzing pollen loads on flowers and 4) measuring seed set resulting from pollen loads

deposited on flowers. Students interested in working on this project would have the opportunity

to learn about pollination biology, plant taxonomy and insect behavior.

My labgroup is typically 2-5 people in total. One or 2 students will work directly with me and/or

a graduate student to develop a research project. My students conduct research projects mostly

in the field; though some microscope work may be involved. I or my graduate student meet with

students at least weekly, more frequently during project development in June. Depending upon

student interests and details of project design, students may do most of their field work by

themselves or they may spend most days working with the labgroup, which can include several

research assistants and sometimes a graduate student.

Diane Campbell, UC Irvine

Student Research Projects for Summer 2016 My lab examines mechanisms of evolution in natural populations, and how these processes are

likely to respond to global change. Our current research is focused on two areas: plant hybrid

zones, and responses of animals such as pollinators to combinations of flower traits. Two

potential projects are described below. Students will also be encouraged to participate in all

ongoing lab projects including visits to a variety of field sites.

1) Plant hybrid zones. We are using field experiments to test mechanisms that explain where

and why we see hybrids between related plant species. Understanding these mechanisms helps to

elucidate factors that lead to new species or cause breakdown of reproductive isolation. Our

study system is two species of plants in the genus Ipomopsis that grow across an elevational

gradient from 2900 m to 3200 m. It requires substantial hiking in a beautiful area to visit these

sites. For several years, we have been examining vegetative traits (e.g., specific leaf area,

photosynthetic rate, water-use efficiency), flower traits (e.g., shape, color), and how they

influence fitness in terms of seeds set. A potential student product could compare elevational

clines in some of these traits. A sharper change of the trait with elevation would indicate stronger

natural selection. Since we have more than 20 years of data on this system, the student could

examine whether the hybrid zone has evolved over time, by comparing how traits change with

elevation now versus in the early 1990s. We also have three experimental common gardens,

including both species and their hybrids, set up at different elevations, which would allow

determining the extent to which differences in each of those traits are genetic.

2) Pollinators and seed predators. Most plants interact with a wide variety of other organisms.

These multiple interactions can shape flower traits through natural selection in a way that is not

predictable from examining each single interaction. For example, the flower traits that lead to

high seed production because they attract pollinators set the stage for selection by seed predators

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that feed on those seeds. This project would examine natural selection on pairs of flower traits in

Ipomopsis aggregata and how that selection is altered by removing eggs of a fly that eats

maturing seeds and by removing the influence of hummingbird pollinators by hand-pollinating

all flowers. Some of the traits that could be examined are: flower width, sepal width, nectar

production and emission of terpene scent compounds. This project would take place in the field

within easy walking distance of RMBL.

Mentor Style

My research can accommodate students during the regular program dates, as well as students

arriving later in June and leaving later in August.

My lab group will be comprised of myself, one postdoc, two graduate students and one to three

undergraduates. Students work directly with me to develop a research project. My students

conduct research projects either in the field or using potted plants in a small greenhouse, with

some follow-up analysis done in the laboratory. I meet with students at least twice a week and

often go in the field with them. Students often do most of their field work together with one or

more members of the lab team.

Ross Conover, Paul Smith’s College

Student Research Projects for Summer 2016 My research is part of a continuing, long-term investigation into the life histories of mountain

white-crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys oriantha). This project aims to elucidate

relationships between parasite load as well as their reproductive ecology along an elevational

gradient. Students interested in this project must be willing to rise before dawn and hike long

distances in rugged topography. My research lab typically consists of myself and 2-3

undergraduates, so all students will work directly with me to develop a research

project. Because animal care protocols are approved well in advance of summer research,

projects will be largely determined by then. Students on this project can expect to spend nearly

all of their mornings in the field, must be willing to trap and handle live, wild birds and walk

long distances through tall vegetation while nest searching. Field work is a collaborative effort

and training will be conducted on-site such that students are skilled enough to collect data

independently. Research with white-crowned sparrows happens intensively in the early part of

the summer; students will need to arrive the last week of May or first week of June.

Charlotte deKeyzer, University of Toronto

Student Research, Summer 2016 Are plants getting enough pollination? This is a question asked at the start of many pollination

studies and is important when we assess how plants are coping with climate change and altered

species interactions. The typical pollination limitation experiment involves comparing hand-

pollinated plants to control, open pollinated plants. Unfortunately, the simplicity of this

experiment likely results in deviations from reality and may overestimate pollination limitation.

For example, the quality of pollen is not held constant for hand pollination and control

treatments. I’m interested in studying this problem by comparing seed set from a controlled

number of visits by pollinators to hand pollinations. This experiment will involve catching lots of

bumble bees and watching them visit marked plants in pollinator exclusion cages.

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Mentorship style: Students will be co-mentored by myself and my supervisor, James Thomson.

I will be the primary mentor and on-site at Gothic. The project will involve a lot of field work

and will require a fairly independent student. After setting up the experiment, the student can

expect to be in the field most days, as long as the weather is good for bees. I will meet with the

student to check in at least once a week.

Amy Ellwein, RMBL

Soils are an important interface between geology and biology; however, very little is known

about the soils around RMBL. Soil development is a function of climatic conditions, biological

activity, local relief, aspect, parent material, and the amount of time sediments are exposed at or

near the surface. Combined with an understanding of surficial processes, soil stratigraphy aids in

the subdivision of the local succession of deposits and correlation of unconsolidated

sediments. The distribution and properties of soil stratigraphic units can be used to evaluate

landform evolution and age, landform stability, surface processes and even past climates.

Potential research questions: What are the dominant relationships between soil and sediment

properties with elevation, slope, aspect, rock type, or the relative age of surficial deposits? Is

there a correlation between soil properties and dominant vegetation patterns? What is the late

Quaternary history of landscape change in this environment?

What will you do? Work with me to define a manageable project, dig soil pits, describe soils, and

map surficial deposits in a GIS using a state-of-the-art field-hardened laptop loaded with aerial

photos, digital elevation models and satellite imagery. This project will be conducted almost

entirely in the field and will require hiking in steep terrain with a 20-40 pound load. Learn to

read the abiotic component of this montane landscape, reconstruct late Quaternary landscape

evolution around RMBL, and help launch a new research program!

My labgroup is small, typically 1 or 2 students work directly with me to develop a research

project. I meet with students at least weekly, though they tend to do most of their field work by

themselves.

