Environmental Internship Program - 2019 Booklet

BIODIVERSITY AND
CONSERVATION
Alice Egar ’21
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
Certificate: Language and Culture
PROJECT TITLE
Hummingbird Color Vision,
Plant-Pollinator
Interactions, and Climate
Change in the Rocky
Mountains*
ORGANIZATION(S)
Stoddard Lab,
Department of Ecology
and Evolutionary Biology,
Princeton University
LOCATION(S)
Rocky Mountain
Biological Laboratory,
Gothic, Colorado
MENTOR(S)
Mary Caswell Stoddard,
Assistant Professor of
Ecology and Evolutionary
Biology
I studied broad-tailed hummingbird pollination
behavior to determine how climate change
alters plant-pollinator interactions over time,
as well as how the birds’ perception of color
influences their feeding behavior. I set camera
traps at various flower species as part of a study
to quantify hummingbird visitation frequency
and how variations in the timing of flower
bloom affect behavior. I used spectrophotometry
and refractometry to collect data on flower
color and nectar content at different stages in
several plants’ flowering periods to identify
possible visual cues that guide birds to feed. I
also helped conduct an experiment in which I
observed bird behavior at an array of flowers as
nectar content was artificially manipulated. I
learned all about hummingbird behavior, the
science of plant-pollinator interactions, and how
ecosystems can be altered when climate change
creates mismatches in the timing of natural
events. I gained amazing fieldwork experience
and had the chance to participate in a thriving
scientific community at the Rocky Mountain
Biological Laboratory (RMBL), which provided
me with insight into graduate school and careers
in ecology. I would love to return to RMBL to
conduct more independent research!
* This internship is connected to the PEI Climate
and Energy Grand Challenges project, “Investigating
the Effects of Climate Change on Pollinator-Plant
Dynamics in the Rocky Mountains.”
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