LTREB Renewal: Drivers and consequences of phenological change at high altitudes

该项目基于40年的现有数据，调查气候变化如何影响落基山脉高山地区120种野花的开花时间（物候学）和程度。研究人员将联合收割机结合历史数据的见解，在未来五年内进行新的观察和实验，以了解水的可用性和温度等环境变量如何影响开花的时间和数量。此外，他们还将记录依赖这些花朵的物种的物候和丰度，如蜜蜂，蝴蝶和蜂鸟等传粉者，以及昆虫种子捕食者及其寄生虫。他们将与其他研究人员合作开发一个独特的数据集，显示物种和营养级之间的物候关系，以及这些关系如何在气候变化中发生变化。该研究促进了高级和初级人员之间的新合作，支持和培训博士后研究人员以及一些本科生和研究生，并为K-12教师提供培训机会。它将继续在北美最长的，连续运行的物候观测集之一，从而增加我们对人口和社区对气候变化的长期生态和进化反应的理解。该项目有助于长期记录落基山脉的降雪和雪崩活动。

This project builds upon 40 years of existing data to investigate how climate change is affecting the timing (phenology) and extent of flowering by 120 species of wildflowers in high alpine areas in the Rocky Mountains. The investigators will combine insights from historical data with new observations and experiments over the next five years to learn how environmental variables such as water availability and temperature affect timing and abundance of flowering. In addition they will record the phenology and abundance of species dependent upon those flowers, such as pollinators like bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, and insect seed predators and their parasitoids. They will collaborate with other researchers to develop a unique dataset showing the phenological relationships among species and trophic levels and how these relationships are shifting in a changing climate.The research fosters new collaborations among senior and junior personnel, supports and trains postdoctoral researchers as well as several undergraduate and graduate students, and provides training opportunities for K-12 teachers. It will continue one of the longest, continuous-running sets of phenological observations in North America, thereby increasing our understanding of the long-term ecological and evolutionary responses of populations and communities to climate change. The project contributes to long-term records of snowfall and avalanche activity in the Rocky Mountains.