Brian Enquist, University of Arizona

Student Research Projects for Summer 2016 We use physiological, experimental, theoretical, and observational methods to try to understand

what regulates diversity (phylogenetic and functional) and dynamics of subalpine communities

and ecosystems at different scales. In particular, we are interested in understanding how diversity

influences ecosystem functioning. We are interested in the relative importance of abiotic

(namely, climate) and biotic (species interactions, community assembly, and competition) factors

in controlling plant community and ecosystem response to climate change. At the largest scales,

we study the flux of carbon dioxide from subalpine meadows along an elevational gradient and

its relationship to temperature, water availability, plant functional traits and species identity. At

the smallest scale, we are studying the mechanisms of community assembly of subalpine

meadows.

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Our research program can accommodate students during the regular program dates, as well as

students arriving earlier and leaving earlier than the regular program dates.

My labgroup is comprised of myself, one or more graduate students, and a research technician,

in addition to 1-2 undergraduates conducting independent research and possible lab

visitors. Students work directly with me to develop a research question. Students conduct

research projects mostly in the field, though occasional lab work may be required. My lab group

is onsite throughout the summer and I am onsite during June and I meet with students at least

weekly, and usually more often during project development. During the second half of the

summer, my onsite lab team will assist as needed and I am in regular email and Skype

contact. Field work is often a collaborative effort with the lab team. However, once studies are

in place, students may develop independent field projects.

Jessica Forrest, University of Ottawa

Student Research Projects for Summer 2016 I study the effects of environmental change (mainly climate change) on bees and the plants they

visit. I’m also interested in bee ecology and pollination biology in general. At RMBL, my work

focuses on (a) the factors regulating bee populations (including floral resources, parasites, and

temperature), (b) the phenology and life-history of bees, and (c) the functional ecology of

flowers. My primary study organisms are solitary bees in the family Megachilidae, which,

conveniently, are willing to occupy artificial nest blocks; this allows their nesting and emergence

phenology, floral host use, and parasitism rates to be observed. Some of these species show

intriguing variation in life-cycle duration, the causes of which I am trying to understand

(developmental temperatures and larval diet are two likely possibilities). I would especially like

to work with a student who is interested in one of the following areas:

1. Understanding the role of temperature in controlling the life cycles of bees and their parasites,

using field observations and/or incubator experiments. This work is important for understanding

how bee populations will be affected by climate change.

2. Differences in pollen quality among plant species, and how these affect development of bees

and their parasites.

3. The role of pollinators in maintaining reproductive isolation between closely related, co-

occurring plant species.

My lab group is small, typically including me, 2 graduate students, and 1-3 undergraduates

conducting independent research or working as research assistants. Students work directly with

me to develop a research project, which can be field-based, lab-based, or both. I meet with

students at least weekly and usually more often; regular email contact is important. Once studies

are in place, students may work on their own, with me, or with other students in my lab,

depending on the nature of the project and the student’s level of confidence.

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Kate Gallagher, UC Irvine

Student Research Projects for Summer 2016 Recent changes in climate are altering ecosystems worldwide. These environmental changes may disrupt

ecological relationships, including those between plants and pollinators. Plant-pollinator mutualisms are

vital to maintaining ecosystems and supporting global crop production. In the Rocky Mountains, warmer

springs are changing the timing of plant reproduction and pollinator emergence (i.e. phenology), while

earlier snowpack melting is likely altering soil water availability during the growing season. The aim of

my dissertation research is to investigate the mechanisms driving plant-pollinator responses to

changes in water availability and phenology associated with warmer springs and early snowmelt.

Through a combination of observational studies and manipulative experiments, over the last four

summers, I have examined the extent which floral traits, pollination, and seed set of the tall-fringed

bluebell, Mertensia ciliata (Boraginaceae), respond to changes in soil moisture and flowering phenology.

In 2015, I will be manipulating both of these variables in a multi-factorial experiment, in order to test the

extent to which changes in plant and floral characters resulting from reduced water availability interact in

their effects on pollination with those caused by differences in flowering phenology. In this experiment,

potted plants will be induced to flower at different times. Within each flowering group there will be three

water availability treatments (addition, reduction, & control). Flowering plants of all three water

treatments will be placed in the field (a beautiful mountain meadow) in experimental arrays. We will

measure floral and vegetative traits, conduct pollinator observations, and monitor seed set throughout the

summer.

There are many opportunities for students to develop independent projects associated with my overall

objectives, including studies on: 1) assessing variation in pollinator effectiveness throughout the season in

order to determine effects of changes in pollinator species or caste and 2) measuring pollen limitation and

pollen saturation of M. ciliata at various times during the summer.

Mentorship style & Logistics: My research can accommodate students during the regular program dates,

as well as students arriving later in June and leaving later in August. I am a graduate student in the

Campbell lab, so students working with me will also be encouraged to participate in all ongoing Campbell

lab projects including visits to a variety of field sites. Students will work directly with me to develop a

research project. Research projects are almost entirely conducted in the field with some follow-up

analysis done in the laboratory; although we may do some work with potted plants in a small greenhouse.

Typically, we work together in the field as much as appropriate, especially while developing project

ideas. I meet with students at least once a week, but likely more often. Students generally do most of their

field work together with one or more members of the lab team.

Gallagher Personal Website: http://sites.uci.edu/mkgallagher/

Campbell Lab Website: http://campbell-lab.bio.uci.edu

John Harte, UC Berkeley

Student Research Projects for Summer 2016 Student research will be supervised in two interrelated areas: 1. The macroecology of disturbed

sites. 2. The ecological effects of climate change on subalpine/alpine ecosystems.

1) Macroecology is the study of patterns in the abundance and distribution of species across

multiple spatial scales. It is an essential component of the science of biodiversity. Among the

patterns that macroecologists study are species-area relationships, abundance distributions, and

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relationships between adult body size and abundance across species. Most prior macroecological

studies, both empirical and theoretical, have been designed for relatively undisturbed

ecosystems. Areas of disturbance, such as heavily eroded sites, avalanche slopes, post fire sites,

and habitats that are experiencing rapid climate change, have been neglected. We have recently

begun a study of “disturbance macroecology”, trying to answer the question of whether field data

in disturbed sites in the vicinity of RMBL reveal macroecological patterns that are similar to the

patterns that are both observed, and are explained by recent theory, in undisturbed sites.

