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Entomologist, Ecologist, & Educator
My research broadly encompasses how humans and environmental change affect insects, particularly pollinators, and their interactions with plants. I mostly study pollinator species- and community-response to human environmental change, and collaborate with researchers studying a diversity of ecological systems, theoretical disciplines, and applied approaches. As a Senior Ecologist in the Climate Initiatives Department at the City of Boulder, I focus on Integrated Pest Management and how a diversity of management strategies could influence insect and plant communities. In the CU Museum of Natural History I've focused mostly on the impacts of human land-use on native bee communities, and how natural history knowledge can help inform their conservation. In the Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, I focus on butterflies, and the impacts that non-native plants have on multitrophic interactions. All of these avenues of research underscore why improving our understanding of insect communities is crucial to mitigate the negative impacts of human-induced environments change. |
Senior Ecologist, Climate Initiatives, City of Boulder
Assistant Professor Adjunct, EBIO, CU-Boulder Entomology Curator Adjoint, CU Museum of Natural History |
Plants, Pollinators, & Conservation Policy
Over the past several years I have become increasingly engaged in policy and practice around pollinator conservation. In my role as Senior Ecologist on the Nature-based Solutions team for Climate Initiatives, I have helped mentor community members through the Pollinator Advocate Training Program. This has connected me to people from so many vested communities, such as Wild Ones, the People and Pollinators Action Network, and local indigenous groups, like the Harvest of All First Nations. These interactions, in turn, have created a passion to try and synergize research, monitoring, educational, and policy efforts across Colorado. In January 2024, along with colleagues from The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and CSU Extension, we released the Colorado Native Pollinating Insect Health Study: the most comprehensive review of CO-specific pollinator research, conservation, and management for the CO Department of Natural Resources. While focused on state-level action to help conserve pollinators, our hope was that this document would represent an accessible resource for any Coloradan who was passionate about conserving pollinators. Since it's release, I continue to engage with many multiple local, county, and state policy makers around pollinators, and engage with organizations whenever I can around policy and practice.
Over the past several years I have become increasingly engaged in policy and practice around pollinator conservation. In my role as Senior Ecologist on the Nature-based Solutions team for Climate Initiatives, I have helped mentor community members through the Pollinator Advocate Training Program. This has connected me to people from so many vested communities, such as Wild Ones, the People and Pollinators Action Network, and local indigenous groups, like the Harvest of All First Nations. These interactions, in turn, have created a passion to try and synergize research, monitoring, educational, and policy efforts across Colorado. In January 2024, along with colleagues from The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and CSU Extension, we released the Colorado Native Pollinating Insect Health Study: the most comprehensive review of CO-specific pollinator research, conservation, and management for the CO Department of Natural Resources. While focused on state-level action to help conserve pollinators, our hope was that this document would represent an accessible resource for any Coloradan who was passionate about conserving pollinators. Since it's release, I continue to engage with many multiple local, county, and state policy makers around pollinators, and engage with organizations whenever I can around policy and practice.
Chemical Ecology of Butterfly-Plant Interactions
I have been collaborating with Deane Bowers (CU-Boulder), Angela Smilanich (UNR), Nadya Muchoney (UNR), and Tara Christensen to examine how the incorporation of an introduced host plant impacts interactions between butterflies and their natural enemies. A growing body of evidence suggests that the insect immune system plays a vital role in structuring interactions between plants and their insect herbivores, and humans can directly alter these relationships through introducing novel hosts, but also indirectly through host plant-mediated changes in species interactions. Together, we've studied three nymphalid butterfly species: Junonia coenia, Euphydryas phaeton, and Anartia jatrophe, all of which feed on the introduced host plant, Plantago lanceolata. Specifically, we are exploring how this novel host shift impacts the sequestration of plant secondary metabolites, immune function, and defense against both pathogens and parasitoids. We've explored broadly variation in host Plant Secondary Metabolites (PSMs) and their sequestration by herbivores (Carper et al 2022), PSM impact on defensive traits across development (Carper et al 2019), the consequences of sequestration on defense against pathogens (Muchoney et al 2022), and how introduced host plants alter potential tradeoffs between chemical and cellular defences (Christensen et al 2024). The culmination of research is a large scale manipulative mesocosm experiment, to explore the eco-immunological mechanisms driving population dynamics of herbivores on alternate host plants and the implications for evolution of herbivore diet breadth.
