Alpine Plant-Pollinator Interactions and Phenological Timing
Investigates how flowering plants and their pollinators interact across the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory's subalpine meadows, with particular focus on phenological synchrony, floral trait measurement, and the ecological consequences of climate-driven timing mismatches.
Knowledge Graph (1391 nodes, 10574 connections)
Research Primer
Background
Alpine and subalpine meadows around the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL) in Gothic, Colorado host some of the most visually striking wildflower displays in North America, and the bees, flies, butterflies, moths, and hummingbirds that visit them form the backbone of mountain ecosystem function. At the heart of this research area is the plant-pollinator mutualism: flowers provide nectar and pollen rewards, and animal visitors move pollen between flowers, enabling seed production. Because most subalpine wildflowers depend on animal pollination for reproduction, the timing, identity, and behavior of pollinators directly shape plant populations, and the availability of floral resources shapes pollinator populations in return.
A central concept for understanding these systems is phenology, the seasonal timing of biological events such as snowmelt, flowering, and insect emergence. In the Gunnison Basin, snowmelt date is a master cue that sets the clock for spring wildflowers and many of their pollinators. When plants and their pollinators respond to different cues, such as plants tracking snowmelt while bees track soil temperature or day length, climate change can pull them apart in time, producing what researchers call a phenological mismatch. Related ideas organize much of the work summarized below: pollen limitation (when seed set is reduced because flowers do not receive enough pollen), pollinator foraging behavior (how visitors choose among flowers based on display size, nectar rewards, and corolla shape), floral visitation rate (visits per flower per minute), and plant-pollinator interaction networks (maps of who visits whom across a community).
Several further concepts recur throughout the findings. Nectar traits (volume and sugar concentration) and floral morphology (simple vs. compound flowers, corolla length) shape which pollinators visit and how efficiently they transfer pollen. Nectar-inhabiting microbes, including yeasts and bacteria, can alter nectar chemistry and potentially influence visitors. Invasive species such as yellow toadflax (Linaria vulgaris) and common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) can reshape pollinator foraging. Drought stress, road dust, and nutrient limitation introduce environmental stressors that modify both floral displays and pollination outcomes. Together these concepts provide the vocabulary for reading findings about how mountain plant-pollinator systems work and how they are changing.
Foundational work
Early RMBL research established that subalpine plant-pollinator interactions are structured not only by local abundance but also by deeper ecological and evolutionary patterns. Ness and colleagues showed that phylogenetic relatedness among plants in a montane community predicts herbivore damage, with closely related species sharing enemies more strongly than distant ones (Ness et al., 2011). This insight, that community context and relatedness matter, was soon extended to pollination, where mean phylogenetic distance among co-flowering plants was linked to variation in floral visitation in Gothic meadows (Measuring the influence of phylogenetic relationships on floral visitation, 2013).
Foundational work on invasive species and their impacts on native pollination also took root at RMBL. Studies of yellow toadflax demonstrated that an accidentally introduced beetle herbivore could reduce, but only variably, the growth and reproduction of this invader (Egan & Irwin, 2008), and bioeconomic modeling showed that coordinated, early management of invasive plants yields much better ecological and economic outcomes than independent action (McDermott et al., 2013). Early floristic and natural-history inventories of the Gothic area (Vascular Plants of the Gothic Area, 1993) provided the species-level baseline against which later work on phenology, visitation, and climate change could be measured.
Key findings
Across the RMBL community, research has repeatedly shown that pollinator behavior is shaped by floral traits and rewards rather than by simple abundance. Solitary bees in the East River Valley carried pollen assemblages significantly less diverse than the surrounding floral community, and preferred flowers with wider corollas, shorter heights, and larger displays (Baker, 2021). Bombus flavifrons showed a complete preference for simple flowers over compound umbels, consistent with the higher nectar volumes in simple flowers and the higher sugar concentrations but viscous, hard-to-access nectar in compound flowers (Steinmann, 2021). Larger floral displays consistently attracted more pollinators, even when nutrient additions failed to change flower number (Fresco, 2019). Pollinator efficacy also varies strongly among species: Bombus nevadensis deposited the most conspecific pollen and produced the highest seed set in Delphinium barbeyi (Comparing Bombus pollinator efficacies, 2013), and butterfly size influenced both visitation rates and handling time (The relationships among butterfly size, visitation rate, 2009).
Phenology and network structure emerge as central organizing forces. Weekly interaction networks in Gothic meadows showed large within-season turnover in who visits whom, with connectance highest at the beginning and end of the season when floral richness was high, and late-season visitation spiking as Bombus workers emerged (Cunningham, 2013). Co-flowering patterns were remarkably stable along elevation from 2900 to 3700 m (Effects of altitude on co-flowering phenology, 2010), but individual flowering synchrony varied substantially within populations of Delphinium nuttallianum and Lupinus bakeri (Is there intraspecific variation in synchrony, 2019). Pollen limitation is real in this system: Delphinium nuttallianum produced significantly more seed when hand-pollinated than when pollinators were excluded (The Effects of Early Snow-melt on the Pollination, 2017), and in gynodioecious Geranium richardsonii, both female and hermaphrodite pollen receipt rose sharply with hermaphrodite and total floral density (Johnson, 2025).
Stressors and context also matter. Road dust settles most heavily near unpaved roads and declines nonlinearly with distance (Does road dust affect reproduction, 2008), yet direct dusting treatments did not alter reproduction in Ipomopsis aggregata (Correlating road dust with reproduction, 2014). Nectar-inhabiting yeasts accumulate in flowers visited by pollinators and increase across the season in Delphinium barbeyi, though pollinators showed no clear preference for yeast-rich nectar (Phillips, 2013). Invasive yellow toadflax can dramatically reshape bumble bee foraging, with Bombus appositus shifting from 25 percent to 98 percent toadflax pollen in only two years (Are native bees picky enough, 2006).