2) We are conducting a long term (it is now in its 26th-year) meadow warming experiment at

RMBL. Many changes have been documented in the heated plots relative to the controls,

including loss of soil carbon and a shift in plant species composition from forb dominance to

shrub dominance, but many questions remain. Are shrubs doing better because competing forbs

are doing worse, or are forbs doing worse because competing shrubs are doing better, or is

neither of hypotheses correct? Biogeochemical theory suggests that the soil carbon decline

should reverse in the coming years, with the soil carbon levels recovering back to pre-heated

values: is that theory descriptive of our experimental plots?

Students working on these projects should have strong quantitative skills and be willing to work

independently. I meet with students at least weekly, but students do most field work on their

own.

Jeremiah Henning, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Student Research Projects for Summer 2016

My research is focused broadly on the community ecology of symbiosis. Specifically, I’m

interested in understanding how climate change will impact plant and root associated symbionts

(mycorrhizal fungi and endophytic bacterial communities). We know climate change is pushing

plants to new ranges and phenologies, but their associated belowground symbionts have received

little attention. My research is highly collaborative with fellow RMBL researchers Quentin Read,

Aimée Classen, Nate Sanders, and Lara Souza. The collaborative nature of our research group

gives students a wide array of expertise and opportunities to combine aboveground processes,

belowground processes, with ecosystem functioning.

My RMBL work is focused in 3 broad questions:

1) What are the biotic and abiotic factors that structure mycorrhizal communities?

The argument of biotic versus abiotic factors has been a long-fought debate in ecology for

several decades, but does the either/or debate really matter? It seems commonplace that some

balance between abiotic and biotic factors ultimately control community structure. To investigate

the balance of abiotic and biotic factors that are structure mycorrhizal fungal communities, I'm

correlating mycorrhizal fungal community structure with several climatic, edaphic, and biotic

factors along an elevational gradient. I’m interested in understanding if the balance of abiotic

versus biotic factors shifts as you move along an elevational gradient?

2) How will long-term warming and dominant plant species removal alter the structure and

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function of mycorrhizal communities?

In collaboration with Quentin Read, we have installed a long-term warming × dominant species

removal experiment along an elevational gradient. This allows us to manipulate abiotic

environment and plant community structure simultaneously to understand response of

mycorrhizal community structure. Additionally, we can test if changes in mycorrhizal structure

correspond to changes in mycorrhizal community function.

3) How do changes in mycorrhizal community structure cascade to affect ecosystem function?

Mycorrhizal fungi play a key role in carbon sequestration in soils. There is evidence that

mycorrhizal fungal species differ in their ability to store carbon belowground. One of the big

concerns and unknowns with ongoing global change is whether mycorrhizal fungi will serve as

organisms that can sequester excess atmospheric carbon or whether mycorrhizal fungi will

contribute to atmospheric carbon gain. Within our warming plots, we have begun monitoring

carbon pools and fluxes between atmosphere, plants, fungi, and soils.

Advising style: My labgroup is small, typically comprised of myself, another graduate student

co-mentor and 1-2 undergraduates conducting independent research. However, I work in close

collaboration with Drs. Nate Sanders and Aimee Classen and their students. My students work

directly with me to develop a research project and typically projects contain a 50:50 mix of field

and lab work, but it can change depending on student interest.

I have had invaluable mentors in my life that have worked in the field with me, have helped with

lab work, and were always willing to sit down and talk through data, so this is the advising style

that I prefer to take. I prefer to have frequent meetings with students to chat about project,

methods, data collection, data analysis, or simply to read and discuss research papers. Although

the student will undoubtedly drive the research progress, I will be available to assist the student

as much as I can. Please feel free to email me with questions or to discuss specific summer

research project ideas.

Amy Iler, Aarhus University, Denmark and University of Maryland, USA.

Co-mentor: Heidi Steltzer, Fort Lewis College

Student Research 2016: Phenology, flower albedo, & soil moisture: a positive feedback

between vegetation and climate change?

Earlier biological events are a hallmark of climate change across the globe. Indeed, many plant

species are flowering earlier in the Rocky Mountains as the climate changes. At the RMBL, early

dates of spring snowmelt coincide with earlier flowering of most plant species. Some plant

species counter-intuitively suffer increased frost damage when spring comes early; this happens

because nighttime low temperatures can still dip below freezing in late spring when flower buds

are developing, even if the snow melts early.

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We are studying whether or not this loss of sunflowers (Helianthella quinquenervis) alters the

amount of sunlight that is reflected back from the Earth's surface (albedo). Feedbacks between

vegetation and climate mediated by phenology are poorly understood, and the role of flower

albedo in these feedbacks is unknown. Specifically, green leaves reflect less light than yellow

flowers, which could result in even warmer and drier soils in years when snowmelt is early. To

test this hypothesis, we conducted a flower removal experiment during summer 2015 and

measured soil moisture, soil temperature, greenness index (NDVI), and water stress in sunflower

plants. Overall, our results suggest that floral albedo may play an important role in feedbacks

between vegetation and climate. Future work will repeat this experiment across summers with

different abiotic conditions and will specifically measure albedo in the plots. If you are interested

in effects of climate change on plants, including phenology and physiology, this would be a great

project for you.

Rebecca Irwin, North Carolina State University

Student Research Projects for Summer 2016

We study the ecology and evolution of plant-pollinator and plant-herbivore interactions. Students

interested in plant ecology, insect ecology, insect taxonomy, and/or invasive species would be

most suited to the proposed projects.

Flowers, solitary bees, and climate change in subalpine Colorado. Solitary bees are important

and diverse pollinators worldwide, but the factors that affect the distribution and abundance of

solitary bees are not well explored, and it is not well known how solitary bees will respond to

climate change. The goal of this study is to test whether there is a relationship between flowering

phenology and abundance and solitary bee phenology and abundance, and how those

relationships will change as the environment changes. The study will use pan traps, nesting

blocks, and netting to assess the phenology and abundance of solitary bees. Students interested in

this project will have the opportunity to add to a growing database of bee phenology and

abundance and to examine changes in patterns over time.

Invasive species. Invasive species are a leading component of environmental change. However,

controlling the spread of invasive species has been challenging both from an ecological and a

socio-economic perspective. The goal of this project is to understand how to control invasive

plants, what the ecological costs and benefits of doing so are, and how socio-economic factors

interact to affect the success of invasive species control. Students interested in this project will

have the opportunity to develop a project related to the ecology or socio-economics of invasive

species.

