HR: 0800h
AN: B51A-0056    [Abstracts]
TI: Using the Alexander Collection to measure the effects of climate change on the grasshoppers of the southern Rocky Mountains of Colorado
AU: * Nufio, C R
EM: nufio@colorado.edu
AF: University of Colorado Natural History Museum, University of Colorado 265 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309, United States
AU: * Nufio, C R
EM: nufio@colorado.edu
AF: Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado 334 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309, United States
AU: Bowers, D M
EM: deane.bowers@colorado.edu
AF: University of Colorado Natural History Museum, University of Colorado 265 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309, United States
AU: Bowers, D M
EM: deane.bowers@colorado.edu
AF: Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado 334 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309, United States
AU: Guralnick, R P
EM: Robert.Guralnick@colorado.edu
AF: University of Colorado Natural History Museum, University of Colorado 265 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309, United States
AU: Guralnick, R P
EM: Robert.Guralnick@colorado.edu
AF: Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado 334 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309, United States
AB: The current study utilizes the recently curated and databased Alexander Grasshopper Collection coupled with a new resurvey program to measure the effects of climate change on grasshoppers found along an elevational gradient in the southern Rocky Mountains of Colorado. The Alexander Collection is composed of approximately 19,000 pinned grasshoppers and a series of field data notebooks from a three year 1958-1960 survey project. During these survey years, Alexander processed over 65,000 grasshoppers from repeatedly sampled sites along an elevational gradient from Boulder (1530 m elev.) to Mt Evans (3900m elev.) in the Colorado Front Range. Data from 2006 shows that at mid-elevation sites grasshoppers are becoming adults 15-28 days earlier than they did nearly a half century ago. We found no changes in the time to reach adulthood at the high elevation sites. Preliminary data from 2007 (a year with milder spring temperatures) suggests that unlike the dramatic patterns documented in 2006, that the time to reach adulthood for grasshoppers at low and high elevation sites was not much different than it was 50 years ago. In 2007, several grasshopper species at mid-elevation did become adults earlier than they had a half century ago.
UR: http://alexander.colorado.edu/
DE: 4815 Ecosystems, structure, dynamics, and modeling (0439)
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting