Knowledge Neighborhoods

Explores long-term population ecology of yellow-bellied marmots through decades of mark-recapture and behavioral observation, examining how social structure, winter survival, and antipredator behavior shape individual fitness and population dynamics.

Explores how alpine Brassicaceae — particularly Cardamine cordifolia — respond to shifting climate conditions through phenotypic plasticity, phenological timing, and balancing selection, integrating field census protocols with evolutionary genetics to understand plant fitness across elevational gradients.

Explores how floral traits, scent chemistry, and genetic variation in subalpine wildflowers — especially Ipomopsis and related Polemoniaceae — shape pollination interactions, niche overlap, and evolutionary dynamics under changing climate and environmental conditions.

Integrates intensive field campaigns, remote sensing, and sensor networks to understand snowpack dynamics, evapotranspiration, and surface energy fluxes across high-elevation Upper Colorado River Basin watersheds.

Explores how bees, hummingbirds, and other pollinators interact with Rocky Mountain wildflowers through field sampling, pollen analysis, and behavioral observation across subalpine meadows near Gothic, Colorado.

Investigates how climate change alters the timing of flowering and bee activity, with consequences for pollen-specialist solitary bees, plant-pollinator interactions, and brood success in high-elevation communities.

Integrates hydrological modeling, groundwater sampling, and geochemical analysis to understand subsurface reactive transport, carbon and weathering cycles, and uranium contamination dynamics across the East River Watershed and legacy uranium mill sites in western Colorado.

Integrates high-resolution remote sensing, geophysical surveys, and biogeochemical modeling to understand how mountain watershed structure, fluvial dynamics, and elemental cycling interact across elevation gradients in the East River basin and beyond.

Connects local government comprehensive planning in Chaffee County towns with wildlife habitat, riparian ecology, and watershed protection across the upper Arkansas River region.

Connects energy development, atmospheric deposition monitoring, and air quality concerns across a broad network of federal agencies, utilities, and environmental documents spanning western Colorado and beyond.

Investigates how Rocky Mountain butterflies — particularly Colias and related Pieridae — respond to climate change through physiological traits like flight metabolic rate, dispersal capacity, and nutritional ecology, using respirometry and transplant experiments to understand evolutionary and population-level consequences.

Integrates stable isotope tracing, snowpack sampling, and model-data approaches to understand how snowmelt, subsurface heterogeneity, and topography control water routing and nutrient dynamics in mountainous headwater catchments.

Integrates genomic, spectral, and trait-based methods to understand how chromosome variation, leaf economics, and climate shape aspen population dynamics and decline across western landscapes.

Investigates how aquatic invertebrates — especially caddisfly larvae — shape nutrient cycling, decomposition, and food web dynamics across subalpine ponds that vary in water permanence, from temporary snowmelt pools to permanent wetlands.

Integrates field measurements, remote sensing, and GIS protocols to investigate how alpine and subalpine ecosystems — from fescue meadows to aspen stands — respond to and feed back on climate change across elevation gradients near Gothic, Colorado.

Combines studies of bird color vision, insect abundance, and avian disease ecology in alpine environments, linking experimental sensory biology methods with field-based population research.

Develops and applies maximum entropy theory (METE) and species-area relationships to predict biodiversity patterns, abundance, and productivity across elevation gradients in subalpine and montane ecosystems under climate change.

Integrates satellite remote sensing, LiDAR, and machine learning downscaling to track snowmelt timing, growing degree days, and conifer forest responses to climate variability in subalpine Colorado.

Investigates how mycorrhizal and dark septate fungal symbionts shape plant performance, soil nutrient dynamics, and community diversity across alpine gradients and under climate change.

Combines thermal imaging of alpine patterned ground, bumblebee and ant behavioral experiments, and long-term pollinator monitoring to understand how physical microenvironments and chemical cues shape invertebrate foraging strategies in mountain ecosystems.

Connects interstate water law, snowpack trends, and drought projections to the ecological and regulatory pressures facing the Colorado River Basin and its tributaries.

Integrates field sampling protocols, geospatial datasets, and biogeochemical concepts to characterize riparian vegetation, soil conditions, and nitrogen dynamics in western stream corridors.

Investigates how snowmelt timing, host plant phenology, and top-down predation pressure shape aphid colony dynamics in alpine meadows, linking climate-driven phenological change to cascading effects across trophic levels.

Integrates regional geologic mapping, geochronology, and floodplain hydrostratigraphy to characterize the sedimentary, volcanic, and groundwater systems of the Gunnison Basin and surrounding southern Colorado ranges.

