Pollination Research - Global Science On A Local Scale

Pollination. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
What do snowmelt dates, Aspen Sunflowers and honey bees have to do with our understanding of the effects of climate change on our ability to feed ourselves in the future?
 
At the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL) high-altitude biological research field station in the mountains of western Colorado, scientists are trying to find out. 

This independent field station, unencumbered by institutional affiliations, is situated among the remnants of the old mining town of Gothic, Colorado. What began as a field trip site in the 1920’s, has grown into one of the most important and well-respected high-altitude ecosystems field research stations in the world.
 
Research at this field station has biologists from various disciplines working to better understand how the natural world is adapting to climate change, providing insights into what the future might hold for our environment and ultimately how this may affect the world’s human population .
 
At a recent Aspen Center for Environmental Studies Naturalist Nights presentation, “Climate Change and Our Future in the Rocky Mountains”, Dr. Ian Billik, PhD., Executive Director for RMBL, discussed several projects underway at the research site. They were all interesting, but I was especially intrigued by the site’s pollination studies and their implications for the future of the global food supply. 

Dr. Billik explained that one of the long-term pollination studies at RMBL appears to show that the effects of global warming may be contributing to decreased wildflower populations in that area. 

An analysis of snowmelt dates over several decades shows that snowmelt has been occurring earlier in the year than it did in the seventies and early eighties; and it appears that this may have a significant effect on wildflower reproduction in several ways. 

Findings by University of Maryland Professor of Conservation Biology, Dr. David Inouye, suggest that an earlier than normal snowmelt at the RMBL site has caused plants like the Aspen Sunflower to bud and leaf earlier in the year than they have in the past. This, coupled with a spring frost cycle that appears to have little variation, seems to result in greater than usual frost damage to the plants, inhibiting them from flowering and reproducing normally, thus reducing the number of Aspen Sunflowers in the area.
 
Furthermore, in addition to contributing to greater frost damage, Dr. Billik suggested that abnormally early snowmelt can also disrupt the timing of the pollination cycle of the wildflowers. When plants emerge earlier relative to the pollinating insects such as honey bees, a “mid-summer pollination gap” may occur and further contribute to declines in the wildflower population .
 
Although these studies focus on wildflowers, ecological climate change dynamics like this on a global scale, combined with widespread declines in the pollinators themselves, could affect the viability of many of the world’s pollinated plant populations as part of the world’s food supply. Pollinated plants make up approximately one-third of the calories we eat.
 
The RMBL research should lead to a better understanding the effects of early snowmelt on pollination and should “help conserve an ecological interaction upon which we all depend.” - http://rmbl.org/rockymountainbiolab/science.html
 
Summarizing the RMBL findings in the context of climate change in general, Dr. Billik said, “If you like to drink water, if you like to eat food and you like to breathe air, then you probably ought to care about this.” - http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/152446

Related articles

• Global warming: Early snowmelt hits Colorado butterflies

Aspen’s Forests – Are they in Danger from the Pine Beetle Epidemic?

Damage caused by the Mountain Pine Beetle in E. C. Manning Provincial Park, British Columbia, Canada (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I think I’ve found a gem in the Naturalist Nights Series hosted by the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies (ACES).   These interesting and entertaining presentations are held on Thursday evenings at their Hallam Lake location in Aspen, Colorado.

Last week's lecture, “The Future Forest: Understanding our Forests and Efforts to Protect Them”, was presented by Dr. Tony Cheng, PhD, Director of the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute at Colorado State University (CFRI).

CFRI’s mission is “to develop, compile, and apply the most current natural and social scientific information relevant to the needs of forest managers and communities in taking action to mitigate wildfire risk and restore healthy forest conditions and to “encourage the collaborative, science-based ecosystem restoration of priority forest landscapes”.  The institute works locally with such organizations as the Colorado Bark Beetle Cooperative .

Dr. Cheng introduced the concept of resilience and described normal wildfire activity and healthy forest conditions using the Panarchy and the Resiliency Cycle outlined by Lance H. Gunderson and C. S. Hollings. This framework suggests that most ecological systems are governed by a repeating cycle comprised of four elements: exploitation; conservation; release (also termed “creative destruction,”); and reorganization.

Resilience may be defined as “the capacity of a system to absorb disturbance and reorganize while undergoing change so as to still retain essentially the same function, structure, identity, and feedbacks.” - http://www.resalliance.org/index.php/glossary .
 
The related Resiliency Cycle phases may be generally defined as:

• Exploitation : vegetation uses the soil resources to grow and mature

• Conservation : older, mature growth builds up and stores biomass

• Release : The freeing of the nutrients stored in the biomass as a result of natural or man-made disturbances (anticipated or unexpected) to an ecosystem. See Disturbance regime below.

• Reorganization : Nutrients freed by a release become available to be used in the next exploitation phase to produce a similar or different ecosystem.

• Disturbance regime : “ the pattern of disturbances that shape an ecosystem over a long time scale .” ( www.eoearth.org ) Examples of these disturbances are: fire; flood; disease; insect infestation; wind; avalanches; mining; and logging.

