Meet the Niwot Team

Professor, University of Colorado- Boulder

As Principal Investigator for the Niwot Ridge LTER, I oversee all aspects of the project, including supervising staff, managing the budget, and leading annual reporting to the National Science Foundation. Research in my lab works at the nexus of population biology, community ecology, and evolutionary biology to understand how plants adapt and persist in a constantly changing world.

The Emery Lab

Professor, University of Colorado- Boulder

For the Niwot Ridge LTER, I co-lead the collection of biogeochemical variables and advise on the long-term collection of surface water samples for chemical analyses. More broadly, I am an interdisciplinary environmental scientist with a background in biogeochemistry and hydrology. I seek to understand how the flows of carbon, nutrients, and water are changed by human activities and how those changes may affect human welfare.

The Hinckley Lab

Professor, University of Colorado- Boulder

For Niwot, I co-lead plant community ecology research activities. I work at the interface of ecosystem, landscape and population biology, and my goal is to apply cutting-edge “usable” science to the challenges of restoration, species invasion, and environmental change. My lab group works with a variety of conservation groups, government agencies and land managers.

The Suding Lab

Professor, University of Colorado- Boulder; Director, Mountain Research Station

For the Niwot Ridge LTER, I lead the collection and analysis of long-term chickadee breeding data. My research group uses natural hybrid zones and recent radiations to understand the genetic bases of traits involved in reproductive isolation, population divergence, and speciation. We also study the impacts of anthropogenic change, including climate change, on species distributions, interactions, and evolution.

The Taylor Lab

Research Scientist, University of Colorado- Boulder

Project Scientist, National Center for Atmospheric Research

At Niwot, I lead integration and modeling activities. More broadly, I research terrestrial ecosystems and their interactions with and feedbacks to climate change. I am especially interested in integrating ecological insights into Earth system models and working across disciplines related to biogeochemistry, ecology, hydrology, and atmospheric sciences.

The Wieder Webpage

As Information Manager for Niwot, I lead data archiving and quality control, as well as collaborate with researchers and graduate students on analyses of Niwot data. In particular, I use long-term and multi-site data to understand ecological impacts of climate change, with a focus on phenology & tundra plant community ecology.

Contact Sarah

I lead the collection of Niwot climate and hydrological field data and run remote data acquisition communications for our meteorological stations and environmental sensor networks. I also help with all aspects of field logistics, serve as a liason with the CU Boulder Mountain Research Station, and train and supervise field staff, undergraduate summer technicians, and winter interns.

Contact Jen

I coordinate the research, project management, and team communication of the Niwot Ridge LTER to facilitate our research, education, and outreach goals. This includes managing and updating the Niwot listserv and our website, collaborating on annual reports and project reviews, and supporting our broadening participation and education and outreach activities.

Contact Anne Marie

I design and implement Broader Impacts activities that pertain to school-aged children, undergraduate and graduate students, and public audiences.

Contact Alex

As a vegetation scientist and botanist, I lead the collection and curation of all long-term vegetation datasets. I also provide scientific illustrations, develop models of plant productivity and snow cover duration, and supervise summer technicians.

Contact Jane

I support the field collection and processing of long-term datasets for vegetation, stream and lake, climate, and snow. I am also responsible for maintenance of the sensor network array equipment.

Contact Austin

I lead the collection and analysis of core aquatic datasets (lakes and streams) and support the collection of field data for climate and vegetation long-term datasets. My primary research interest lies in the interannual variation of water chemistry and under-ice lake productivity within the context of a changing climate.

Contact Sammy