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Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory · Gothic, Colorado · founded 1928. A non-profit field station for long-term ecological research.

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P.O. Box 519 Crested Butte, CO 81224 · (970) 349-7231 · RMBL is a Colorado non-profit organization with IRS 501(c)(3) status. RMBL is an equal opportunity service provider and employer and operates under permit from the USDA Forest Service, Gunnison National Forest. Support for the Knowledge Commons provided by the Clark Family Foundation.

© 2026 Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory.rmblknowledgecommons.org

21st Century — RMBL Knowledge Commons

21st Century

2000–2099·century anchor

Calendar parent containing the 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s decades.

2,575publications257documents1,354datasets812stories

Synthesis

A grounded primer describing what was happening in the 21st Century — drawing on the distinctive concepts, species, and content below — will appear here when the era-primer pipeline ships. Today’s view is the raw evidence the synthesis will draw from.

Distinctive concepts — Research

Ranked by log-odds-ratio z-score — over-represented in this era vs. all other dated content, not just frequent overall. Drawn from publications and datasets only.

phenological mismatch276 plant-pollinator mutualism241 groundwater storage dynamics200 snowpack persistence193 elevational gradients140 air temperature187 climate change229 streamflow121 leaf water content146 phenotypic plasticity143 elevation gradient109 species diversity104 pollinator foraging behavior131 climate change effects on species interactions94 snow cover duration76 dissolved organic matter75 vegetation community composition72 phenology83 fractional snow cover area70 biogeochemical reactions96

Distinctive concepts — Policy & community

Ranked by log-odds-ratio z-score — over-represented in this era vs. all other dated content, not just frequent overall. Drawn from community / policy documents only.

greenhouse gas emissions23 coal bed methane production15 solar thermal generation13 aridity23 climate change12 membrane desalination9

Distinctive species

Ranked by log-odds-ratio z-score — over-represented in this era vs. all other dated content, not just frequent overall.

Bombus400 Ligusticum porteri322 Bombus terrestris292 Bombus impatiens281 B. appositus281 Bombus vosnesenskii279

Distinctive protocols & methods

Ranked by log-odds-ratio z-score — over-represented in this era vs. all other dated content, not just frequent overall.

mark-recapture (Sciuridae)168 Bees per person hour sampling88 drive-point piezometer groundwater sampling73 pollinator observation112 Flowering phenology census62 Belt transect method57

Distinctive places

Ranked by log-odds-ratio z-score — over-represented in this era vs. all other dated content, not just frequent overall.

Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory606 Gothic334 Crested Butte415 Rocky Mountains107 Gunnison Valley76 Gothic Road45

Distinctive stakeholders

Ranked by log-odds-ratio z-score — over-represented in this era vs. all other dated content, not just frequent overall.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory10Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission5The Land and Water Fund of the Rockies5Colorado Governor's Office Of Energy Management and Conservation5Tri-State5Exxon Corporation4

Most-cited publications

TRY plant trait database - enhanced coverage and open access
Kattge; Bonisch; Diaz; Lavorel; Prentice; Leadley; Blonder · 2020 · 2,003 citations
Quantifying global soil carbon losses in response to warming
Crowther; Todd-Brown; Rowe; Classen; Harte · 2016 · 1,338 citations
Convergence across biomes to a common rain-use efficiency
Huxman; Smith; Fay; Knapp; Shaw; Loik; Smith; Tissue; Zak; Weltzin; Pockman; Sala; Haddad; Harte; Koch; Schwinning; Small; Williams · 2004 · 1,221 citations
Plastic rain in protected areas of the United States
Brahney; Hallerud; Heim; Hahnenberger; Sukumaran · 2020 · 1,112 citations
Effects of climate change on phenology, frost damage, and floral abundance of montane wildflowers
Inouye · 2008 · 1,104 citations
Plot-scale evidence of tundra vegetation change and links to recent summer warming
Elmendorf; Henry; Hollister; Bjork; Boulanger-Lapointe; Cooper; Cornelissen; Day; Dorrepaal; Elumeeva; Gill; Gould; Harte