Behavioral ecology of secondary nectar robbing. Some pollinators (also called legitimate

foragers) will change foraging strategies and begin to secondary nectar rob - remove nectar

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through a hole previously made in the flower by other individuals (primary nectar robbers). The

goal of this project is to determine how primary robbing facilitates secondary robbing using wild

bees for behavioral tests in a foraging arena. Students will assist in observations and experiments

and will have the opportunity to develop an independent component of the study.

Pollen foraging bees. Some plants do not make nectar but instead offer pollen as a reward to

pollinators. The goal of this project is to understand the evolutionary ecology of nectarless plants

within the context of the behavior of pollen-foraging bees.

My labgroup is comprised of myself, one or more graduate students, and a research technician

and/or post-doc, in addition to multiple undergraduates conducting independent research or

working as research assistants. Students work directly with me to develop a research question

and sometimes with co-mentorship from graduate student or technician. Most projects are

primarily in the field. The bee survey research is about half time in the field, collecting and

surveying bees and plants, and about half time in the lab, pinning and identifying bees. The bee

survey research is best suited to a detail-oriented student. I meet with students weekly, and

usually more often during project development. My graduate students are in the lab often and

are an added resource for my students. Some students may conduct field work alone in the field,

while others may work more closely with a graduate student or technician, depending on the

nature of their individual projects.

Tom Mitchell-Olds, Lauren Carley (Duke University) & Robin Bingham (Western State

Colorado University)

Overview: Since plants cannot move around to escape unfavorable conditions, they have evolved

a variety of complex traits that help them adapt to their biotic and abiotic environments. In the

Mitchell-Olds lab, we study how these adaptations have arisen and are maintained in natural

populations of plants. Using the model system Boechera stricta (Brassicaceae), we seek to

understand the historical, ecological, and evolutionary forces that explain the wide variety of

plant traits that we observe in nature, and to illuminate functional links to the genetic

mechanisms that underlie them. The key questions we will address in 2016 are described below.

1. How does natural selection by herbivores vary among natural montane environments?

We are testing the hypothesis that variability in biotic interactions creates balancing selection

on plant defense traits, allowing diversity in these traits to be maintained over space and

time. To do so, we will measure natural selection on defensive chemistry in 10-12 distinct

montane environments, spanning a range of habitat types that B. stricta naturally inhabits, in

attempt to identify the ecological factors that favor different defensive phenotypes.

Specifically, we are interested in selection by herbivory, which may vary with the abundance,

diversity, and feeding behaviors of several key insect species.

2. What are the impacts of evolutionary change on ecological interactions? The evolution

of defensive traits may reciprocally modify the selective environment that plants experience,

altering future evolutionary trajectories. To test this, we are creating experimental arrays of

B. stricta genotypes that vary in a gene controlling defensive chemistry, and will monitor the

responses of the biotic environment (and resultant selective pressures) to this change. As in

the above question, the focus of this experiment will be insect herbivores—the putative

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ecological agents of selection on plant defense traits—and how their patterns vary depending

on the genotypes and phenotypes of the individual plants in a population.

3. What genes underlie ecologically important plant traits, and how and why do they vary

in nature? Utilizing state-of-the-art genomic techniques, we are executing a large-scale

study to discover the genes that control a wide range of traits contributing to plant adaptation,

including insect resistance, drought tolerance, and phenology. Combining genomic analysis

with studies of phenotypic expression and natural selection in field environments allows us to

more deeply understand the mechanistic links between natural genetic variation, adaptive

evolution, and the ecological interactions that connect them.

Mentorship style: We are excited to work with students whose research interests complement

our own, but will work with you to develop personalized, independent questions and methods to

accommodate your interests and goals. Our field crew of graduate students, research assistants,

professors, and undergraduates (usually ~2 of each) works very collaboratively with each other

and with other lab groups studying related plants at RMBL. Undergraduates rarely, if ever,

perform fieldwork alone. Projects are primarily field-based, but it is possible to conduct

complementary lab work as well, if desired/necessary. We meet with our students regularly

(several times per week, as needed), have group meetings at least once per week, and are

invested in creating a supportive, dynamic, and stimulating research environment for our

undergrads, regardless of prior experience level. If you are excited about how the interactions of

ecology, evolution, and genetics play out in natural ecosystems, we hope you will apply to work

with us!

Emily Mooney, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs

Student Research Projects

Plants are targeted by a variety of consumers--from insect herbivores to human harvesters. I use

techniques from population genetics, chemical ecology and conservation biology to examine

patterns of harvest and herbivory. My research at RMBL focuses on the plant Ligusticum porteri

(Porter’s lovage). Field surveys consistently find habitat-dependent herbivory in L. porteri:

plants in meadows are colonized by aphids to a much greater extent than plants in the aspen

understory. Past student projects revealed that mutualism with ants is the key factor that

determines this pattern. In addition to aphids, L. porteri is sought after by human harvesters as a

cold and flu remedy. There is concern that populations are vulnerable to overharvest, so part of

my research examines harvest sustainability.

There are opportunities for undergraduate researchers to develop a variety of projects in this

system. Project design will be a collaborative process so that students can follow their own

curiosity. For students interested in community ecology, experiments can explore the

mechanisms underlying the ant-aphid mutualism. For students interested in conservation biology,

projects can focus on harvest sustainability of L. porteri, and this could include using GIS to

determine the distribution and abundance of L. porteri.

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My lab group is small, but students are welcome to work with other larger groups while at

RMBL. My students conduct research projects mostly in the field, but lab work can complement

these projects. I meet with students several times a week, but I encourage students to work on

their own once projects are underway.

Kailen Mooney, UC Irvine

Student Research Projects for 2016 Herbivory by insects is the most common ecological interaction among macroscopic organisms.

Every plant species is fed upon by multiple species of herbivore, and herbivory plays a central

role in plant evolution and ecology. At the same time, all herbivores are preyed upon by

predators and parasites (“natural enemies”). We study the networks of interactions among plants,

herbivores, natural enemies, and the mutualists of herbivores that provide protection from natural

enemies. Using this food-web approach, we seek to determine the relative importance of plant

resistance, natural enemies and mutualists for herbivore performance, and the consequences of

these factors for plant growth and fitness.

Our work involves several plant systems and their associated insect communities. In most cases,

one component of the food webs we study are the ant-aphid and ant-plant protection mutualisms.

