Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory

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This Week at the Lab

Tuesday Talks
Charles Curtin from MIT and Antioch University will speak on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. in the Enders Dining Hall in Gothic.
Exploration Experience Program of the Week
Wet & Wild: Aquatic Ecology
Thursday, July 2nd Meet at the Gothic Store Join ecologists as we explore local aquatic environments where aquatic insects are much more than fish food!
Ramble with the RMBL-Wildflower Festival Tour
Monday & Tuesday, July 6 & 7
Enjoy a scenic ride to Gothic where we will tour the Lab. Our guides, Annie Starr and Kathy Darrow, will discuss the history of the town-site and the ongoing research projects that are providing insight into the ecosystems and wildflowers of the area. This tour will involve light hiking and includes a refreshment break. Register for this tour wiht the Wildflower Festival. Departure Time: 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Coming Soon...
Dr. Paul Ehrlich will be speaking at the Public Policy Forum on Wednesday, July 15th. Topic of discussion will be "The Dominant Animal: Human Evolution and the Environment".
Check it Out!
Need to identify a flower? The RMBL has a great resource for you to use. Click here to explore the RMBL Digital Herbarium. This is a great resource with lots of photographs to help you identify plants!

The RMBL Gothic to Crested Butte 1/3 Marathon
Start off your celebration of July 4th by supporting one of the oldest non-profits in the Gunnison Valley.

Race Registration Software
by Active Network

Tuesday Talks: where you're free to be a geek!

Charles Curtin from MIT and Antioch University

"Emergent outcomes of the interaction of climate, fire, and herbivory in a desert grassland"

Ecological and social systems have emergent properties that arise from complex non-linear interactions of multiple variables. Yet experiments are typically designed to minimize variability to examine variables of interest; consequently projects focus on short term, small-scale studies involving a limited set of system properties. Here I present some of the preliminary results of long-term studies in arid grasslands that look at the emergent outcomes of large-scale interaction between climate, fire, and grazing. The Mckinney Flats Project, begun in 1998, is the largest ecological experiment on the continent with a 9,000 ac research area embedded in a 2 million ac project area spanning the US and Mexico border. The results shown here are the result of interactions of herbivores and climate and fire and illustrate the outcome of complex interactions at large scales. Because of the challenges of doing experiments on this scale, the study is as much about the process of science. The results also show how the process of science and policy influence the outcome of the studies and point toward alternative frameworks for understanding large and complex systems. A paradigm shift essential in a world of increasing rates of change.
Next week, Rosemary Smith from Idaho State University.

Director's Blog

Each summer is crazy in its own way. President Obama’s stimulus package is adding to how hectic things are this year. The National Science Foundation (NSF), which is one of our bigger funders, received substantial funds in the stimulus package....