Current frontier
Since 2020, research has accelerated and broadened. Twenty of the 56 publications in this area were published in 2020 or later, reflecting growing concern about climate-driven disruption of mountain mutualisms. Recent work has focused on how climate stressors propagate through plant-pollinator systems. Drought and heat alter plant palatability and herbivore preferences, with warmed and watered plots changing which species are most attacked (Pittman, 2021), and experimental early snowmelt reduced conspecific pollen deposition on Geum triflorum even while leaving some other species unaffected (Sosa Antunez, 2024). Drought conditions in 2024-2025 were severe enough to prevent meaningful seed set in Geum triflorum reproductive experiments, highlighting how extreme years constrain inference (Hughes, 2025). Studies of hummingbird-pollinated Ipomopsis aggregata are examining how soil moisture, nectar production, and flower color together drive visitation (Pantoja Alfaro, 2025).
Methodological and conceptual frontiers are also expanding. Researchers are looking beyond classic bee pollinators: syrphid flies with dense body pile carry substantial pollen loads, suggesting they contribute more to pollination than previously credited (Devora, 2025), and crepuscular moth networks in Colorado show higher connectance, nestedness, and pollen-carrying rates than comparable California sites (Syskine, 2020). Nectar microbial ecology is a particularly active frontier: ethanol produced by nectar yeasts has now been quantified in both bumble bee honey and five native wildflowers (Bustamante, 2025), and experimental inoculations with the bacterium Pantoea showed no detectable effect on Ipomopsis aggregata female fitness (Garcia, 2025). Butterflies have been shown to disperse microbes differentially among floral organs, with nectaries receiving more microbes than stigmas or anthers (Olson, 2020). Researchers are also asking how within-day temporal variation (Gascon, 2022) and elevational season length (Tripathy, 2023) structure pollinator communities, and whether closely related co-occurring species such as Lupinus argenteus and L. bakeri diverge in floral traits when sympatric (Olson, 2024).
Open questions
Major questions remain about how mountain plant-pollinator systems will respond to accelerating climate change. How often and under what conditions does phenological mismatch between early-melting plants and temperature-cued pollinators actually reduce plant reproduction, and which species are most vulnerable? How will repeated drought years, like those that prevented seed set in recent experiments, interact with herbivory and pollen limitation to shape long-term population trends? The ecological significance of nectar microbes, including yeasts, bacteria, and the ethanol they produce, is still unclear, especially for wild pollinators under field conditions. The contribution of non-bee pollinators, such as syrphid flies and moths, remains underquantified, as do the consequences of invasive plants like dandelion and yellow toadflax for native pollinator foraging over decadal timescales. Finally, translating within-season network snapshots into predictions about multi-year community stability, and scaling individual fitness effects up to population persistence, will require integrating long-term RMBL datasets with new experimental warming, snowmelt, and drought manipulations over the next decade.
REFERENCES
Are native bees picky enough? The effect of an invasive plant, Linaria vulgaris, on the foraging of native bee pollinators (2006). →
Baker (2021). Comparing pollen distribution on pollinators to floral community composition in the East River Valley. →
Bustamante, S. (2025). Quantifying ethanol in bumble bee honey and Colorado Rocky Mountain wildflowers. →
Comparing Bombus pollinator efficacies in Delphinium barbeyi reproductive success (2013). →
Correlating road dust with reproduction of Ipomopsis aggregata (2014). →
Cunningham (2013). Exploring within-season temporal variation in plant-pollinator interactions in sub-alpine meadows using weekly pollination interaction networks. →
Devora (2025). Functional morphology of pollen capture in Syrphid flies. →
Does road dust affect reproduction of Delphinium nelsonii and Ipomopsis aggregata (2008). →
Effects of altitude on co-flowering phenology in a montane wildflower community (2010). →
Egan, J. F., Irwin, R. E. (2008). Evaluation of the field impact of an adventitious herbivore on an invasive plant, yellow toadflax, in CO, USA. Plant Ecology. →
Fresco (2019). The effect of nutrient availability on floral display and pollinator interactions. →
Garcia (2025). A nectar-inhabiting bacterium may not influence female fitness in Ipomopsis aggregata. →
Gascon (2022). Within-day temporal variation within plant-pollinator networks. →
Hughes (2025). Reproductive ecology and pollination biology of Geum triflorum (prairie smoke). →
Is there intraspecific variation in synchrony in subalpine flowering species? (2019). →
Johnson (2025). Hydrologic connectivity shapes watershed response to climate variability from local to global scales (Piantek REU 2001, gynodioecy in Geranium richardsonii). →
McDermott, S. M., Irwin, R. E., Taylor, B. W. (2013). Using economic instruments to develop effective management of invasive species: insights from a bioeconomic model. Ecological Applications. →
Measuring the influence of phylogenetic relationships on floral visitation (2013). →
Ness, J. H., Rollinson, E. J., Whitney, K. D. (2011). Phylogenetic distance can predict susceptibility to attack by natural enemies. Oikos. →
Olson (2020). Butterfly foraging and the dispersal of microbes among and within flowers. →
Olson (2024). Comparing floral morphology and inflorescence structure of Lupinus argenteus and L. bakeri in sympatry and allopatry. →
Pantoja Alfaro (2025). The impact of soil moisture, nectar production, and spectral reflectance on hummingbird visitation patterns to Ipomopsis aggregata. →
Phillips (2013). Nectar-dwelling yeasts and their effects on pollinator preference. →
Pittman (2021). Effects of soil moisture and temperature on plant palatability and herbivore plant preference. →
Sosa Antunez (2024). How does early snowmelt affect pollen deposition on spring wildflowers? →
Steinmann (2021). Nectar variation in simple and compound flowers and its effects on plant-pollinator interactions. →
Syskine (2020). Flying by night: Comparing crepuscular pollinator networks across two sites in Western North America. →
The Effects of Early Snow-melt on the Pollination and Seed Production of Delphinium nuttallianum (2017). →
The relationships among butterfly size, visitation rate, handling time, and floral display size (2009). →
Tripathy (2023). How season length and diet breadth limit mason bee success across an elevational gradient. →
Vascular Plants of the Gothic Area (1993). →
Species (88) →
Ipomopsis aggregata
Delphinium nuttallianum
Potentilla pulcherrima
Lupinus
Linaria vulgaris
Vicia americana
Bombus
Fragaria virginiana
Delphinium barbeyi
Bombus terrestris
Show 78 more speciess
Apis mellifera
Mertensia ciliata
Impatiens capensis
Penstemon
Osmia
Bombus flavifrons
Brassica napus
Hoplitis fulgida
Fuchsia magellanica
Diglossa
Tristerix
Bombus occidentalis
Anthyllis vulneraria subsp. vulgaris
Bombus mixtus
Brassica rapa
Selasphorus rufus
Osmia iridis
Heliomeris multiflora
Raphanus raphanistrum
Bombus appositus
Nicotiana attenuata
I. aggregata
Delia sp.
