At approximately 12,000 feet in elevation, the mountain looks far from untouched. 384 plots of land outlined by yarn-like string, are part of an experiment. Residing inside these plots are neon flamingos, hearts on picks, and plastic butterflies. Upon closer inspection, brown-colored alpine plants closely cover the ground. These plants are the focus of an experiment taking place on the Front Range’s southern Rocky Mountains.
Each plot of land, affectionately referred to as “little turf wafers”, required dozens of people for transport. The goal was to move these plots from colder parts of the mountain (often found on the east facing side at higher elevations) to warmer locations (slightly lower in elevation and mostly south facing.) This change in environment is meant to simulate future temperature increases and environmental changes expected with climate change.
“My lab in particular is most interested in tracking how individual plants respond,” says Nancy Emery. “You have to visit the exact same plant year after year, and you want to know if it dies, or if it skips a year growing, or if it flowered that year, or if it grew, or if it did worse this year than it did the year before.”
Emery, the faculty director of the Niwot Ridge Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program and associate professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, studies plant evolution. She is a lead researcher on this turf transplant experiment…