Fernanda Valdovinos as lead-PI together with co-PIs Berry Brosi and Mark Novak just received an NSF award for a total of $850,000 to study the timescale-dependent effects of transient dynamics in plant-pollinator networks. This project will use the mathematical model and theoretical framework Valdovinos has developed over the last 15 years, together with Brosi's long experience in conducting field work in plant-pollinator networks, and Novak's expertise in bridging field observations with theoretical approaches. We will use our data-theory integration to evaluate how short-term responses (hours to days; e.g., foraging behavior of pollinators, dynamics of floral rewards) to environmental changes such as climate change and species invasions, affect medium-term responses (months to years; e.g., seed set, plant and pollinator recruitment) and these, in turn, effect the long-term dynamics of the networks (decades to centuries; e.g., species persistence, extinctions).
This work will be conducted in the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (Colorado, picture above) in collaboration with Co-PIs Berry Brosi (University of Washington, left picture below) and Mark Novak (Oregon State University, middle picture below).
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