Ipomopsis aggregata ssp. aggregata
Asclepias syriaca
Osmia tersula
Selasphorus platycercus
Bombus impatiens
Hyles lineata
Corydalis ambigua
Hylemya
Ipomopsis
Cucurbita texana
Borago officinalis
Bombus bifarius
Delphinium
Platanthera bifolia
Lobelia siphilitica
Rhopalosiphum padi
Chenopodium album
Lathyrus lanszwertii
Polygonum douglasii
Rhododendron ferrugineum
Gymnaetron antirrhini
Brachypterolus pulicarius
Aphis glycines
Gymnadenia conopsea
Manduca sexta
Viola praemorsa
Lotus corniculatus
Sapyga sp.
Osmia tristella
Lasioglossum sedi
Lasioglossum inconditum
Unknown
Lasioglossum ruidosense
Mertensia
Mertensia brevistyla
Linaria dalmatica
Nicotiana
Formica fusca
Osmia lignaria propinqua
Ipomopsis tenuituba
Osmia montana
Pieris rapae
Osmia subaustralis
Aedes aegypti
Lantana camara
Osmia lignaria
Tapinoma
L. vulgaris
Hypericum perforatum
Helianthus
Melospiza melodia
Zonotrichia leucophrys oriantha
Aphis fabae
Tribolium castaneum
Trifolium
Concept (168) →
plant-pollinator mutualism
Mutually beneficial interaction between flowering plants and their animal pollinators where plants provide nectar/pollen rewards and animals provide p...
phenological mismatch
When organisms dependent on synchronized milestones adapt to environmental changes at different rates, causing their reproductive, feeding, and/or mig...
phenology
pollinator foraging behavior
Behavioral choices and time allocation patterns of pollinators when visiting flowers, including flower choice, handling time, and visitation frequency
climate change effects on species interactions
The framework that climate affects species abundances and distributions both directly through physiological effects and indirectly through effects on ...
foraging ecology
The study of how animals search for and utilize food resources in their environment
pollen provision composition
snow cover duration
Number of days from autumn snow onset to spring snowmelt, providing temperature stabilization and protection for overwintering organisms
fitness consequences
effects of behavioral or life history decisions on individual reproductive success and survival
stamen length
Show 158 more concepts
seed retention
drought stress
Physiological stress experienced by plants due to reduced water availability that can harm fitness by inducing leaf loss, reducing flower size, and de...
pollination effectiveness
The ability of an organism to successfully transfer pollen between flowers for plant reproduction
invasive species impacts
Effects of non-native species on native community members and ecosystem processes
nectar traits
Nectar volume, nectar sugar concentration, and total nectar sugar content measured from individual flowers
visitation rates
flower color
reproductive success
Plant fitness measured through various components including fruit set, seed production, and seeds per plant
phenotypic selection
The process by which traits influence fitness, measured through directional and quadratic selection differentials relating trait values to reproductiv...
floral visitation rate
Frequency of pollinator visits to flowers measured as visits per individual per minute or visits per flower per minute
individual fitness
floral morphology
The structural characteristics of flowers, categorized as complex or open based on accessibility to pollinators
growing degree days
Temperature accumulation metric calculated using averaging method with base temperature, used to predict insect phenology and plant development
floral abundance
The total number of flowers available as nectar and pollen resources measured as flowers per meter
nectar robbing
Foraging behavior where floral visitors bypass the floral opening and access nectar by chewing holes in nectar spurs or using pre-existing holes
seed set
pollinator-mediated selection
Natural selection on floral traits that occurs through differential pollinator visitation and resulting differences in reproductive success
pollen limitation
Reduced seed set resulting from insufficient pollen receipt, particularly affecting females when hermaphrodite density and frequency increases
bee conservation
Management strategies and techniques aimed at supporting and maintaining bee populations and their ecological functions.
compensatory herbivory
The hypothesis that predispersal seed predators preferentially attack high-quality flowers, potentially masking negative effects of environmental stre...
host plant quality
photosynthetic rate
The rate at which plants convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose using light energy, measured as gas exchange
hybridization
Interbreeding between taxa that alters the pool of genetic variation available for population responses to changing environments
fruit set
mutualisms
Stem specific density
climate change impacts
The effects of long-term warming on hydrological processes, including changes in snowpack dynamics, growing season length, and water demand by vegetat...
pollinator decline
Widespread reductions in pollinator abundance and diversity observed globally, attributed to multiple environmental stressors
temporal dynamics
Changes in ecological patterns and processes across different time scales
Larval survival rate
sex ratio
Population parameter measuring the relative frequency of males and females, specifically operational sex ratio of flowering individuals
floral resources
Availability of flowering plants that provide pollen and nectar for bee reproduction, quantified as floral density in standardized plots
phenophases
Distinct phases of bee flight period: emergence from nests, timing of peak abundance of foragers, and senescence
seed viability
The measure of seed quality based on embryonic development and potential for successful germination
female fitness
niche contraction
frost damage
Direct damage to plant buds and flowers from freezing temperatures occurring during vulnerable developmental stages
herkogamy
heterospecific pollen transfer
Transfer of pollen between different plant species that share generalist pollinators, often resulting in reproductive costs through pollen loss and re...
