Paddon/Gellhorn Wilderness Research Grants

List of Previous Recipients

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2024

• Rachel Billings (PhD candidate, University of Colorado-Boulder): Pika genetic and acoustic characterization of hybrid fitness and hybrid zone dynamics (see video report)

• Jacob Watts (PhD candidate, University of Colorado-Boulder): How Environmental Conditions Determine Alpine Lichen Functional Diversity, Community Composition and Ecosystem Services (see video report)

• Charles Oliver (PhD candidate, University of Colorado-Boulder): The Microbiome of Disappearing Alpine Glaciers (see video report)

• Annie Meeder (PhD candidate, University of Colorado-Boulder): Tracing Alpine Frontiers: Plant-Microbe Interactions and Vegetation Shifts (video report coming soon)

 

2023

 

• Seth Raynor (MS Candidate, University of Colorado-Boulder): Lichens of the Indian Peaks Wilderness, Towards a Complete State Inventory (see video report)

• Zachary Schwartz (PhD Candidate, University of Colorado-Boulder): Examining the Effects of Rising Air Temperature on N Cycling and Trace Gas Emissions in the Alpine (see video report)

• Douglas Castro (PhD Candidate, University of Colorado-Boulder): Microplastics in Mountain Ecosystems of the Colorado Front Range (see video report)

• Alec Chiono (PhD Candidate, University of Colorado-Boulder): Evaluating Responses to Climate Change in the Seed Bank of an Alpine Wildflower (see video report)

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2022

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• Airy Peralta (PhD Candidate, University of Colorado-Boulder): Improving forecasting of pika occupancy in Rocky Mountain National Park using microclimatic variables as predictors (see video report)  

•  Scott Nordstrom (PhD Candidate, University of Colorado-Boulder): Do shading and soil moisture influence flowering time in alpine wildflowers? (see video report)

•  Sade Cromratie Clemons (Master's Candidate, University of Colorado-Boulder): Study the forested landscape’s response to flooding and how this reposes affects the carbon cycle in mountainous regions (see video report)

 

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2021

 

• Airy Peralta (PhD Candidate, University of Colorado-Boulder): Improving forecasting of pika occupancy in Rocky Mountain National Park using microclimatic variables as predictors (see video report)  

•  Scott Nordstrom (PhD Candidate, University of Colorado-Boulder): Do shading and soil moisture influence flowering time in alpine wildflowers? (see video report)

 

 

2020

 

• Kathryn Grabenstein (PhD candidate, University of Colorado - Boulder): Characterizing breeding dynamics of two Colorado songbirds as climate change indicators (see video report)

• Laurel Brigham (PhD candidate, University of Colorado - Boulder): Do Microclimates And Plant-Plant Interactions Change The Nature Of Range Expansions? (see video report)

• Molly Huber (PhD candidate, University of Colorado -Boulder): Temperature and moisture dependence of alpine wetland gas emissions and implications for future change. (see video report)

• Heather Reineking (MS candidate, Western Colorado University): Alpine vegetation restoration of Ben Butler mine site in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado.

 

 

2019

 

• Alexandra Alexiev (PhD candidate, University of Colorado - Boulder): Can symbiotic fungi from Boreal Toads inhibit the amphibian chytrid fungal pathogen? (see video report)

• Laurel Brigham (PhD candidate, University of Colorado - Boulder): Do Microclimates And Plant-Plant Interactions Change The Nature Of Range Expansions? (see video report)

• Chiara Forrester (PhD candidate, University of Colorado - Boulder): Plant Responses To Early Snowmelt And Warming Across A Complex Alpine Landscape (see video report)

 

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2018

 

• Margaret Mitter-McCormick (PhD candidate, University of Colorado - Boulder): A Vertical Mile of Stonecrop: Adaptive Genetic Variations with Elevation? (see video report) 

• Isabel Schroeter (PhD candidate, University of Colorado - Boulder): Managing Riparian Plant Communities in the Rocky Mountains: Can an Understanding of Functional Water-Use Strategies Explain Browsing and Hydrological Feedbacks? (see video report)

