Research in the CaraDonna Lab investigates the interplay among species interactions, population dynamics, and community patterns — mostly with plants and pollinators (but sometimes with other organisms, like marmots or protists). We are also particularly interested in temporal ecology. For example, how do the interactions between plants and pollinators play out over various time scales? We tend to ask our research questions from a basic ecological perspective to better understand how plant and animal populations and communities operate in nature, but with the ultimate goal of improving conservation efforts in light of various global changes (e.g., climate change, pollinator declines, urbanization).
 
We address research questions using a variety of approaches including: observational field studies that leverage existing natural variation; field and laboratory experiments that build upon knowledge of this natural variation; analysis of long-term datasets; and analytical tools like network analysis and simulation models. We also very much value natural history, and we love working as a collaborative team.
 
These days, most of our research takes place in the Colorado Rocky Mountains at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory and also within The City of Chicago.

Below are a several projects we've been thinking a lot about lately:
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Consequences of pollinator declines for plant population dynamics.
Around the world, pollinators are in decline. Put simply, a plant should make fewer seeds if there are fewer pollinators around. But do changes in pollination translate into population consequences for plants? Led by Dr. Amy Iler, and in collaboration with Dr. Will Petry (and with the help of many students), we’ve been conducting experimental demography on several subalpine plants species to address this question.
People involved: Amy Iler, Will Petry, Vicky DeLira, Jane Ogilvie

Bumble Bee Population & Community Ecology.
We’ve been thinking a lot about the responses of different wild bumble bee species across their life cycles to variation in resources and climate. As part of this project, we’ve also been thinking about bumble bee body size variation and other important traits that might mediate bumble bee responses to disturbance.
People involved: Jane Ogilvie, Justin Bain, Jackie Fitzgerald, Gwen Kirschke

The Floral Resource Landscape. Flowers contain nectar and pollen, two vital resources for most pollinators. We tend to simply count flowers as our estimates of resource abundance, but we don’t tend to consider variation in nectar traits and pollen traits. So, we’ve been measuring the nectar and pollen resources available in flowers, and incorporating them into our understanding of the resource landscape available to bees. Long story short: there is more going on in a flower than you might guess.
People involved: Justin Bain, Gwen Kirschke, Jane Ogilvie

Temporal Flexibility in Species Interaction Networks. Ecological networks are most often studied as temporally static entities even though the interactions that give rise to networks are often quite temporally flexible. We’ve been exploring temporal variation in species interaction networks to try and better understand how and why species interactions form, whether or not interaction networks are temporally flexible, and at what temporal scales all of this happens.
People involved: Nick Waser, Justin Bain
 
Wild Bees & Pollination Within The City of Chicago. Are there bees in Chicago? (Yes, there are lots of bees in Chicago.) What traits do they have? Is there anything special about these bees that allow them to persist in harsh urban environments? And what factors promote or degrade pollinator diversity and pollination services in the city? We’ve been exploring these questions within Chicago, along an urbanization gradient at Metra Train stops and at Windy City Harvest Farms.
People involved: Andrea Gruver, Alex Zink