Individuals may obtain valuable information about the presence of predators by eavesdropping on heterospecific alarm signals. While playback studies have demonstrated that similarly-sized and taxonomically-related species may respond to the calls of each other, less work has been done to define the

Much is known about bee pollination, but there is little information concerning pollination by syrphid flies. Syrphid flies are also important to study because they are the most significant flower visiting Dipteran insects, which are the second most important order among flower-visiting and flower-p

Many studies have demonstrated the negative effects of hemiparasites on host performance, such as decreased host biomass and reproductive capabilities. Much less work, however, has examined the role of hemiparasites in shaping plant community structure, though it has been proposed that the effect of

Play has been defined as apparently functionless behavior, yet since play is costly, it must have some function (or functions) to outweigh its costs. We provide the strongest evidence for a long-standing, but poorly supported hypothesis: that early play is practice for later dominance relationships.

The western jumping mouse, Zapus princeps is common in riparian habitat. There are multiple hypotheses (need for water, food type, or anti-predator/cover) for why this is. The objective of this project was to determine the use of mesic and adjacent drier habitats by Zapus using both a live-trapping

Insects must interact with bacterial endophytes when sharing a common host. To test the hypothesis that larvae of Scaptomyza nigrita detects and prefers Cardamine cordifolia infected with different strains of Pseudomonas bacteria. Thus, unitizing the JA/SA induced antagonism. When given the choice b

Numerous factors, including climate, resource availability, and habitat diversity, act as determinants of global species diversity. I collected baseline species richness data at three sites along an elevation gradient. Discovery curves indicated that I recorded all species at a site. Interestingly,

The phenology of plants in the alpine environment of the Rocky Mountains is heavily dependent on snowmelt time (Inouye and McGuire 1991, Thomson 2010). In this study we have manipulated the timing of snowmelt in order to change the phenology of Delphinium nuttallianum in the subalpine environment of

Individuality is defined as the characteristics that determine the differences from one individual in species from another individual of the same species. Many animals use acoustic signals to communicate. These signals send messages about territorial defense, mate attraction and kin-ship. The abilit

The purpose of this experiment was to investigate the relationship between the different genders of the gynodioecious species P. foliosissimum and their mycorrhizal associates. Mcyorrhizal colonization of roots was quantified, and soil and plant tissue analyses were performed. Further, a full factor

In order to determine the degree of ecological damage inflicted as a result of mining operations around the Gothic area, three tailings piles were identified in Gothic and Crested Butte and an observational study of plant species on and around them carried out. It was found that both total numbers o

A trophic cascade is an ecological process in which predators affect the producer biomass and community composition of an ecosystem by limiting plant consumption by herbivores. Predators not only control herbivore populations through predation, but their mere presence can affect herbivore behavior.

The results of a long-term experimental warming study, in a montane meadow in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, have shown that Artemisia tridentata (Common Sagebrush) is likely to increase in abundance under climate change, as perennial forb species decrease in abundance. This change in species comp

True omnivores are animals which feed on both plant and prey sources, allowing them to effect multiple trophic levels within a food web. Ants are well-known omnivores and many participate in honeydew mutualisms with aphids. The western thatching ant, Formica obscuripe, tends the mutualist aphid Aphi

Brassicaceae plants, such as bittercress (Cardamine cordifolia) produce characteristic glucosinolates, which are secondary metabolites used as defense compounds to deter pathogens and insect herbivores, such as the leaf mining fly (Scaptomyza nigrita). These compounds are produced constitutively and