Recent documents

Uncompahgre National Forest Travel Plan Decision, March 2022 Mountain Division and Plateau Division2022
Discussion Draft Assessment of the Gunnison Community's 2020 CO2 Emissions Targets2020
Coldharbour Institute Board Meeting2019
West-Wide Energy Corridors Review and Opportunities for Stakeholder Engagement and Region 2 and 3 Webinar on January 24, 2018 at 11 am MST2018
Comments on Gunnison County Portion of Corridor 87-2772018
Gunnison Sustainable Living Library Project2018

Top-cited datasets

MOD13Q1 MODIS/Terra Vegetation Indices 16-Day L3 Global 250m SIN Grid V0062015 · 196 cites
Summary for policymakers of the global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services2019 · 32 cites
GAP/LANDFIRE National Terrestrial Ecosystems 20112016 · 29 cites
MODIS/Terra Snow Cover Daily L3 Global 500m SIN Grid, Version 612021 · 26 cites
MODIS/Terra+Aqua BRDF/Albedo Daily L3 Global - 500m V0612021 · 22 cites
MODIS/Terra Snow Cover 5-Min L2 Swath 500m, Version 52006 · 19 cites

Recent stories

He’s lived alone in the Colorado mountains for 52 years measuring snow every day. Here’s what he has noticed.2026-04-25 · news_article
Paul R. Ehrlich, an appreciation2026-04-09 · obituary
200- to-1,000-year snow anomaly observed in Colorado mountains2026-04-09 · press_release
Senator Bennet talks snowpack with local stakeholders2026-04-08 · event_coverage
Daniel T. Blumstein2026-04-08 · profile
City animals act in the same brazen ways around the world2026-04-08 · opinion_editorial

sustainability10

renewable energy28

water table depths8

evaporative cooling7

internal production8

noxious weed control9

electric power rates11

passive solar design5

pipeline infrastructure8

snowpack persistence6

carbon cycling4

B. vosnesenskii277

B. rufocinctus277

Bombus appositus286

Delphinium barbeyi150

Delphinium nuttallianum134

Apis mellifera132

Boechera stricta134

Erigeron speciosus101

Helianthella quinquenervis117

gravimetric method55

Hemacytometer pollen counting55

Piezometer groundwater monitoring54

Random Forest climate downscaling54

Bagged flower nectar accumulation49

common garden experiment (Brassicaceae)48

quadrat sampling method61

Multiscale Model to Model Cloud Compare method46

pollination exclusion experiment44

North Village30

Gunnison County227

Gothic Mountain33

Colorado Rocky Mountains31

East River Watershed30

Sierra Nevada26

Colorado Rockies21

Gunnison Field Office4

Colorado Water Partnership4

Gunnison Sage-grouse Rangewide Steering Committee4

American Lands Alliance4

Securities and Exchange Commission4

Rocky Mountain Institute4

Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association4

Gunnison County Electric Association6

GOCO5

·

2012

· 978 citations

Microbes on mountainsides: contrasting elevational patterns of bacterial and plant diversity

Bryant; Lamanna; Morlon; Kerkhoff; Enquist; Green · 2008 · 891 citations

Social network analysis of animal behaviour: a promising tool for the study of sociality

Wey; Blumstein; Shen; Jordan · 2008 · 847 citations

Shifts in lake N:P stoichiometry and nutrient limitation driven by atmospheric nitrogen deposition

Elser; Anderson; Baron; Bergstrom; Jansson; Kyle; Nydick; Steger; Hessen · 2009 · 794 citations

Global warming and terrestrial ecosystems: a conceptual framework for analysis

Shaver; Canadell; Chapin; Gurevitch; Harte; Henry; Ineson; Jonasson; Melillo; Pitelka; Rustad · 2000 · 730 citations