Pressing flowers between pages…
An important frontier in climate change ecology is understanding how community interactions may change because of mismatched phenological shifts. Phenological mismatch between insect prey and American migratory bird species may be emerging and is anticipated to have detrimental consequences on bird reproductive success. Moreover, the abundance and biomass of insect prey in the Rocky Mountains have declined over the past 35 years. Climate effects such as snowmelt timing are drivers of change for many taxa, and consequences may vary by elevation. I ask: Do nest provisioning rates by breeding birds change over time with invertebrate phenology during the summer breeding season in montane wet meadow habitats? Does the peak of insect prey demand by birds align with the current peak of insect abundance and biomass? Does bird reproductive success correlate with invertebrate phenology? And do these dynamics change with elevation? I have established a partnership with the Colorado Parks and Wildlife lead avian biologist (Dr. James Gammonley) with whom I will prepare outcomes of this research for use in guiding management of non-game bird species in the state. I am also studying driver behavior in response to different road signage intended to reduce small animal road mortality. I will experimentally test which style of messaging most reduces observed animal road kill events during peak summer tourism season in the back country.