The summer is a peak tourism season in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, but is also the breeding season for many montane bird species, resulting in an increase in bird-human interactions and coexistence. I measured the effect that human activity has on the flight initiation behavior of two montane bird

As global temperatures rise due to climate change, aquatic ecosystems, such as alpine ponds, become more at risk of drying earlier than normal. These changes in pond hydrology have the potential to alter not only the aquatic ecosystems, but also terrestrial and riparian ecosystems, through resource

Haemoparasites are common in passerines and have known mild to detrimental effects on populations. It is important to understand how these effects influence nest incubation in females, as it could reflect future reproductive success of that species as vectors and transmission increase with climate c

Trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) is a keystone species found throughout North America. P. tremuloides is a successional species which aids the regeneration of ecosystems after disturbance. However, climate change is altering aspen forest dynamics. Aspen forest die- off in the American Southwest

Social relationships have important fitness consequences in many taxa. Much of the prior literature on the adaptive value of social relationships has looked for associations between social network position, or social structure, and fitness correlates during a single period of time–often a year. Howe

Salamanders have been used in a variety of different experiments to determine the health of various ecosystems. Biofluorescence was recently studied in amphibians in a study done in 2020. Not much is known about all its functions, more studies are needed to fully understand how it works and how it c

Nectar plays a critical role in attracting pollinators, thereby facilitating pollination and the spread of pollen. Nectar traits like volume and sugar concentration are strongly influenced by environmental factors such as temperature and relative humidity. Yet, there is little understanding of how t

A previous study conducted at RMBL has found that road dust affects wildflower pollination and reproduction, this study included Ipomopsis aggregata. In 19 of 20 independent tests wildflowers carried less pollen on their stigmas in dusty conditions, but their seed sets were not consistently affected

Innumerable floral traits have been ascribed adaptive significance via a variety of mechanisms. One such trait is herkogamy, the spatial separation of the stigma and anthers. In self-incompatible plants, herkogamy is thought to reduce sexual interference, defined as any situation in which one sex fu

Competition for ephemeral resources like carrion is intense among necrophagous insects, particularly burying beetles (Nicrophorus spp.), where reproductive success is limited by access to carcasses. Burial and post-burial maintenance behaviors are hypothesized to reduce carcass detection by competit