Physical & Social Setting
Snowpack & Climate
Avalanche Dynamics - guest lecture

Soil Processes
Vegetation Processes
Landscape Ecosystem Processes - guest lecture

Winter Ornithology
Winter Mammalogy
Mammal Physiological Adaptions to Winter - guest lecture
Invertebrate Ecology

Winter Limnology
Microbial Stream Ecology, Antarctica - guest lecture 

Initial Idea
Proposal and Key References due
Draft write-up due
Oral Presentations

Friday , 5 pm – Main Campus: Ramaley N191 – Schedule, Readings, & More Links

• Introductions · Course overview

• Organizational Meeting: Registration, Dinners & Carpooling 

• Lecture: Physical and Social Setting – Rocky Mountains physiography · Front Range geologic setting · Front Range socioeconomic context (regional urban centers, local development, traditional use, recreation). 

8am – Arrive MRS · Check-in · Welcome · Safety:  Dr. Tim Kittel, Instructor.  Site logistics: Kelly Matheson, MRS Assistant Station Manager

Lecture:

• Winter Climate  – Mountain winter climates (light, thermal, moisture, wind regimes) · Dynamics of mid-latitude winter storms.
  

Field: 

• Study Site Orientation - MRS and Niwot Ridge Road

• Avalanche Dynamics and Safety – speaker from Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC)

Snow redistribution, Niwot Ridge

• Initial Ideas due - one sentence

Lecture/Field/Lab: 

• Snow Processes  – Snowpack development, analysis of snow profiles · Deposition patterns and ecology

Engleman Spruce, Spruce-Fir Forest, 
Niwot Ridge Research Area (photo: G. Kittel)

Northern Pocket Gopher (Thomomys talpoides) subnivean tubes  (source: Niwot LTER)

Lecture:

• Vegetation Winter Ecology  – Front Range plant associations · Landscape patterns (effects of altitude, aspect, substrate, freeze/thaw, snow deposition) · Plant ecophysiology (adaptations to winter by lifeform - e.g., deciduous vs. evergreen strategies)
  

Field:

• Vegetation Winter Ecology – Wintertime plant id · Timberline & the Ribbon Forest. – Guest field instructor: Gwen Kittel, NatureServe, Western Resource Office, Boulder, CO

• Ecology of Other Cold Biomes: Stream Ecosystems of the McMurdo Dry Valleys  – Lee Stanish, INSTAAR, CU
  

Lake Bonney.  Taylor Dry Valley Lakes,
Antarctica.  (source: J. Priscu, Montana State)

Field/Lab: 

• Winter Mammalogy  – Winter adaptations (morphological, physiological, behavioral) of mammals – Derek Sweeney, EEB
  

Weds – Schedule, Readings, & Links

Individual projects deadline:

• Proposals and key refences due  (Proposal Guidelines)

Lecture:

• Aquatic Systems in Winter – Winter stream ecology · Winter limnology · Seasonal dynamics in inputs (snowmelt), nutrients, and light
• Winter Vertebrate Ecology  – Winter adaptations & ecology of birds and mammals

Field:

• Aquatic Systems in Winter – Winter limnology · Seasonal dynamics of biotic and abiotic measures – Guest field instructor: Dr. Sarah Spaulding, US Geological Survey, Denver and INSTAAR, CU
  

• Mammal Physiological Adaptations to Winter – Prof. Greg Florant, Colorado State University

Field/Lab: (early start, depart Station at 7.25 am)

• Winter Ornithology  – Winter adaptations of birds and their ecology – Guest field instructor: Arvind Panjabi, Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory
  

Weds – Schedule, Readings, & Links

Individual projects:

• Draft write-ups due (See Draft Reports Guidelines)

• Invertebrate Winter Ecology

Field:

• Invertebrate Winter Ecology – Winter activities of forest ‘pests’ and other terrestrial invertebrates.
• Resources:  Insects and other Invertebrates of Rocky Mountain NPk

• Field time for individual research projects

• Understanding High Elevation Ecosystems in an Era of Global Environmental Change – Dr. Tim Seastedt, Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology & INSTAAR, CU

Final Exam: Lab & Field exam
 

Weds – Schedule and Links

Individual projects –

• Project analysis workshop
  

Individual projects –

• Oral presentations  (Presentation Guidelines)

Turn in Field Notebooks

Student Course Evaluations:  CU 'FCQ' form & Winter Ecology Feedback Questionnaire [doc, 60k]
 

Evening program: 

• Farewell dinner - Movie night, TBA