High altitude regions are likely to be highly affected by climate change. Pollinators such as bees in these regions may have to change life history traits to survive. Because eusociality is associated with reduced mortality and increased resilience to resource variation, primitively eusocial bees ma

Stridulation is a key behavior to determining survival in Nicrophorus investigator. In this paper, the roles it plays in competition over a carcass, burying process, and larval development have been studied. Their ability to stridulate was manipulated through clipping part of their plectra and they

RMBL is a prominent field station in Colorado containing native plants and animals of Western Colorado. The recreational trails near the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL) are an important resource for the community. They generate touristic income for the surrounding cities and are an impor

SEED TRADE have conditions been so complicated as they are today.The greatest of all wars has been raging for the past two and one-half years, and the end is as far off, apparently, as it was two years ago.The countries that have supplied us with the bulk of our seeds in the past are engaged in a de

Roadkill or Motor Vehicle Collisions are highly studied amongst larger species. This research will solely focus on a smaller species, specifically Golden Mantled-Ground Squirrels (​Callospermophilus lateralis)​ in Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL) Gothic, Colorado. Percentages of adult mal

Bumble bees are crucial pollinators in both natural and agricultural ecosystems. For effective conservation of this important group of pollinators, it is essential to understand their basic ecology, such as their interactions with floral food resources. In this study, we used a long-term dataset (5

Dispersal, the movement of individual from their natal site to breeding sites or between breeding sites, is one of many mechanisms that species establish to increase the gene flow among population. Population density, which associates with competition, can have a great effect on the dispersal rate t

A study of regional stratigraphy, geochemistry, and petrophysics of the interval between the Lower Mancos Shale and the Dakota Formations on the Douglas Creek Arch was conducted to investigate its resource potential as an unconventional gas accumulation.The purpose of this study was to test the hypo

Warming temperatures are altering ecosystems, including the plants and soil communities that regulate the carbon cycle. Warming can directly alter the carbon cycle by altering plant and soil community respiration; however, altering plant communities can also have impacts on the carbon cycle. The dom

With earlier snowmelt, the impacts of a late frost in the Rocky Mountains have been more consequential for the production of flowers in species such as Erigeron speciosus. Several species of Tephritid flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) are pre-dispersal seed herbivores of E. speciosus. The neighborhood ar

The current understanding of magmatic-hydrothermal processes resulting in the formation of porphyry and epithermal deposits is based on case studies that focused on deposits such as Santa Rita porphyry copper deposit in New Mexico, the Refugio porphyry gold deposit in Chile, and the Summitville high

One of the ongoing challenges in studying the effects of global change on biodiversity is finding credible baseline data of prior conditions. The Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, Colorado is located in a valley with a wide range of plant species and communities due to its diversity of

patient instruction by Kathy Manser in the U-Pb lab

It’s common for scientists to apply experimental practices that have worked well in another study to their own studies without a complete consideration of how that manipulation may impact their system. Open-top warming chambers and pollinator exclusion bags are two such common experimental manipulat

Insect pollinators serve vital roles in natural and agricultural systems. There is a lack of long-term data on wild bee populations in North America, so standardized sampling protocols have been developed to address this need. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of 10 years of long

The Cutler Formation, or Group, has been the subject for strati graphic controversies since it was named by Cross and Howe for ex posures of redbeds along Cutler Creek at sites near Ouray, Colorado

The Permian to Jurassic stratigraphy of the Colorado Plateau includes a number of units that were deposited under arid depositional conditions. These units each show distinctive weathering characteristics which cannot solely be attributed to variation in depositional environment or burial history. T

Predation and mutualism take up a large part of interactions within communities. These multi-trophic level interactions affect the makeup of the community. We explored how predation impacts the strength of mutualism between ants and aphids on the plant Ligusticum porteri. It has been a base assumpti