Dynamics of plant-pollinator communities

researcher in a meadow
bee and fireweed

For over a decade, our lab has been studying plant–pollinator interactions at Elk Meadow, a subalpine meadow at CU’s Mountain Research Station. Each week, from the first flowers in early summer to the last blooms in the fall, we track which plants are flowering and which pollinators are visiting them. This long-term work has helped us understand which plant-pollinator interactions remain consistent over time, how these interactions “rewire” within the network, and how they change as the climate shifts. Our research shows that long-term, consistent observation and natural history are essential for understanding how ecological patterns and processes work—and how they are changing.

To learn more about this topic and our work at Elk Meadow, check out the paper below and this article I wrote in The Conversation: I’ve visited the same Rocky Mountain subalpine meadow weekly for a decade of summers looking at plant‑pollinator interactions – here’s what I learned

Relevant publications: