News - Scott Taylor

A multi-university team of researchers, including four members of CU Boulder's Taylor Lab, have identified nearly a hundred genes associated with the birds’ spatial memory, or ability to recall the locations of objects. Their paper, published in the journal Current Biology, also suggests a potential trade-off may exist between having a solid long-term memory and being able to quickly ditch old memories to form new ones.

CU Boulder’s Mountain Research Station is offering six field courses this summer, giving students the opportunity to study a wide range of disciplines in nature

Scott Taylor (INSTAAR Fellow, EBIO Associate Professor, MRS Director) gave a short TED-style talk at the Boulder Dairy Arts Center on October 18, 2023 as part of the 2023 Faculty Fellows program for CU Boulder's Research & Innovation Office (RIO). In his talk, Scott tells the story of his personal journey to a deeper understanding of his work as a scientist and his own place in the world.

For decades, the Mountain Research Station has been a stepping-off point for researchers studying plant and animal ecology, biogeochemistry, hydrology, geomorphology and atmospheric science. Much of that research takes place on rugged, nearby Niwot Ridge. Within that area lies every type of alpine and montane ecosystem that exists in the southern Rocky Mountains. That abundance has made Niwot Ridge a rare and important ‘living laboratory.’

Researchers in the Taylor Lab study interactions between higher-elevation dwelling mountain chickadees and the closely related lower-elevation dwelling black capped chickadees. A recent study in Global Change Biology investigates barriers that prevent the two species from mating and what happens when they do mate and produce offspring.

CU Boulder’s Mountain Research Station has a three-pronged mission—host some of the most influential and long-running ecological research in the world, give students a peerless education in mountain environments, and link the public to learning about important ecosystems.

Just north of Nederland, about 26 miles from Boulder, is CU Boulder’s “classroom in the sky”—the Mountain Research Station. It is home to some of the world’s longest-running alpine research, from how vegetation responds to wildfires, to how wildlife responds to climate change, to the changing composition of the soil itself.

For more than 40 years, scientists from the Niwot Ridge Long-Term Ecological Research program have worked to better understand high-alpine ecosystems in a warming world. Thanks to a new $7.65 million, six-year grant from the National Science Foundation, that work will continue, making Niwot Ridge LTER the longest-running NSF-funded program at CU Boulder.

Birds that can live at 14,000 feet and also breed at sea level might have evolved more quickly than previously thought, finds research led by Scott Taylor. The findings add to scientists’ understanding of biodiversity and may also help inform conservation decisions in the face of human-caused climate change.

Scott Taylor (INSTAAR & EBIO) is one 17 CU Boulder faculty members selected by the Research and Innovation Office as their 2023 RIO Faculty Fellows cohort. The program supports faculty in achieving their research/innovation goals and promotes collaboration, all through tailored training, experiential learning and leadership development opportunities. Taylor and his cohort kick off 2023 with an intensive three-day retreat in January, followed by several more focused retreats and a variety of informal networking activities.