In these interactions, ants protect plants or aphids from their natural enemies (herbivores and

predators respectively) in exchange for food in the form of sugary exudates. Because ants can

provide protection from natural enemies, ant-aphid and ant-plant interactions can be an important

determinant of plant and aphid fitness.

The Mooney Lab group includes, Dr. Kailen Mooney, graduate students, and usually one or

more collaborators and their students for a combined group of 6-8 people in

total. Undergraduate students typically conduct research projects entirely in the field and work

independently with progress meetings one or more times per week (as needed).

Jane Ogilvie, RMBL

Student Research Project for Summer 2016

I am interested in how bumble bees might respond to changes in the wildflower community that

are driven by climate change. The wildflower community around the RMBL has changed in the

last few decades: the season is extending and flowers are declining mid-season, while some key

plant species have fewer flowers in years with early snowmelt. It is important to understand how

bumble bees respond to this trend toward fewer floral resources, because colonies need to forage

on a series of flowers throughout the growing season to grow and reproduce. If bumble bees are

flexible in their flower choices when resources are scarce, this may bode well for their

population persistence under continued climate change. However, we do not have a good

understanding of how flexible bumble bees are in their flower use when flower abundance

varies. There are few ways that we can study this, involving a lot of observation of flowers and

bees in the field. I am also interested in mentoring students who are interested in their own

questions about plant-pollinator interactions and plant reproductive ecology in general.

Mentor Style My labgroup is fairly small, typically comprised of myself, one or two research assistants, and an

undergraduate conducting independent research. In addition, I collaborate with Dr. David Inouye

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who has a number of long-term studies of wildflowers at the RMBL. Students work directly with

me to develop a research project. My students conduct research projects mostly in the field, with

only a little labwork. I meet with students at least weekly and usually more often during project

development. Once studies are in place, students may do most of their fieldwork by themselves

or with me or my technician, depending on the details of their independent project. Because my

field season runs from early summer to late summer, I can usually accommodate students either

arriving early or staying later than the regular program dates.

Kate Maher, Stanford University

Matthew Winnick, Stanford University

Rosemary Carroll, Desert Research Institute

Student Research Projects for 2016

Soils, floodplains, and shallow aquifers are the least understood components of the global carbon

cycle, yet they represent the largest reservoir of terrestrial carbon and are highly sensitive to

shifts in climate, vegetation, and the resulting water balance. Small changes in the storage and

cycling of carbon in the subsurface therefore may have very large impacts on the Earth’s climate

system. Our research at RMBL is aimed at addressing this critical knowledge gap by describing

the interactions between water and carbon in the subsurface to better understand their sensitivity

to future change. We use research techniques across a range of disciplines including stable

isotope biogeochemistry, hydrology, microbial ecology, and GIS, and combine fieldwork with

laboratory analyses and quantitative models.

Undergraduate researchers will have the opportunity to develop a range of projects to contribute

to our ongoing research. Potential projects include (1) measurement of soil gas fluxes (CO2, CH4,

H2O, N2O) across a range of scales within the East River watershed; (2) high spatial/temporal

resolution stream chemistry measurements to characterize processes such as the effects of

summer storm events on solute fluxes and topography on stream CO2 degassing; (3) soil

description surveys across ecosystems, topography, aspect to characterize soil carbon stocks and

guide hydrologic subsurface flow models. Projects will all involve a strong field component with

ample opportunity to explore laboratory work and quantitative hydrologic and geochemical

models depending on students’ interests. We will work closely with students throughout the

summer to design and implement research goals, and there will be many opportunities to

collaborate with related research groups at the USGS, Colorado School of Mines, and Lawrence

Berkeley National Laboratories.

Anne Marie Panetta, University of California Davis

Student Research Projects for Summer 2016 Research Interests I am broadly interested in species’ population-level responses to climate

change. More specifically, I study a mountain wildflower, Rock Jasmine (A. septentrionalis), and

its response to both experimental and human-caused climate change. Working in the world’s

longest-running climate manipulation experiment (the Warming Meadow) and along a broad

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elevation/climate gradient, I use a combination of field observations and transplant experiments

to investigate the potential the roles of evolution, phenotypic plasticity, and assisted migration in

rescuing Rock Jasmine populations from climate-change induced extinction.

Mentoring Philosophy I encourage independent, creative thinking. I am looking for enthusiastic,

self-motivated students who are excited to design an ecological research project inspired by field

observations.

Mary Price and Nick Waser, University of Arizona

Student Projects 2015 (2016 projects will likely be pollination, possibly dust effects) Effects of road dust on pollination and reproduction of native wildflowers.

Roadways have profound ecological effects. They can serve as corridors for introduction of

invasive species, and can alter the movement of individuals and genes across the landscape. Dust

also has profound ecological effects. It may move locally or around the Globe, and it influences

many things ranging from ecosystem productivity to climate.

We are combining an interest in roads and an interest in dust, brought about because the unpaved

road through RMBL is dusty. We wonder how road dust influences organisms near the road—in

this case the animals that pollinate wildflowers, and the plants themselves. With several

undergraduate interns we have studied dust, pollination, and seed set in two native wildflowers

over four summers. The results are intriguing—strong negative effects of dust in some years for

one or the other of the two plant species, but no effects, or positive effects, in other years.

This is a detective story, just as all good science is. We would like to have good students join us

as detectives, and by good we mean people who are willing to work hard and think carefully and

are not afraid of exploring the unknown and of tasks that can be tedious.

We hope that this research will lead to something useful. Unpaved roads are the norm in most of

the world, and virtually nothing is known about how dust from them affects, or does not affect,

whole organisms—let alone pollination of flowers.

This research can accommodate students during the regular program dates, as well as students

arriving earlier and leaving earlier than the regular program dates.

Our group is small—it’s usually the two of us and 1-2 undergrad interns doing their research

projects. Students work directly with us to develop a research project. They sometimes work as

a team, perhaps including one or both of us, and sometimes on their own. This work involves

substantial time in the field and in front of a microscope, and will introduce you to topics such as

floral biology and bee behavior.