plasticity
open-top chambers
Transparent chambers commonly used in climate change experiments to raise air and soil temperature in remote areas by creating a passive warming effec...
coevolution
The reciprocal evolutionary change in interacting species driven by natural selection, where adaptations of one species create selective pressures on ...
spatial autocorrelation
The degree to which values at nearby locations are correlated, used to assess spatial clustering in disease patterns
floral volatile organic compounds
Chemical compounds emitted by flowers that contribute to floral scent and can influence pollinator attraction and plant-herbivore interactions
physical protection
foraging efficiency
A measure of how successful a bird is at food acquisition, quantified through observations as foraging rate (number of forages divided by time observe...
instar development
The progression through larval developmental stages with associated changes in size and feeding capacity
duration
network representation
apomixis
asexual reproduction via seeds
optimal foraging theory
Animals adopt a foraging strategy that provides the most benefit (energy) for the lowest cost
lecty
Diet breadth of bees classified as oligolectic (collect pollen from flowers in multiple plant families) or polylectic (collect pollen from flowers in ...
phylogenetic signal
The tendency for related species to resemble each other more than expected by chance, measured by Blomberg's K and Pagel's lambda
structural equation modeling
Statistical approach allowing estimation of directional relationships among variables and comparison of direct versus indirect effects
temporal overlap
network nestedness
The degree to which specialists interact with subsets of species that generalists interact with, measured by weighted NODF
self-pollination
Reproduction in which pollen from a flower fertilizes ovules in the same flower or on the same plant
nestedness
gynodioecy
A mode of sex expression where male sterile (female) plants and hermaphroditic plants coexist within a population
population growth rate
Per-capita population growth rate λ calculated as the dominant eigenvalue of the projection matrix at equilibrium
compensatory response
The ability of plants to tolerate or compensate for herbivore damage through increased growth or reproduction
leaf volumetric water content
Percentage of leaf biomass composed of water, calculated as difference between wet and dry weight divided by wet weight
detection probability
overwinter survival
photoperiodic time measurement
The mechanism by which organisms measure day and night length to regulate seasonal activities like diapause
mate limitation
voltinism
nectar-inhabiting bacteria
Bacterial communities that colonize and live within floral nectar, potentially affecting nectar chemistry and pollinator behavior
nutrient limitation
Constraint on growth or reproduction due to insufficient availability of essential nutrients
corolla length
The length of flower tubes, which correlates with bumble bee proboscis length and determines flower accessibility
coefficient of variation
Statistical measure of variation used to quantify family-guild variation and compare across different taxonomic groups
dust deposition
Fine particulate matter generated by vehicular traffic on unpaved roads that settles on plant surfaces
seed set
The number and proportion of developed seeds produced by an individual plant, used as a measure of fecundity
network robustness
A network's sensitivity to simulated extinction of plants or pollinators, measured as secondary extinction cascades
Optimal Defense Theory
chemical defences
self-incompatibility
Genetic mechanisms that prevent self-fertilization by recognition and rejection of self pollen
floral scent
floral larceny
biological pest control
Introduction of natural enemies to reduce pest population density through environmentally friendly means
style length
co-flowering patterns
context-dependency
road ecology
Study of ecological effects of roads and traffic on natural systems
climate change effects on behavior
How changing weather patterns and climate conditions influence animal behavioral strategies
overcompensation
floral constancy
The tendency for flower foragers to visit a single flower species during foraging trips even when alternative rewarding species are available
interaction strength
road dust effects
The impacts of dust from unpaved roads on plant physiology and reproduction
tolerance
synchronization
phylogenetic distance
Evolutionary divergence time between species measured in millions of years, calculated from molecular phylogenetic reconstructions
flower sex phases
Sequential developmental stages of individual flowers progressing through male phases (M1, M2), inter-phase, and female phase
floral longevity
The duration from when a flower's corolla first opens until either the corolla falls off or the stigma closes after opening
sampling bias
Systematic differences in detection or capture probability among species or groups due to sampling method
allelopathy
Chemical inhibition of one plant by another through secondary metabolites, tested via leachate applications
median run date
individual-based rarefaction
Statistical method to compare species richness across samples by generating accumulation curves based on individual encounters
water potential
An integrative measure of how much tension there is in the water column of the xylem, reflecting the ease or difficulty a plant has in transporting wa...
opportunity trade-offs
Conflicts between opportunities of a flower to receive fitness contributions from different visitor groups due to competition over limited floral reso...
alkaloids
maternal investment
Investment by female bees in offspring through pollen provision size and number of brood cells produced
canonical analysis of principal coordinates
Constrained ordination method used to analyze multivariate patterns among predicted variables with environmental predictors
vernalization
Requirement for extended cold treatment to trigger flowering in some plant species
niche breadth
The range of resources or interaction partners utilized by a species, in this context referring to the diversity of flower visitors to a plant species
microbial dispersal
The transport and distribution of microorganisms among different locations by animal vectors
quantitative specialization
agonistic interactions
expectancy-value theory
sodium limitation
Sodium being a limiting nutrient in natural systems, affecting organism behavior and ecosystem interactions
tongue length
handling time
The duration a pollinator spends foraging on each flower, calculated by dividing total foraging bout duration by number of flowers visited
enantiomer-selective behavior
Differential responses of organisms to different stereoisomeric forms of the same chemical compound
over-collecting
polylectic behavior
indirect interactions
ovule usurpation
Loss of ovules to unfit heterospecific pollen that successfully reaches and occupies ovules but fails to produce viable offspring
provision weight
flowering curve
Graph showing the number of open flowers over time, describing temporal distribution of flower openings with properties like start date, end date, mea...
