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.

Connects federal agencies, community planning documents, and natural resource stakeholders across western U.S. water and land management issues, with particular focus on arid lands, river systems, and wildlife in policy and governance contexts.

Connects federal land and water management agencies with local community identity, recreation, and the cultural meaning of landscapes in the Colorado River headwaters region.

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 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 planning, federal land management, and regional demographic projections to land use decisions across the Gunnison Basin and surrounding public lands.

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 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.

Investigates how nutrient limitation, predator-prey dynamics, and chemical cues shape invertebrate communities and algal growth in high-altitude streams and freshwater systems.

Connects Colorado state and local water agencies, community stakeholders, and planning documents around contested reservoir development proposals and water allocation decisions in the upper Colorado River basin.

Connects livestock grazing practices, native forage species, and crop production data across Colorado's agricultural landscapes, drawing on extension resources and agricultural statistics to support ranch and rangeland management decisions.

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.

Captures local news stories and community documents centered on Crested Butte's planning decisions, housing challenges, and neighborhood development concerns.

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

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

Connects regional land use planning, urban growth pressures, and mountain terrain hazards across Gunnison County and the Colorado high country, linking county planning documents with landscape-scale concepts like long-range transport and avalanche risk.

Connects mining permitting, mined land reclamation regulations, and ecological monitoring across western landscapes, tracing how regulatory frameworks and corporate activity relate to habitat and species recovery near mine sites.

Connects regional land use planning, housing development, and sensitive area management in the Gunnison Basin, linking local government, resort development, and state housing finance to questions of responsible growth and environmental stewardship.

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.

Examines how undergraduate research experiences — both in-person field settings and remote formats developed during COVID-19 — support student learning, computational skill development, and retention in STEM fields.

Connects federal and state agency management of beaver, riparian habitats, and wildlife fencing within the Gunnison National Forest, drawing on ecological research to inform land-use planning and properly functioning stream conditions.

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.

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

Connects federal environmental review processes and wilderness area evaluation with recreation safety, invasive riparian species, and local land management concerns in western Colorado.

Connects planning commissions, zoning guidance, and comprehensive land use documents to support community development decision-making in the Gunnison-Crested Butte region.

Connects rare dragonfly species and Sphagnum-dominated peatlands in the high-elevation wetlands near Crested Butte with natural areas documentation and local land-use context.

Connects historical and contemporary ecological research on conifer forests, riparian vegetation, beaver, and watershed dynamics with land management assessments and resource policy in the Gunnison Basin.

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.

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.

Connects subdivision development planning in Gunnison County with wildlife habitat concerns, deed restrictions, and community land use policy dating to the 1970s.

Connects rare Colorado plant species — including imperiled endemics like Phacelia formosula and Sclerocactus glaucus — to state natural area designations, environmental assessments, and land management planning documents.

Connects federal and industry review of wetland habitats — including silver cinquefoil occurrences — to environmental permitting and impact analysis for the Mount Emmons mining project near Crested Butte.

Connects property rights advocacy, industrial mining legacy, and trail land use planning around the Mt. Emmons molybdenum project near Crested Butte.