 

 

2017

 

• Cliff Bueno De Mesquita (PhD candidate, University of Colorado - Boulder): Plant Colonization and Climate Change (see video report)

• Nathalie Chardon (PhD candidate, University of Colorado - Boulder): Colorado Alpine, Plant Response to Trail Use (see video report)

• Ashley Whipple: Pika Research (see video report)

 

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2016

 

• Robert Andrus: Assessing See and Microsite Limitations to Upslope Migration of Subalpine Forest

• Robert Franks: The Effects of Dust Storm Event on Bryophyte Species Richness and Abundance in Alpine Regions of Colorado

• Kim Vincent: The Effects of Terrestrial Carbon Inputs on Lake Abundance and Diversity

 

 

2015

 

• Aidan Beers: Amerian Pika population

• Amy Churchill: Response of alpine mead ecosystems to human-induced nitrogen deposits

• Spencer Holtz: Effect of climate change of pika losses

• Melinda Markin: Effect of climate change on endemic alpine plants in Colorado

• Margaret McCormick: Yellow stonecrop herb gene variability

• Teal Potter: Impact of exotic plant invasion on the Rocky Mountain alpine regions

 

 

2014​

 

• Aidan Beers: Testing habitat use hypotheses for a habitat specialist, the American Pika Proposal

• Amber Churchill: Alpine moist meadow response to regional gradients of nitrogen deposition in the Rocky Mountains

• Scott Ferrenberg: Understanding Causes and Consequences of Variable Tree Defenses across Space and Time

 

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2013

 

• Aidan Beers: Winter mortality and territory use by American pikas

• Scott Ferrenberg: Mountain pine beetle

• Margaret Mitter: Stonecrop adaptation to elevation

• Courtney Naff: Dust deposition, snow microbes, and nutrient export from Alpine ecosystems

• Teal Potter: Alpine fungi-root relationships and nitrogen deposition

• Jennifer Wilkening: Physiological stress impact on survival in American pikas

 

 

2012

 

• Jennifer Wilkening: Study of high alpine pikas.

• Scott Ferrenberg: Mountain Pine Beetle.

 

 

2011

 

• Scott Ferrenberg: Mountain Pine Beetle.

• Jennifer Wilkening: Study of high alpine pikas.

 

 

2010

 

• Scott Ferrenberg: Analysis on the increased production of the pine beetle.

 

 

2009

 

• Justine Smith: Analysis of Pika food sources in the Indian Peaks.

 

 

2007 

 

• Se Jin Song: Mapping Limber Pine Mitochondrial DNA in the Indian Peaks Wilderness

 

 

2006

 

• Katherine Driscoll: A Population Genetic Analysis of Big Horn Sheep in Rocky Mountain National Park.

 

 

2005

 

• Jessica Metcalf: Conservation Genetics of the Federally Threatened Greenback Cutthroat Trout.

 

 

2004

 

• Renee Culver: Conservation genetics study of Thomomys talpoides (pocket gopher, one species of which lives in the Indian Peaks Wilderness)

 

 

2003

 

• Colorado Fourteeners Initiative: Supporting research on alpine restoration and revegetation above timberline.

 

 

2002

 

• Stacie Kageyama: Study of fungi on Niwot Ridge that help alpine plants access nutrients such as nitrogen and carbon                     

• Eric DeChaine: Finishing 2001 project, funds for DNA analysis.

 

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2001

 

• Eric DeChaine: The effect of long-term climate change on vegetation.

 

 

2000 

 

• Whitney Johnson: Effects of recreational trails on habitat use by ground beetles and small mammals.

 

1999

 

• Mary Damm: Patterns of plant species diversity in the alpine tundra.

• David Remucal: Environmental effects on the reproductive ecology of alplily.

 

 

1998

 

• Tara Forbis: Sexual reproduction and genetic structure in alpine plant communities.

• David Oline: Diversity of Archaea along an elevational gradient in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains.                      

• Christopher Meloche: Carbohydrate partitioning and preformation in an alpine forb, alpine avens.