chlorophylls and carotenoids
over-sampling
amino acids
floral rewards
toxic dilution hypothesis
parent-hybrid dynamics
ant tending
tissue quality
marginal value theorem
Theory stating that foragers will leave a patch after the quality of the patch drops below the average quality of the overall habitat
two-choice test
Experimental design where subjects choose between two alternative options to assess preferences
honest signaling
Signaling system where the signal reliably indicates the quality or quantity of rewards available to the receiver
hyperaccumulation
plant xylem tension
remaining proportion of flowering
resistance
emergence success
road dust
opportunity for selection
generality
phenological overlap
The number of weeks during a growing season when both pollinators and their floral resources are active and available
season length
Duration of favorable conditions for bee development and reproduction, shorter at high elevations
chemical ecology
Study of chemical interactions between organisms, including use of chemical signals for communication and resource location
gas chromatography-mass spectrometry
Analytical technique combining gas chromatography separation with mass spectrometry identification for analyzing volatile compounds
optimal foraging theory
Theory stating that pollinator visitation rates are higher in areas of higher floral density while in sparse populations pollinators switch between pl...
handling time
plantation management
distraction hypothesis
The location of extrafloral nectaries relative to plant reproductive structures acts to distract flower-damaging ants or other visitors from flowers, ...
dichotomous identification key
A tool that uses paired statements about morphological characteristics to systematically identify organisms through a series of either/or choices
metal pollution
Environmental contamination by heavy metals from mining activities affecting freshwater ecosystems
Julian day
Day of year from 1-365 used to measure timing of biological events
female choice model
conspecific density
The number of flowering individuals of the same species in the local area during an individual's peak bloom
precipitation variability
Variation in rainfall patterns between years affecting plant growth and flower production
modularity
pollinator exclusion
Method of covering flowers with mesh bags to prevent pollinator access and allow nectar accumulation for sampling
monocarpic perennial life history
Plants that live for multiple years but flower only once before dying
heavy metal pollution
Environmental contamination by toxic metals such as lead, arsenic, nickel, zinc, and cadmium from mining operations
noise pollution
Increased noise levels produced by roads and motorized vehicles that alter the acoustic environment
autonomous selfing
Protocol (69) →
pollinator observation
Systematic observation of plant-pollinator interactions along fixed transects with timed observations and selective insect capture for identification....
Flowering phenology census
Tagged individual plants are monitored twice weekly throughout the growing season to record bloom start dates, bloom end dates, and total flower produ...
Bagged flower nectar accumulation
Comprehensive measurement of floral traits (corolla dimensions, anther insertion, petal color, nectar production) and vegetative traits (specific leaf...
Hemacytometer pollen counting
Collection and microscopic analysis of pollen grains deposited on wildflower stigmas using pink fuchsin gel mounting and reference collection for iden...
Belt transect method
Belt transect method for censusing lupine populations and collecting inflorescences for morphological analysis across sympatric and allopatric sites. ...
gravimetric method
Multi-temporal soil moisture measurements using TDR probe combined with soil coring and laboratory processing to determine moisture content, bulk dens...
mark-recapture
Beetles were captured using speed nets, marked with tungsten needle dot codes on elytra, and released for recapture monitoring to estimate population ...
pollination exclusion experiment
Experimental addition of outcross pollen to flowers to test whether natural pollination limits plant reproductive success, comparing reproductive outp...
Artificial nectar robbing
A method to experimentally add nectar rewards to naturally pollen-only rewarding flowers by depositing measured volumes of artificial nectar solution ...
browse damage assessment
Twice weekly censuses recording plant vital status, reproductive phenology, and fitness components including flower and fruit production. Weekly asses...
Show 59 more protocols
Split-plot snowmelt and precipitation manipulation experiment
A factorial field experiment manipulating snowmelt timing using black shade cloth and summer precipitation using rainout shelters in a split-plot desi...
Open-top chamber warming
A 2×2 factorial experiment combining passive warming using open-top chambers with dominant plant species removal across elevational gradients at multi...
seed count and mass measurement
Comprehensive evaluation of seed production including total fruit counts, viable seed counts per fruit, individual seed mass measurements, and visual/...
Snowmelt manipulation using shade cloths
Shade cloths suspended 3m above treatment plots accelerate snowmelt by 5-7 days when snowpack reaches ~1m depth, simulating earlier spring snowmelt co...
reciprocal transplant experiment
Multi-site common garden experiment using controlled crosses to partition genetic and environmental variance in vegetative and floral traits across a ...
Refractometric nectar analysis
A field-based protocol for extracting nectar from flowers that have been exposed to bee visitation, then quantifying ethanol content using enzyme-base...
Alpine plant phenology monitoring with snowmelt timing
Weekly monitoring of alpine plant flowering phenology coupled with snowmelt date recording to assess environmental effects on plant reproductive timin...
Integral Projection Model
Size-structured population model that incorporates climate effects on vital rates to project population dynamics and calculate population growth rates...
Seed predation assessment (Polemoniaceae)
Weekly monitoring of fly oviposition on flowers and assessment of fruit damage by predispersal seed predators including fly larvae and caterpillars to...
correlation analysis
Statistical analysis using mixed effects models to evaluate relationships between plant clumping treatment and temperature responses while accounting ...
Silicon tubing volatile collection (Polemoniaceae)
Volatile organic compounds were sampled from single flowers using dynamic headspace sampling, then analyzed with thermal desorption gas chromatography...
Road dust impact on floral longevity experiment
Paired experimental design comparing floral development and longevity between plants receiving daily road dust applications versus undusted controls, ...
rainout shelter
Experimental manipulation of summer precipitation levels (doubled, halved, ambient) to assess effects on plant physiological and fitness traits in a c...
Carbon isotope discrimination analysis
Measurement of water-use efficiency differences between plant sexes using leaf carbon isotope ratios (δ13C) to understand mechanistic basis of sex-spe...