Jennifer Reithel, RMBL

Student Research Project for Summer 2016

I am interested in invasive plant management and restoration. My students and I conduct

research projects aimed at managing the nonnative invasive plant, Linaria vulgaris. I have some

on-going research investigating how manipulating soil nutrients affects the restoration of plant

communities and the growth of Linaria vulgaris in disturbed areas. I also have an on-going

experiment testing the effect of a cover crop on native plant restoration and growth of Linaria

vulgaris. Finally, I am testing which of 7 native species have the greatest growth and survival

when planted in restored areas. Students working with me can design projects related to existing

research or may develop their own questions and experiments. I work closely with students to

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develop research projects. Once projects are up and running, students do the field work on their

own. I am flexible about start and end dates.

Jennifer Rudgers, University of New Mexico

Co-mentors: Stephanie Kivlin, Joshua Lynn, University of New Mexico

Student Research Projects for Summer 2016

Our research program uses plants, microbes, and arthropods to explore how species interactions

affect population dynamics, community structure, and the evolution of species traits. Mutualistic

microbes, in particular, contribute an important, but often overlooked, layer of diversity in

ecosystems, and their inclusion in ecological research can increase the realism of both

experiments and theory.

Fungal endophytes grow in the leaves of all plants studied to date. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

and (the mysterious) dark septate endophytes colonize the roots of most plant species. However,

we are just beginning to understand the ecological consequences of these dynamic fungal

symbioses in natural ecosystems.

We develop questions and projects individually with students, based on their interests. But, here

are some possible projects:

1) How does climate change alter the frequency of symbiosis? Global climate change may

lead to increases in summer droughts, and symbioses could be critical to allowing plants to

overcome this additional stress. Given that endophytes are known to improve drought resistance

in agronomic grasses, we expect increases in the frequency of symbiotic plants under increased

drought stress. This project would involve planting small mesocosms consisting of 50:50

mixtures of endophyte-symbiotic and endophyte-free seeds. We will manipulate water

availability and track changes in the frequency of symbiotic plants (due to differential

germination, survival, and growth) through one growing season.

2) Does climate change create mismatches between plants and their symbionts? There is

strong evidence that plants are migrating to higher elevations as climate warms. The long-term

warming experiment at RMBL has shown that grasses are quite sensitive to warming. If plants

respond differently to climate (e.g., in dispersal, mortality) than do their symbionts, climate

change could create novel communities and associations, with unknown consequences for both

plant and microbial partners. We have been surveying plant and fungal symbiont distributions

along altitudinal gradients in the Rocky Mountains. Continued surveys combined with

manipulative experiments (creating new combinations of plant and soil microbial communities)

can help improve understanding of this consequence of climate change.

3) Do low elevation plant communities competitively exclude high elevation plant

species? In the summer of 2015, we set up a competition experiment to test if low elevation

plant communities can exclude high elevation plants species via competition when they move

upslope with climate change. Further monitoring and a pilot experiment involving plant traits to

explain competitive ability differences will take place during the summer of 2016.

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4) Warming-induced shifts in plant and fungal symbiont gene expression. The long-term

warming experiment at RMBL has shown that both grasses and fungi are sensitive to warming.

However, we lack a mechanistic molecular framework for these responses. We will survey the

transcriptome (RNA expression) of fungal pathogens and symbionts and plant hosts to elucidate

the environmental influence of warming on plant immunity, fungal pathogen physiology, and

fungal symbiont-host interactions. Ours will be the largest survey of these processes to take place

in the field. This work can potentially be translated into managed systems to improve crop and

forage yields under future climates.

5) Does climate warming alter the relationship between plants and their insect herbivores

and fungal pathogens? Many experiments that involve manipulating climate only look at the

direct effects of climate on plant communities. This ignores the indirect effects of climate change

on plant-enemy interactions (herbivores and fungal pathogens). We utilize the warming

experiments at RMBL and multiple years of data to observe how the amount of damage by plant

enemies changes in an altered climate over time.

6) How do above-ground symbionts affect decomposition? Do such effects vary along

environmental gradients, such as altitude? Plants host symbionts in both leaves and roots.

However, interactions between these above- and below-ground microbial communities are not

well understood. We will use manipulative experiments that alter symbiont presence in leaves to

evaluate effects on decomposition along replicated altitudinal gradients.

Mentoring Research can accommodate students during the regular program dates, as well as students

arriving later and/or leaving later than the regular program dates.

Our labgroup is 3-5 people, typically including a graduate student, a post-doc, and 1-3 students

working on independent projects. Students work directly with us to develop a research project.

Students conduct research projects mostly in the field; though some lab work, such as preparing

slides, culturing fungi on Petri plates, and viewing fungi with a microscope, is involved. Projects

may be observational or experimental, but we tend toward more experimental approaches. We

meet with students at least weekly. Experiments can be a collaborative effort with the lab team,

and students can work together on a single (larger) project when that makes the most sense. We

typically have several research projects running concurrently and everyone helps out on all

projects during critical periods. There are many opportunities to learn a variety of tools in both

the field and lab. Once projects are set up, students tend to do most of their field work either by

themselves or in pairs, depending on the nature of their projects.

Rosemary Smith, Idaho State

Student Research Projects for Summer 2016

My research focuses on behavioral ecology. Projects generally focus on habitat selection, anti-

predator behaviors, competition, and reproductive strategies. My main research project is with

burying beetles, but I am willing to work with students who want to pursue studies of small

mammals. The burying beetle project focuses on the behavior and ecology of a very interesting,

large, colorful, and stinky beetle. The burying beetle (Coleoptera: Silphidae: Nicrophorus; 3

species near RMBL) belongs to a family of beetles that breed on carrion. In the case of

Nicrophorus, the carrion consists primarily of small mammals (voles, deer mice, jumping mice).

Once the beetles locate a carcass they fight, the largest M-F pair usually wins, and they begin the

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process of carcass preparation: burial, fur removal, and shaping into a ball. When the brood

chamber is complete, the larvae hatch and are fed and tended by both parents, although only one

(or none?) is required. The larvae consume the entire carcass in about 14 days, then stay in the

soil until they pupate. The parents leave and may breed again. Possible student projects include

ecological studies: competition among beetles or interspecific competitors or mutualists (mites,

ants, flies, other beetles), population density, habitat selection, or activity periods. Behavioral

projects include competition and intruders at carcasses, parental care, larval competition,

alternative mating strategies, and communication. Experiments can include both a field and a

captive/lab component. Students must be willing to work with live animals in an ethical manner,

pay attention to details, work independently once the project is established, and collaborate with

others in the same lab.

