Dr. Paul CaraDonna first arrived at RMBL on snowshoes at the end of the deep winter of 2011. Approaching Gothic Mountain for the first time proved personally and professionally transformative. “Amy [Dr. Amy Iler of RMBL’s plant phenology project], now my wife, met me on my way in. I had seen mountains before, but Gothic just shoots out of the snow, such an epic scene. I haven’t missed a year since.”  

CaraDonna first heard about RMBL from his undergraduate professor at Humbolt State University, Dr. Michael Mesler. Mesler had studied pollination from RMBL scientists, including Drs. Nick Waser, James Thomson, and David Inouye. CaraDonna reflected, “when I showed an interest in pollination, Mesler told me that I had to get to RMBL.”  

Now a Conservation Scientist for the Chicago Botanical Garden and a Northwestern University faculty member, CaraDonna is co-author of a new study—”Nutrient Niche Dynamics among Wild Pollinators”—published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences this past July.  

CaraDonna and co-authors Justin A. Bain, Jane E. Ogilvie, and William K. Petry have studied eight species of bumble bees on RMBL sites for nearly a decade. They found that “short-tongued species occupied a relatively wide macronutrient niche that was low in protein and higher in lipids and carbohydrates, whereas long-tongued species occupied a narrower niche that was higher in protein but lower in lipids and carbohydrates” They also observed that shifts in plant phenology (impacting other pollinators at RMBL) turned out not to be a “strong predictor of macronutrient niche partitioning among the bumble bee species in our study system.”  

What does this tell us beyond RMBL? The team concluded that “management strategies that focus solely on increasing floral diversity while overlooking nutritional composition may fail to support vulnerable species and fall short of their conservation goals.” Like with so many discoveries at RMBL, natural systems, human impacts, and practical recommendations are nuanced. With this nuanced view, decision-makers can more surgically consider how to restore a landscape to provide for the intricate diversity of nutritional needs serving a diversity of pollinators.  

CaraDonna’s work at RMBL extends beyond his publications, to help cultivate the community of science at RMBL. “Even from the first summer, I was amazed with how rich, stimulating, and supportive RMBL is. When I built the courage to approach Dr. Waser, he was so kind and inviting. I loved the lack of hierarchy right away. We shared the same community. RMBL felt—and still feels—like a home team that everyone cares about equally, regardless of their position at the lab or stage of their career. These types of relationships—meeting my wife, bringing our daughter every summer, sharing laughter, exchanging new scientific questions while taking out the garbage—makes for an incredibly rigorous yet emotionally supportive place.” For CaraDonna, RMBL community provides the emotional support necessary for long-term research, multi-decade studies that rely on a place that allows researchers to bring their families back every summer.  

CaraDonna’s vision extends even beyond science and the unique community that encourages scientific collaboration. He experiences and envisions RMBL as a center of creative and collaborative thinking. This past summer, CaraDonna and his artist colleague Mark Dorf, welcomed the Crested Butte community to the Majestic Theater so they could share the results of their multi-year “Art-Science Exchange,” funded by the NSF.  

CaraDonna sees this type of exchange as only the beginning. “Science facts aren’t quite enough. Scientists need to do more. There’s so much that we do not know through our research lens. If we merge scientists with artists, storytellers, and policymakers, then unexpected connections emerge and the complexity of the place beyond the sum of our data unfolds even more.”  

The community that welcomed him provides the platform for such convergence. “Sharing a season allows us to share perspectives, disciplines, methodologies, ideas. A blend of thinking is possible here, in a way that is so much different than a one-hour meeting on a university campus. I am just a small part of a slowly unfolding conversation here, where spontaneous and informal conversations take us beyond the deliverables expected at traditional institutions.” 

Thinking back on his recent publication, CaraDonna applies his methodology with bees to his hopes for a creative community at RMBL. “My work at RMBL is a like any long-term relationship. It requires patience and listening, in this case to what the ecosystem has to tell us, in its own way. What do bees need in this changing landscape? I am learning from those creatures both what they need and what this place is beyond my own limited view.” 

CaraDonna paused before concluding, “in a really simple sense it is hard to look at the whole from only a scatter set of its smaller parts. RMBL really embodies the spirit of taking a look at the whole from multiple, ever-expanding perspectives. Such depth and richness go beyond one study over a few years. It even goes beyond long-term data over a century. It is rooted in the slow-build of a community of curiosity and creativity.” 

-Article written by RMBL Director of Story & Strategic Partnerships, Dr. John Hausdoerffer

Photo credit Dr. Julian Resasco: Paul CaraDonna, PhD of the Chicago Botanic Garden and Northwestern University, conducting a pollinator census.