Long-term nitrogen manipulation experiment with plant community monitoring
A controlled field experiment testing the effects of nitrogen addition and reduction on plant community composition over 8 years. Annual percent cover...
Phenotypic selection analysis
Quantified natural selection on floral traits by measuring relationships between trait values, pollinator visitation rates, and reproductive success. ...
NDVI remote sensing
Time-lapse UAV surveys using RGB and multispectral cameras to monitor vegetation indices (NDVI, GCC) and plant height changes across a hillslope trans...
Helianthella flower removal experiment (Asteraceae)
Experimental removal of flower buds to simulate frost damage effects, allowing comparison of microclimate conditions between plots with and without fl...
herbivore exclosure experiment (Plantae)
Factorial experiment using wire mesh and chicken wire fencing to exclude mammalian herbivores (ungulates and gophers) from transplanted alpine plants ...
Artificial flower UV exposure selection experiment
Controlled experiment using artificial flowers with discrete bullseye phenotypes exposed to UV-present vs UV-absent treatments to test UV-mediated sel...
Camera trap hummingbird visitation monitoring (Aves)
Time-lapse photography of individual flowers using motion-activated cameras to capture and quantify hummingbird feeding visits. Combined with machine ...
Nestedness analysis
Pollen-transport interactions were analyzed using network metrics including weighted connectance, linkage density, weighted nestedness, specialization...
High-precision GPS population density mapping (Plantae)
Uses centimeter-precision GPS to map exact locations of all individuals in study plots, enabling calculation of population density and neighbor relati...
Filter disk dust deposition measurement (Ranunculaceae)
Quantitative measurement of dust particle deposition rates using filter paper disks placed at varying distances from unpaved roads, with microscopic p...
degree-day models
Calculation of cumulative growing degree days from weather station data using species-specific base temperatures, correlated with biological events th...
Factorial phenology-water manipulation of potted wildflowers
A factorial experiment manipulating both flowering phenology (by moving plants between elevations) and water availability (through differential wateri...
Whittaker's dissimilarity index
Calculation of interaction turnover between plant-pollinator networks at different sites by comparing shared taxa and their interaction frequencies. P...
Gynodioecious plant pollen receipt census
Field census method to quantify pollen receipt patterns in populations of gynodioecious plants with varying sex ratios and floral densities. Involves ...
Floral orientation manipulation for fitness measurement (Plantae)
Experimental manipulation of natural floral orientations combined with pollen supplementation to test effects on seed set and female fitness.
Controlled frost sensitivity chamber experiment (Plantae)
Plant tissues are subjected to controlled freezing temperatures in a programmable chamber to determine frost damage thresholds. Temperatures are gradu...
factorial experiment (Ranunculaceae)
Controlled factorial experiment manipulating both water availability and pollen supplementation to test for interactive effects on plant reproduction.
Seed burial experiments
Seed-burial and greenhouse germination experiments to estimate seed bank-related vital rates including seed germination and stasis.
Butterfly-mediated microbial dispersal experiment (Nymphalidae)
Controlled experiment using marker bacterium to track microbial transfer from inoculated donor flowers to recipient flowers via butterfly foraging beh...
standard microbiology protocols
Laboratory protocol for preparing yeast-inoculated synthetic nectar with species-specific concentrations and incubation conditions. Synthetic nectar d...
reciprocal transplant experiment (Animalia)
Experimental transplantation of completed mason bee nests from low to high elevation sites to test effects of season length and climate on offspring d...
Clipping herbivory simulation
Experimental clipping treatment designed to reduce plant photosynthetic capacity by approximately 50% through removal of stems. Used to simulate herbi...
Liguisticum porteri weekly census monitoring (Animalia)
Systematic weekly monitoring of plant phenology, insect abundance, and herbivore impacts on Osha plants along established transects. Includes detailed...
Fuchsin jelly technique
Moths were attracted using blacklight on white sheet, collected manually, and processed for pollen load analysis using fuchsin jelly swabs examined un...
iNEXT rarefaction
Statistical analysis of pollinator diversity using Shannon Diversity Index with ANOVA and post-hoc testing to compare plant visitation diversity betwe...
Single-species pollinator removal experiment
Controlled removal of the most abundant Bombus species from plots using targeted aerial netting during 4-hour manipulation periods, compared to 4-hour...
YM agar preparation (Nymphalidae)
Method to quantify microbial load on different butterfly body parts by direct plating on agar media. Samples tarsi/proboscis by dragging across plate ...
Invasive plant removal experiment (Scrophulariaceae)
Small-scale removal of invasive plant flowers to test effects on native plant pollination through paired treatment and control plots within experiment...
Multi-scale plant-pollinator network aggregation
A method for constructing plant-pollinator interaction networks at multiple temporal scales from temporally-explicit field observations. Networks are ...
Path analysis
Statistical approach to test causal pathways between herbivory, plant characteristics, and reproductive output using multiple linked regression models...
Pinene enantiomer scent manipulation (Polemoniaceae)
Controlled application of synthetic pinene enantiomers via cotton-filled microcentrifuge tube emitters to test effects of specific volatile compounds ...
Lupine alkaloid extraction and GC analysis (Fabaceae)
Comprehensive method for extracting quinolizidine and piperidine alkaloids from plant tissues using acid-base extraction followed by GC/FID and GC/MS ...
Ovary response measurement for fertilization assessment
Post-pollination measurement of ovary size changes as a proxy for detecting fertilization events and ovule development. Uses standardized photography ...
diallel mating design (Polemoniaceae)
Production of F2 hybrid generations with alternate cytoplasmic backgrounds through controlled hand-pollination crosses. Allows testing of cytoplasmic ...
Controlled drought stress experiment (Polemoniaceae)
Plants were subjected to progressive water stress by withholding irrigation to create a gradient of soil moisture conditions. This experimental design...
Parasitoid wasp controlled exposure on bagged flowers (Asteraceae)
Flowers are bagged to prevent natural parasitism, then exposed to controlled introductions of parasitoid wasps or ambient parasitoid activity, followe...