According to Dr. Cheng, we are currently seeing “large scale releases” due, in part to the forest management polices of the last 100 years. In light of this, “In Colorado, numerous initiatives are being undertaken to restore forest ecosystems that have been degraded through past management policies and practices.” ( http://aspennature.org/taxonomy/term/47/all?page=3 )

One major consideration with these initiatives is that currently there are not enough resources to restore all forests regions that might require it, therefore decisions must be made as to which forest zones and areas have the highest restoration need. A guiding principle is that forest restoration is warranted when the science (ecological need) and human values coincide.

According to Dr. Cheng, the forests around Aspen fall primarily into three ecological zones, the Lower Montane, the Upper Montane and Subalpine. Elevation ranges for the zones vary depending on several factors, but generally in the Aspen area the three zones appear to range from roughly 6,000 ft. to about 11,500 ft.

The Lower Montane zone is relatively hot and dry, has a high ecological need for restoration and is home to a lot of people. Therefore, the convergence of the scientific evaluation and the societal considerations indicate a high need for restoration.

The Upper Montane zone is generally more diverse and complex, is cooler and wetter, and is not as heavily inhabited by humans. Because of these characteristics, the restoration need for this zone is rated low to moderate. However, if projected climate changes occur, some think that it is likely that this zone will become warmer and drier (more like the current Lower Montane zone) and the ecological need for restoration will most likely increase.

The Subalpine zone is higher, cooler and wetter. This is generally where the ski areas are. These areas experience “infrequent but high disturbances” and have the least human habitation; and at the moment, it has been determined that they have no ecological restoration need.

Given the above relative restoration need assessments, restoration focus is presently on the Lower Montane zone, and one of the main issues of disturbance concern locally is mountain pine beetle infestation.

Dr. Cheng suggested that, contrary to what some have said, the mountain pine beetle infestation has perhaps actually resulted in net benefits to forest health by helping to increase diversity and therefore its potential resilience. This continues to be evaluated.

In closing, we were left with these concepts to consider:

•  Appreciate diversity in the forests for its value in maintaining the health of our ecosystems

•  Government agencies, schools, organizations, and individuals need to learn together in order to protect our forests

•  We need to rely on and help organizations like ACES to inform the public as to what is going on

•  We need to continue monitoring the trends

•  We need to prioritize the high restoration need areas

The next Naturalist Nights Series presentation, "Climate Change and Our Future in the Rocky Mountains", will be Thursday, March 22nd at the Aspen Center For Environmental Studies – 7:30 PM.

Related articles

• Ecology of Lodgepole Pine Forests and the Future of Post-beetle Forests (http://nwccog.org)
• Future Forest Conditions (http://nwccog.org)

Looking For Something Different To Do In Aspen, Colorado This Winter? ACES Naturalist Nights Series Fits The Bill

Snow Cat (Photo credit: clickclique)

We are fortunate here in Aspen, Colorado to have intimate access to so many presentations from well-known and up-and-coming experts on a myriad of topics -- so much so that many of us take these opportunities for granted.

So, after thinking about it for years, I finally availed myself of an interesting lecture series hosted by the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies (ACES).  With its Naturalist Nights Series, ACES, together with the Wilderness Workshop and the Roaring Fork Audubon Society, provides an opportunity for nature enthusiasts to listen to, and interact with, visiting and resident presenters discussing the weather and climate, forests, wildlife, and other, related topics.

I went to my first presentation last Thursday, “Forecasting Powder and Other Weather Fun” with Joel Gratz, meteorologist and founder of opensnow.com.  OpenSnow is an organization dedicated to providing forecasts, reports “direct from the hill”, and custom snow alerts. Most importantly to us, they try to answer questions like, “When to call in sick for a powder day?”

Entertaining the audience with humor and interesting facts and explanations, Joel conveyed the basics of forecasting snowfall in the various ski areas around the state of Colorado (and specifically Aspen, of course).  He addressed, for instance, “Why didn’t we get much snow out of that last storm” and “When ARE we going to get more snow?”

Among the pertinent interesting items we covered were:

• People in every state think they have the corner on the “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes” market; but, in fact,
• Colorado/mountain weather IS hard to forecast.

• How the La Niña and El Niño general climate patterns (or lack thereof) affect storm patterns coming to the state.
• How these patterns influence how much moisture a storm brings.  According to Joel, storms from the west and the southwest generally “bring the most (heaviest) snow” to our state.
• “Weather happens when moist air gets high” – yes, this did produce some chuckles from the audience.
• Focusing on the effects of orographics (when air mass is forced from a low elevation to a higher elevation as it moves over rising terrain).
• The local wind direction of an approaching storm greatly affects whether or not we will get snow and how much we will get.
• Why radar is not an effective forecasting tool in the mountains.
• The problems with webcams as tracking tools.
• And more at “How To Forecast Your Next Powder Day”.

I’m going to continue attending the Naturalist Night Series presentations at ACES in Aspen.  I’m confident I will find all of them to be as interesting and entertaining as this one was; and useful -- I think many of us are now more confident that we’ll know when it’s worth it to plan the old, “I’m not feeling well”, phone call to the boss! 

This Thursday’s presentation in Aspen:  “The Future Forest: Understanding our Forests and Efforts to Protect Them” with Dr. Tony Cheng, PhD.

Related articles

• La Niña: Will she, or won't she? (summitcountyvoice.com)
• Crazy Colorado Weather (benchmarkstudio.wordpress.com)