My labgroup is comprised of me, 2 research technicians, and 1-2 undergraduates conducting

independent research, usually about 5 people in total. Students often read suggested papers and

think of possible projects before arriving at RMBL, and may have 1-2 weeks at the lab before I

arrive. This means that students must put an effort into the project at the start, participating in

the RMBL coursework and/or workshops on GPS/GIS, statistics, ethics, and experimental

design. Once I arrive at the lab, students work directly with me to complete their research

proposals. Students conduct research projects in the field and in the lab or Insectarium,

depending on the nature of their research question. I meet with students nearly every day to help

with the experiments or analyses. Typically there are several research projects happening

concurrently and everyone is expected to help each other during critical and labor intensive

stages of experiments.

My research program can accommodate students during the regular program dates, as well as

students leaving later in August. The adult beetles do not emerge until late June (even early July

if it is a late snowmelt year) so most experiments must be carried out in July and

August. Research projects on small mammal behavior and ecology can normally start and end

earlier.

Brad Taylor, North Carolina State University

Student Research Projects 2016

How do pathogens affect nutrient cycling by stream invertebrates?

Mentors: Brad Taylor and Andrew Sanders

Invertebrates are important to nutrient cycling in streams. Indirectly they can alter the biomass of

primary producers that take up dissolved inorganic nutrients. Directly they excrete inorganic

nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, back into the water making them available for uptake

by primary producers. Individual, species, and community traits influence the degree to which

stream invertebrates affect nutrient cycling. Interestingly, many stream invertebrates are infected

with pathogens and there is evidence that pathogen infection alters the rate at which invertebrates

recycle nutrients. The aim of this project is to test how pathogens affect the amount of nitrogen

and phosphorus excreted by stream invertebrates by comparing excretion of parasitized and

unparasitized invertebrates. These results will be used to predict how pathogen prevalence

influences consumer-driven nutrient recycling and, thus the availability of nutrients for primary

producers. This project will involve measurements in both the field and lab, and will combine

biology, ecology and chemistry skills.

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Dirk Van Vuren and Jaclyn Aliperti, University of California, Davis

Student Research Projects 2016

We study the ecology and behavior of ground squirrels. We use a combination of trapping and

behavioral observations to study topics such as sociality, mating systems, spatial ecology and

population dynamics, in the context of climate change in a high-alpine environment. This

summer, our focus will be on combining spatial data on individual locality and home range with

behavioral interactions between those individuals and other squirrels on site. We will monitor

mother-pup interactions and pup play behavior, from shortly after birth until dispersal away from

the natal area. We are interested in mentoring students who want to use observations of and/or

experiments with marked squirrels to investigate questions about behavior.

Mentor style and Logistics: Students will work directly with me to develop a research project.

Research projects will likely be entirely conducted in the field. Typically, we work together in

the field while students are being trained to observe and possibly handle animals. Once training

is complete, students will do observations largely on their own. I meet with students at least

once a week, but likely more often. My lab group is small; I will work with one student and my

graduate advisor, Dirk Van Vuren will visit once during the summer. Students working with me

on ground squirrels will need to be prepared to work early morning and late afternoon hours. My

research can accommodate students during the regular program dates, as well as students arriving

earlier in June and leaving earlier in August.

Noah Whiteman, UC Berkeley

Student Research 2016. Hummingbird evolution.

Charles Darwin hypothesized that the “beaks of humming-birds are specially adapted to the

various kinds of flowers they visit.” However, the evolutionary link between bill and floral

morphologies remains a tenuous and controversial hypothesis, particularly if co-adaptation

drives variation in bird and plant traits. Temeles (1995) found that for hummingbirds at artificial

flowers, longer and shorter billed birds had particular advantages when exposed to flowers of

varying morphologies. On the one hand, he found that longer-billed birds had greater maximum

extraction depths and shorter handling times when the corolla diameters were greater than the

width of the bill. On the other hand, he found that shorter-billed birds fed more successfully at

narrow flowers (shorter billed birds made fewer insertion errors at narrow flowers). This

suggests that natural selection may maintain functionally important variation in bill length within

a hummingbird species. Given the broad use of plant species of the broad-tailed hummingbird at

RMBL, we may expect a similar pattern to emerge: alternative hummingbird genotypes may be

segregating and maintained through a combination of spatially varying and frequency dependent

selection, perhaps in concert with similar selection in the wintering grounds. Broad-tailed

hummingbirds are facultative trapliners, territorial and exhibit a high degree of philopatry. They

are also migratory, and identifying where natural selection acts on bill length, if at all, is a

difficult task that is tabled for now.

We propose to: (1) quantify variation in bill length in 500 male and female broad-tailed

hummingbirds in Gunnison County and (2) use population genomics (pool-GWAS) to identify

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regions of the broad-tailed hummingbird genome that are associated with culmen length

variation from a subset of the 500 birds sampled above and (3) examine these genomic regions

for signatures of balancing selection driven by floral trait variation using population genomics.

The laboratory of Noah Whiteman is currently using the pool-GWAS method on a variety of

species.

Undergraduate students will learn how to help capture and handle hummingbirds, measure bill

length and help process blood samples, when trained and with appropriate permission from

institutional, local, state and federal authorities. Students will develop a small project in the

context of this larger project.

Ken Whitney, University of New Mexico

Student Research Projects for Summer 2016 My research focuses on evolutionary ecology of plants, with current research projects on the

effects of hybridization in plants, on effects of genetic diversity in plants, and on interactions

between plants and seed dispersers, pollinators, and herbivores. I will work closely with students

to develop projects in these areas. Possible projects include, but aren’t limited to:

1) Herbivory and phylogeny. Preliminary data from RMBL indicate that the amount of leaf

damage (folivory) a plant gets is predicted by how closely it is related to the rest of the species in

the flora, with distantly-related species getting less damage. This may be because chemical

defenses become more divergent as species share less evolutionary history. Does this pattern

hold up for other types of damage (e.g. damage to seeds or flowers)? Does it explain why some

invasive species perform so well?

2) Natural selection on floral color. Can we detect natural selection on floral color within a

species, i.e. is flower color correlated with pollen and/or seed production? Is floral color an

"honest signal" to pollinators within a species (do individual plants with more extreme coloration

provide more nectar)? These questions have rarely been asked using careful experimentation.