Connects federal grant programs, property tax structures, and infrastructure costs to guide comprehensive economic development and public works planning in rural western counties and water districts.

Combines radio telemetry studies of Gunnison Sage-Grouse nesting success and seasonal habitat suitability with tree-ring and land-survey methods for reconstructing historical fire regimes across sagebrush and forest landscapes.

Integrates population dynamics datasets, genomic protocols, and demographic sampling methods to study brook trout, mayflies, and parasitic nematodes in Rocky Mountain streams.

Connects research on heavy-metal contamination, nutrient cycling, and wetland plant chemistry with practical applications in wastewater treatment, ethanol production from cattails, and water quality concerns near mining areas in western Colorado.

Connects fossil fuel resource assessment — coal, oil shale, and oil and gas — with rural community identity and socioeconomic change across western Colorado towns and landscapes.

Investigates how iron speciation, redox conditions, and colloidal transport shape soil organic carbon cycling in subalpine and floodplain environments, using advanced analytical methods including X-ray imaging and electron microscopy.

Combines LiDAR-based vegetation mapping, arthropod surveys, and foundational sagebrush ecology to understand how big sagebrush structures communities of insects and parasitoid wasps in western landscapes.

Integrates computational hydrological modeling, stable isotope analysis, and multi-site watershed datasets to understand groundwater storage dynamics and water budgets across elevation-stratified mountain catchments.

Connects hydrological classification of hillslopes with sustainable grazing practices and ranch-scale conservation planning across pasture landscapes in the Gunnison Basin region.

Aggregates oceanographic monitoring datasets—including vessel traffic, sea surface conditions, and salinity—collected through automated and underway sampling systems in coastal and marine environments.

Integrates species distribution modeling, field validation, and habitat quality assessment to understand what drives Gunnison and greater sage-grouse persistence across sagebrush ecosystems.

Integrates geophysical survey data, groundwater mapping, and environmental assessments to characterize subsurface hydrology and evaluate potential impacts of energy extraction on water resources in the Gunnison Basin region.

Spans Proterozoic geology of the Black Canyon and Uncompahgre region alongside ecological studies of montane wildlife, reflecting a broad natural history research tradition at RMBL.

Integrates water quality datasets, statistical load modeling, and regulatory standards to assess selenium and salinity conditions in Colorado watersheds, with connections to ecological restoration of mine-affected stream systems.

Connects beaver pond ecology and riparian habitat restoration with multi-use natural resource planning across parks, forests, and rural landscapes of the Colorado Plateau and intermountain West.

Connects Indigenous Ute history, historic site documentation, and cultural landscape preservation across the valleys and peaks of the Crested Butte area, drawing on archaeology, GNSS mapping, and National Register frameworks.

Investigates the evolutionary history of sex chromosomes and genome-wide variation in Greater and Gunnison Sage-grouse through whole genome sequencing, SNP genotyping, and computational genome annotation.

Connects laboratory soil analysis methods and grassland plant communities with environmental review documents assessing land and resource impacts in mountain and arid-west contexts.

Connects legal and policy debates over Colorado River Compact curtailment risks with climate science on aridity, drought, and long-term water availability in the American West.

Investigates how DNA methylation patterns across mammalian species serve as molecular clocks for biological aging, revealing epigenetic mechanisms underlying the vast diversity in mammalian life spans.

Integrates hydrological modeling, sediment transport analysis, and climate forcing methods to quantify streamflow and characterize minimum flow conditions in western river systems, with relevance to fish habitat and water resource management.

Connects mineral survey protocols — including fire assay, atomic absorption, and spectrographic analysis — with environmental review of resource extraction impacts across Gunnison-area national forests and wilderness lands.

Examines how plant communities and soils develop over time on high-elevation landslide and earthflow disturbances in the Gunnison Basin, tracing successional stages from pioneer species through mature vegetation.

Investigates how cuticular hydrocarbons vary across castes, life stages, and geographic populations in the facultatively eusocial sweat bee Halictus rubicundus, linking chemical communication to the regulation of reproductive division of labor.

Connects interstate water law and basin hydrology with field-based assessments of drought-induced tree mortality and biomass, bridging environmental review processes with ecological consequences of water scarcity.

Connects federal land management planning with stakeholder interests around the proposed Fossil Ridge Wilderness Area in the Taylor Valley, including recreational access debates involving outfitters, motorcyclists, and the US Forest Service.

Applies advanced chemical imaging techniques to analyze individual aerosol particles, likely investigating atmospheric composition and pollution sources in high-altitude or remote environments.

Combines GPS collar telemetry datasets with population ecology concepts to map mule deer migration rates, stopover sites, and seasonal movement corridors.