Translating bumblebee dialect…
Nitrogen is being deposited from the atmosphere at significant levels at near-global scales, and this deposition has the potential to transform formerly nitrogen limited communities into entirely new spaces, with altered growth, traits, and interactions with other species. In spite of this significance, it is poorly understood how long term nitrogen deposition impacts plant-pollinator interactions, which are of special concern to humanity due to the billions of dollars per year that pollination represents as an ecosystem service. Through collaboration with Josh Grinath (Idaho State University), I plan to utilize his 17 year nitrogen addition experiment at the Almont Triangle (Gunnison County) to assess how plant-pollinator interactions are affected by nitrogen deposition. I will survey interactions between plants and pollinators for one hour per experimental plot per week, and then I will construct interaction networks to compare the network structure throughout the growing season between nitrogen addition plots and control plots using the r package bipartite. Ultimately, this work stands to demonstrate how nitrogen deposition (exacerbated by anthropogenic emissions) impacts plant-pollinator community structure and interactions.