My research can accommodate students during the regular program dates, as well as students

arriving later and/or leaving later than the regular program dates. My labgroup at RMBL is

comprised of 1-2 students working on independent projects, in addition to myself. Students

work directly with me to develop a research project; projects are mostly in the field, with

occasional lab work. I meet with students at least weekly (more often during project

development and during data analysis). Once projects are set up, students tend to do most of

their field work on their own.

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Ken Williams, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL)

Research statement

Elucidating Hydrogeochemical Processes in the Upper East River Catchment

The upper East River catchment is located just northeast of the town of Crested Butte, CO (USA)

covering an area of 250km2 at an average elevation of 3266m. Over the catchment’s 1420m of

topographic relief, pronounced gradients exist in hydrology, fluvial dynamics, and biome type

(montane, subalpine, alpine). The catchment receives ca. 600mm of precipitation per year, a

majority of which falls as snow, and is representative of many other headwaters systems within

the upper Colorado River Basin. The East River is one of two major tributaries that form the

Gunnison River, which in turn accounts for just under half of the Colorado River’s discharge at

the Colorado/Utah border. The upper catchment is the site of the Rocky Mountain Biological

Laboratory (RMBL)......

This research seeks to continue and expand the sampling and characterization activities ...

required to (a) constrain the hydrogeological transport model for the upper East River and (b)

implement a reactive component to the model describing biologically mediated pathways

impacting the form and concentration of key elements within the watershed. This will continue

to involved quantification of stream discharge at all major tributary locations in the upper

catchment along with the main stem East River at multiple locations. Surface water sampling at

all gaging stations will continue and be expanded to include groundwater sampling following

installation of monitoring wells at multiple locations within the modeling domain; hyporheic

sampling will continue at multiple locations along the East River corridor, with the primary

emphasis on the low gradient, meandering reach downstream of Gothic, CO. Lateral transport of

fluids along one or more hillslope transects will be assessed through deployment of soil water

samplers and direct measure of soil moisture content using a combination of techniques (soil

moisture sensors and minimally-invasive geophysical techniques). Variations in vertical profiles

of biologically critical elements (C, S, N, P, etc.) within soils and sediments will be assessed

through a combination of soil pits and well drilling activities. Insight into the full complement of

inferred microbial metabolic pathways present within the catchment will accompany

metagenomic sequencing of soils and sediments recovered through soil pit and monitoring well

installations. The combination of geochemical and microbial datasets will be used to expand the

aforementioned transport model to include reactive pathways that influence nutrient cycling

within and export from the upper East River catchment. The development of a genome-enabled

watershed simulation capability (GEWaSC) represents the “grand deliverable” of LBNL’s

planned multi-year effort at RMBL and within the upper East River hydrological system, which

is designed to quantify the impact of climate-induced changes in hydrology and vegetation on

subsurface biogeochemical cycling at the scale of the watershed. Successful development and

testing of GEWaSC at RMBL/East River is expected to have broad value to climate modelers

and a diversity of downstream water users given its ability to make predictions regarding both

water quality and quantity in the face of predicted changes in climate within the upper Colorado

River Basin.

Rick Williams, Idaho State

Student Research Project for Summer 2015 (2016 projects will be similar)

My research projects at RMBL investigate the effects of plant design on pollinator behavior and

plant mating success. In particular, I examine how plant floral display (size and number of

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flowers) influences pollinator attraction and movement, the amount of self vs. outcross

fertilization, and plant fitness in two species of larkspurs (Delphinium). I also investigate how

different sexual forms of flowers (females vs. hermaphrodites) are maintained in populations of

Geranium by examining the reproductive advantages and disadvantages of each sexual morph. A

third area of research uses historical and contemporary data on plant distribution and abundance

to examine historical shifts in plant communities and their causes. I am currently conducting

plant surveys of several sites, such as North Pole Basin and a number of mountain summits in the

vicinity of RMBL. This latter project includes plant identification and collection of specimens

for the RMBL herbarium and the development of online resources for distribution mapping and

plant identification. Besides mentoring students working on independent research, I can mentor

a research intern who is interested in learning plant curation and identification at the RMBL

Herbarium and the use and development of digital collections resources.

My small lab group usually includes myself and 1-2 undergraduates conducting independent

research. Students work directly with me to develop a research question. Students conduct

research projects mostly in the field, with significant time spent in the herbarium for the plant

distribution studies. I meet with students at least weekly and often more frequently depending on

the nature of the project. Students are expected to work independently and often on their own

rather than as a part of a larger field team.

Scott Wissinger, Allegheny College

Research Projects for Summer 2015 (2016 projects will be similar) We study aquatic ecosystems, and in particular the population and community ecology of lakes,

ponds, and wetlands in the vicinity of RMBL. Much of our work is focused on the 60+ subalpine

(elev. 3400 m) aquatic habitats at the Mexican Cut Nature Reserve, which is owned by The

Nature Conservancy and managed for research by RMBL. Long-term ( 20 yrs) data collected

with Dr. Howard Whitman reveal dramatic fluctuations in the density of salamanders, the top

predators in the ponds. We are interested in understanding how those fluctuations affect prey

communities and pond ecosystem function. Our research is in these areas:

1) Primary sources of energy in alpine ponds. The low levels of nutrients (N & P) in the ponds

suggest there should be low levels of primary production. To better understand the trophic basis

of animal production, we need to compare live-plant sources of energy and nutrients to those of

detritus (dead plant material from the edges of the ponds). The next questions we need to ask

include a) what are the standing-crop biomasses of phytoplankton and benthic algae, and how do

they vary seasonally and spatially among habitats, and b) How much detritus enters these ponds,

and what is the fate of that detritus?

2) Detritus processing by caddisfly larvae. We know that caddisflies are the dominant macro-

detritivores in our ponds, and that salamander-driven fluctuations in their densities should

modulate the re-entry of detrital nutrients and energy into consumer food webs. The next

questions we need to address are a) do caddisflies benefit twice from processing detritus; first

when they eat the detritus, and second when they graze algae growth stimulated by the nutrients

the caddisflies excrete. b) to what extent are the results of our previous experiments on caddisfly

detritus processing relevant at the whole pond level. c) Do temporary-habitat caddisflies have

similar impacts on detritus processing as those we have measured for permanent-pond

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caddisflies.

My labgroup includes myself and 1-2 undergraduates conducting independent research. In

addition, we interact with one or more collaborators and their students. My students conduct

research projects in the field and/or in weatherports. I meet with students at least weekly and

typically much more frequently, though they tend to do most of their field work by themselves.