To the north of Crested Butte, Colorado, Gothic, a deserted silver mining city, is founded in the 1870s. The non -recorded city is the only outpost of civilization in the valleys and mountains between Crested Butte and Aspen. When silver ran thin and miners left the area, the biologically diverse valley turned out to be rich more on much more than minerals. Now Gothic is the home of one of the most productive research stations for the environment in the world: the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL).
Because it was founded in 1928, more than 9,000 scientists, students and employees worked, lived and studied at RMBL. At least 200 researchers call it Valley at home every summer and more than two thousand articles have been published about everything, from marmots to pollinators to biodiversity.
Images: Dave Basden
It is one of the most diverse alpine regions in the world, which covers several ecological bio zones within a relatively small geographical area. It is an ideal location for studying pollination networks because of the random diversity, plus it is the home of the second longest – but the longest continuous – living mammal study in the world, only surpassed by Jane Goodall with chimpanzees. However, the mammal in Colorado is Marmotten.
Studies on behavioral patterns of these important indicator species that started in 1962 and because they are such strongly studied beings, their behavior can be used to keep track of changes in the environment. For example, John Hausdoerffer explains, director of scientific communication at RMBL, Marmots that previously developed in the spring and migrate higher on the mountain, provides proof of rising general temperatures.
Plus: “Biological processes are the same everywhere, so what we learn can be applied to other species in other places,” says Ericka Bremer, development manager at RMBL.
But more is being studied than large rodents on this idyllic station spread over an area of ​​30 by 30 square kilometers in the mountains. The majority of the research in Gothic is even to help build and shape historical environmental databases and provide data to inform decisions about the preservation. Research that is important within specific ecological and environmental sciences and broader for global sustainability, explains Jeni Blacklock, RMBL executive director.
For example Billy Barr [sic]—The unofficial mayor of Gothic who has been living at RMBL since 1972 for more than 50 years of Snowpack, snow melt and daily temperatures. In recent years, researchers have also included radiation measurements, humidity and wind speed, all of which help to tell a more detailed story about what happens year after year in the environment. In fact, the collected long -term data can do the most important work that RMBL undertakes.
Drones sail above the head to study patterns in the landscape. Studies Water Ecology and Hydrology In the long term, information about flow speed and water -based species collect. A long -term study of wild flowers and temperature data emphasizes, among other things, how Sagebr competes with wild flowers. The goal is to keep track of as many data points as possible and to log everything to understand the depth and width of the entire ecosystem, from atmosphere to animals to water and what they have to do with each other and a changing climate.
These layered insights enable researchers to analyze and better understand how water cycles, weather patterns and atmospheric changes influence full ecosystems, including predictability of water. BlackKlock explains: “By linking temperature records, COâ‚‚ levels and precipitation data to ecological observations, researchers can assess how rising worldwide temperatures influence the growth of plants, pollinement cycles and carbon storage.”
This data helps to inform policy makers, nature conservationists and industries, so that they can make more science -based decisions about land use, water management and climate feet to maintain biodiversity and to adapt to changes in the environment. RMBL research has even contributed to shaping the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and worldwide assessments in the field of pollination and global food supply.
The non-profit, non-party-related organization works together with a whole series of individuals and organizations, including Nature Conservancy and the National Forest Service and trusts at many fairs of the National Science Foundation and NASA-Om to study the surrounding environment. Subsequently, RMBL makes the majority of their data public because “data is powerful”, Bremer emphasized. And the station has had enough.
“It is a destination for long -term thinking in a short -term association,” says Hausdoerffer. “We have this incredible long -term capacity that is important and rare.”
“These long -term records offer an unparalleled window on how ecosystems evolve over time,” Blackklock adds. “Without this type of long -term monitoring, it would be impossible to accurately assess trends in biodiversity, ecosystem fellow and environmental shifts.”
She continues: “Cross-disciplinary research can offer Real-World solutions for the urgent environmental challenges of the 21st century. By continuing to collect, analyze and integrate these data sets in the long term, RMBL is at the forefront of shaping a more informed future for society.”
For those who want to see science in action, visitors can view RMBL all year round, although only a handful of people start the station personnel in the station as soon as the snow starts to fall and there are no buildings open, except two huts available for hinterland trips. Winter visits also require skis, snowshoes or a thick bike while the 3.5-mile is closed for motorized vehicles. But in the summer the road is ripe and the visitor center is open to all so curious travelers can witness scientists who are hard at work when they enjoy the beauty of the valley.
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