Structural equation modeling (Polemoniaceae)
Path analysis using structural equation modeling to test competing hypotheses about causal relationships between nectar traits, robbing, pollination, ...
hand-pollination crossing (Orobanchaceae)
Controlled laboratory assay using prepared stigmas on growth medium to test pollen germination and tube growth across species boundaries. Stigmas are ...
pollinator exclusion
Application of fine-mesh bags over flowers to prevent pollinator access while maintaining airflow and light penetration. Uses Del Star polyethylene ba...
Dichotomous key construction (Onagraceae)
A systematic approach to creating identification keys by compiling species lists from authoritative sources, gathering morphological descriptions, and...
Transcriptomic analysis (Animalia)
Transcriptomic analysis of whirling disease-resistant rainbow trout to understand gene expression patterns related to resistance.
porometry
Direct measurement of leaf stomatal conductance using porometer to assess plant water stress and physiological responses to watering treatments. Measu...
Temperature-behavior correlation analysis
Linear regression analyses testing relationships between daily temperature deviations and hummingbird visitation rates. Multiple analytical approaches...
Microscopic dust particle quantification (Plantae)
Standardized protocol to transfer dust from plant surfaces to microscope slides and count particles in defined areas under magnification. Used to cali...
ICP-AES elemental analysis
Acid digestion of plant and soil samples followed by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectrometry to quantify metal concentrations in tissu...
Publication (56) →
The effects of mine disturbance and contamination on pollination of subalpine wildflowers
Plant responses to the joint effects of herbivores and pollinators
The ecology of pollination and nectar robbing in Linaria vulgaris in the Colorado Rocky Mountains
Evaluation of the field impact of an adventitious herbivore on an invasive plant, yellow toadflax, in CO, USA
Examining the impact of pollen diet composition on bee development and lifespan
The impact of soil moisture, nectar production, and spectral reflectance on hummingbird visitation patterns to the Scarlet Gilia (Ipomopsis aggregata)
Using economic instruments to develop effective management of invasive species: insights from a bioeconomic model
"With a little help from my friends": Phylogenetic distance as a predictor of floral visitation in the plant communities of Gothic, CO.
A nectar-inhabiting bacterium may not influence female fitness in Ipomopsis aggregata
The relationships among butterfly size, visitation rate, handling time, and floral display size
Show 46 more publications
Effects of road proximity on pollinator visitation and reproductive success of Ipomopsis aggregate.
Correlating road dust with reproduction of Ipomopsis aggregate.
Effect of Soil Metals on Pollination of Subalpine Wildflowers
Hydrologic connectivity shapes watershed response to climate variability from local to global scales
Vascular Plants of the Gothic Area
The Impacts of Changing Temperature on Plant Water Use
Phylogenetic distance can predict susceptibility to attack by natural enemies
Flying by night: Comparing crepuscular pollinator networks across two sites in Western North America
Does road dust affect reproduction of <i>Delphinium nelsonii</i> and <i>Ipomopsis aggregata</i>
Effects of multi-species interactions in gynodioecious populations of <i>Polemonium foliosissimum</i>
Are Hylemya avoiding dusted <i>Ipomopsis aggregata</i> for good reason?
Does sodium in floral nectar enhance pollination & plant reproduction?
Floral visitation determined by phylogenetic distance in the plant communities of Gothic, CO.
Nectar dwelling yeasts and their effects on pollinator preference
Exploring within season temporal variation in plant-pollinator interactions in sub-alpine meadows using weekly pollination interaction networks
The impact of climate change on Rocky Mountain plant communities: Differences in floral trait along an elevational gradient of transplanted communities
Effects of altitude on co-flowering phenology in a montane wildflower community
Measuring the influence of phylogenetic relationships on floral visitation
Butterfly foraging and the dispersal of microbes among & within flowers
The Effects of Early Snow-melt on the Pollination and Seed Production of <i>Delphinium nuttallianum</i>
The effect of nutrient availability on floral display and pollinator interactions
Does stigma-anther separation prevent sexual interference in dwarf bluebells (<i>Mertensia fusiformis</i>)?
How does early snowmelt affect pollen deposition on spring wildflowers?
Temporal variation in pollen limitation in Hydrophyllum fendleri (Boraginaceae) Individuals.
Nectar Variation in Simple and Compound Flowers; and its Effects on Plant Pollinator Interactions
Effects of soil moisture and temperature on plant palatability and herbivore plant preference
The effect of elevation on the phenology and pollination ecology of <i></i>Frasera speciosa<i></i> (Gentianaceae)
Comparing pollen distribution on pollinators to floral community composition in the East River Valley
How season length and diet breadth limit mason bee success across an elevational gradient
Are native bees picky enough? The effect of an invasive plant, <i>Linaria vulgaris</i>, on the foraging of native bee pollinators
Within Day Temporal Variation Within Plant-Pollinator Networks
Comparing floral morphology and inflorescence structure of Lupins argenteus and L. bakeri in sympatry and allopatry
Nectar and pollen rewards of invasive plants and their native congeners
Single-visit pollination efficacy of <i>psithyrus insularism</i> and <i>megachile</i> on <i>chamerion augustifolium</i>
Variation of Pollen Mass Across Species, Habitat Types, and Time
Do dandelions compete with native plants for pollinator visits?
Effects of abiotic and biotic stress on plant fitness and herbivore defense in Boechera stricta
Comparing <i>Bombus</i> pollinator efficacies in <i>Delphinium barbeyi</i> (Ranunculaceae) reproductive success
Associational effects of E. speciosus and E. elatior on their pollinators and seed predators.
Is there intraspecific variation in synchrony in subalpine flowering species?
