BCNA GRANTS FOR RESEARCH
Funding research projects aligned with BCNA’s mission
The BCNA Grants for Research program, ongoing since 1985, supports small research projects that align with BCNA’s mission of preserving and restoring native ecosystems in Boulder County.
The goal of the funding is to enhance our understanding of the ecosystems of Boulder County. Focal areas may include, but are not limited to, examining the patterns, causes, and consequences of variation in biodiversity, conservation biology of species and communities, links between biological communities and ecosystem function, and evaluating changes in ecosystems associated with environmental changes such as climate change. Research findings should add to the knowledge base available to Boulder County decision-makers to both protect and enjoy our natural resources.
Current Research Projects Sponsored by BCNA
This year the BCNA Grants committee selected three grants for funding out of a pool of 16 proposals. All of the proposals were worthy of support, but the three selected addressed the mission of BCNA most closely as well as focused on immediate issues in biological conservation in Boulder County.
Megan Mueller of Rocky Mountain Wild was awarded a grant to help continue supporting the Colorado Bat Watch Program, a collaborative project with the US Forest Service, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and the Natural Heritage Program. Monitoring of bats in the face of multiple environmental threats, particularly the white-nosed syndrome, a fungal infection that has killed millions of bats across North America, is critically important. White-nose syndrome showed up in Colorado in 2022, and the timely work of the Bat Watch Program will determine its impact on bat populations.
Another local species of conservation concern is the tassel-eared squirrel, which are specialists on Ponderosa pines. Tassel-eared squirrel populations have not been studied extensively since the early 1990’s in the Front Range, despite their potential to serve as an indicator species for the health of montane pine forests. BCNA awarded a grant to Brandon Stup and Christy McCain from CU Boulder to assess the degree to which recent fires, increases in fox squirrel numbers, and climate change have impacted tassel-eared squirrel populations.
The Front Range is home to two twinpod plant species, Bell’s twinpod (Physaria bellii) and fiddleleaf twinpod (P. vitulifera). Due to their limited habitat preferences and small population sizes they are considered highly vulnerable to climate change and habitat loss by NatureServe. BCNA funded Claire Winfrey (CU Boulder) to study the important relationships between soil microorganisms and the two twinpod species in collaboration with the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks and Boulder County Parks and Open Space.
A sample of research reports from past projects
2022 After Fire Butterfly Inventory at Geer Meadow & Heil Ranch (Chu & Stoner)
2022 Community Monitoring for Forest Health
2022 Investigating Mammal Activity and Use of Button Rock Preserve, Lyons, Colorado
2019: Roger’s Grove Park Banding Station
2019: Digging up Boulder’s Biodiversity: Buried Responses to Climate and Land Management
2019: Boulder County Butterflies
2018: Take it to the Ribbit: A Quest for the Northern Leopard Frog
2018: Putting stress to the test: Could feces be the key to conserving the American pika?
2016: Front Range Pika Project
2015: Butterflies along Three Trails: Showing Affects of the 2013 Flood On Boulder County Open Space Properties
2014: Front Range Pika Final Report
2010: Front Range Pika Project
2009: Post-Plague Re-colonization in Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs
2009: Spatial Heterogeneity of Nitrogen in Plant Invasion Project Progress Report
2008: Genetic Effects of Post-Plague Re-colonization in Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs
Publications supported in part by BCNA grants
Whipple AL, Ray C, Varner J, Kitchens JN, Hove AA, Wilkening JL. 2022. Stress-associated metabolites vary with both season and habitat across populations of a climate sentinel species. Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research 54:603-623.
Kellner, Annie, Carver,S., Scorza, V., McKee, C.D., Lappin, M., Crooks, K.R., VandeWoude, S., and Antolin, M.F, (2018) Transmission pathways and spillover of an erythrocytic bacterial pathogen from domestic cats to wild felids. Ecology and Evolution 2018:8:9779-9792.