On the structure and significance of ecological niche breadth
The Timing of Floral Color Change in Lupinus argenteus
Reproductive ecology and pollination biology of Geum triflorum (prairie smoke)
Quantifying ethanol in bumble bee honey and Colorado rocky mountain wildflowers
Functional morphology of pollen capture in Syrphid flies (Diptera syrphidae): The effects of pile density and body region
Bottom sediment chemistry and water quality near Mount Emmons, Colorado
Dataset (27) →
Data from: The individual and combined effects of snowmelt timing and frost exposure on the reproductive success of montane forbs
1. Changes from historic weather patterns have affected the phenology of many organisms worldwide. Altered phenology can introduce organisms to novel ...
Experimental test of the combined effects of water availability and flowering time on pollinator visitation and seed set
Climate change is likely to alter both flowering phenology and water availability for plants. Either of these changes alone can affect pollinator vi...
Data from: Flying by night: Comparing nocturnal pollinator networks over time in the Colorado Rocky Mountains
Because pollen-transport networks tend to vary widely over short periods of time but remain consistent over longer periods of time, it is important to...
Pre-dispersal seed predation obscures the detrimental effect of dust on wildflower reproduction - flowering and egg phenology
Premise of the Research. Seed production by flowering plants depends on abiotic and biotic factors who...
Pre-dispersal seed predation obscures the detrimental effect of dust on wildflower reproduction - fruit data
Premise of the Research. Seed production by flowering plants depends on abiotic and biotic factors whose interacting effects may be hidden. We previ...
Community-level flowering & fitness data across an elevational gradient, Rocky Mountain Biological Lab, 2021-2022
We collected data at three sites in Washington Gulch near the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL, Gothic, Colorado, USA) from June to August 2...
Pollinator visitation rate and effectiveness vary with flowering phenology
<p class="ManuscriptBody" style="text-indent:0in;text-align:start;margin-bottom:8px;"><span style="font-style:normal;"><span><span style="font-weight:...
Data from: Influence of plant reproductive systems on the evolution of hummingbird pollination
Many hummingbird-pollinated plant species evolved from bee-pollinated ancestors independently in many different habitats in North and South America. T...
Phenological responses to multiple environmental drivers under climate change: insights from a long-term observational study and a manipulative field experiment
Climate change has induced pronounced shifts in the reproductive phenology of plants, yet we know little about which environmental factors contribute ...
Mammalian herbivores restrict the altitudinal range limits of three alpine grass species, West Elk Mountains, Colorado, USA 2015-2018
Though rarely experimentally tested, biotic interactions have long been hypothesized to limit low-elevation range boundaries of species. We tested the...
Show 17 more datasets
Phenological responses to climate change do not exhibit phylogenetic signal in a subalpine plant community
Phylogenetic relationships may underlie species-specific phenological sensitivities to abiotic variation and may help to predict these responses to cl...
Multi-year census of arthropod abundance on the plant Ligusticum porteri near Gothic, CO
The purpose of this study was to track year-to-year variation in aphid abundance on the host plant Ligusticum porteri (Apiaceae). We censused arthropo...
Mammalian herbivores restrict the altitudinal range limits of three alpine grass species, West Elk Mountains, Colorado, USA 2015-2018
Though rarely experimentally tested, biotic interactions have long been hypothesized to limit low-elevation range boundaries of species. We tested the...
Mammalian herbivores restrict the altitudinal range limits of three alpine grass species, West Elk Mountains, Colorado, USA 2015-2018
Though rarely experimentally tested, biotic interactions have long been hypothesized to limit low-elevation range boundaries of species. We tested the...
Plant community data from Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (CO, USA) transplant experiment 2017-2023
These two datasets include plant community data from the transplant experiment at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory. We conducted this experime...
Potentilla demographic and environmental data for Rocky Mountains of Colorado (Niwot LTER & RMBL), 2018 - 2020.
To understand parent-hybrid dynamics in cinquefoil (Potentilla) species in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, I am estimating environmental overlap among p...
Potentilla flowering phenology for Cabin Clearing, Elk Meadows and Rainbow Meadows, 2019.
To understand parent-hybrid dynamics in cinquefoil (Potentilla) species in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, I am estimating environmental overlap among p...
Potentilla demographic and environmental data for Rainbow Meadows, Elk Meadows, and Cabin Clearing, 2018 - 2020.
To understand parent-hybrid dynamics in cinquefoil (Potentilla) species in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, I am estimating environmental overlap among p...
Multi-year census of arthropod abundance on the plant Ligusticum porteri near Gothic, CO
The purpose of this study was to track year-to-year variation in aphid abundance on the host plant Ligusticum porteri (Apiaceae). We censused arthropo...
Multi-year census of arthropod abundance on the plant Ligusticum porteri near Gothic, CO
The purpose of this study was to track year-to-year variation in aphid abundance on the host plant Ligusticum porteri (Apiaceae). We censused arthropo...
Trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) water potentials from clones with varying aspect and understory composition
Predawn and midday plant water potential measurements, collected on terminal twigs using a scholander-type pressure chamber (PMS Instruments, Corvalli...
Genomic and Transcriptomic Analysis of the Whirling Disease-Resistant Gunnison River Rainbow Trout - Supplementary Data
Supplementary tables and figures
Potentilla plot soil moisture for Cabin Clearing, Elk Meadows and Rainbow Meadows, 2019.
To understand parent-hybrid dynamics in cinquefoil (Potentilla) species in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, I am estimating environmental overlap among p...
Trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) water potentials from clones with varying aspect and understory composition
Predawn and midday plant water potential measurements, collected on terminal twigs using a scholander-type pressure chamber (PMS Instruments, Corvalli...
Herbarium specimens reliably track plant phenological responses to climate change in understudied montane biomes
File: Peng_et_al._20206.zip Description: There are three folders here. The Data folder contains the raw specimen phenology data and the RMBL phenology...
Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory flowering phenology (Inouye plots)
These data have been collected by David Inouye almost every year since 1973 at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, Gothic, Colorado, altitude ab...
Genomic and Transcriptomic Analysis of the Whirling Disease-Resistant Gunnison River Rainbow Trout - Supplementary Data
Supplementary tables and figures