I have been collaborating with Deane Bowers (CU-Boulder), Angela Smilanich (UNR), Nadya Muchoney (UNR), and Tara Christensen to examine how the incorporation of an introduced host plant impacts interactions between butterflies and their natural enemies. A growing body of evidence suggests that the insect immune system plays a vital role in structuring interactions between plants and their insect herbivores, and humans can directly alter these relationships through introducing novel hosts, but also indirectly through host plant-mediated changes in species interactions. Together, we've studied three nymphalid butterfly species: Junonia coenia, Euphydryas phaeton, and Anartia jatrophe, all of which feed on the introduced host plant, Plantago lanceolata. Specifically, we are exploring how this novel host shift impacts the sequestration of plant secondary metabolites, immune function, and defense against both pathogens and parasitoids. We've explored broadly variation in host Plant Secondary Metabolites (PSMs) and their sequestration by herbivores (Carper et al 2022), PSM impact on defensive traits across development (Carper et al 2019), the consequences of sequestration on defense against pathogens (Muchoney et al 2022), and how introduced host plants alter potential tradeoffs between chemical and cellular defences (Christensen et al 2024). The culmination of research is a large scale manipulative mesocosm experiment, to explore the eco-immunological mechanisms driving population dynamics of herbivores on alternate host plants and the implications for evolution of herbivore diet breadth.
Native Bee Ecology & Natural History
Wild bees play an integral role in both natural and agroecosystems and understanding the impacts of human environmental change on wild bee communities is paramount to both our agriculture and their conservation. I've collaborated with a number of researchers studying bee community responses to land-use. In collaboration with Mary Jamieson (Oakland University), and Deane Bowers (CU) I surveyed bees across agriculturally intensive landscapes in Eastern Colorado, greatly expanding our understanding of Colorado bee diversity (Jamieson et al 2019) and in some instances re-describing previously unknown species' distributions (Carper et al 2019). It's taken over 5 years to determine the more than 30,000 specimens collected, but we are now exploring agricultural and conservation practices that promote wild bee abundance and diversity, as well as potential risk factors for native bees is Colorado's agroecosystems. I also explored bee community response to urbanization in two of the fastest growing metropolitan regions of the country. In collaboration with Kristen Birdshire and Christy Briles (CU-Denver), we found declines in bee abundance and diversity with increasing urbanization around Denver, CO (Birdshire et al 2020). In contrast, in and around Raleigh, NC, I found that suburban developments harbored surprisingly higher abundances and diversity of bee than natural forests (Carper et al 2014). These differences no doubt reflect differences in the legacy of human land-use and underscore the need for more regional and habitat-centric studies.
Wild bees play an integral role in both natural and agroecosystems and understanding the impacts of human environmental change on wild bee communities is paramount to both our agriculture and their conservation. I've collaborated with a number of researchers studying bee community responses to land-use. In collaboration with Mary Jamieson (Oakland University), and Deane Bowers (CU) I surveyed bees across agriculturally intensive landscapes in Eastern Colorado, greatly expanding our understanding of Colorado bee diversity (Jamieson et al 2019) and in some instances re-describing previously unknown species' distributions (Carper et al 2019). It's taken over 5 years to determine the more than 30,000 specimens collected, but we are now exploring agricultural and conservation practices that promote wild bee abundance and diversity, as well as potential risk factors for native bees is Colorado's agroecosystems. I also explored bee community response to urbanization in two of the fastest growing metropolitan regions of the country. In collaboration with Kristen Birdshire and Christy Briles (CU-Denver), we found declines in bee abundance and diversity with increasing urbanization around Denver, CO (Birdshire et al 2020). In contrast, in and around Raleigh, NC, I found that suburban developments harbored surprisingly higher abundances and diversity of bee than natural forests (Carper et al 2014). These differences no doubt reflect differences in the legacy of human land-use and underscore the need for more regional and habitat-centric studies.
Pollination Ecology in Response to Environmental Change
Environmental changes impact plants as well as the pollinators on which they depend. Land-use change, for instance, can indirectly affect plants, depending on how it changes the outcomes of plant-pollinator interactions (Irwin et al 2013). In collaboration with Rebecca Irwin (NCSU), Lynn Adler (UMASS-Amherst) and Paige Warren (UMASS-Amherst) I studied the impacts of urban development on pollination of three native, bee-pollinated plants in NC: Gelsemium sempervirens, Oenothera fruticosa, and Campsis radicans. All three flowering species were pollen-limited for some measures of female plant reproduction; however, contrary to our predictions, plants growing in suburban areas were more pollen limited for both fruit and seed set (Carper et al 2022) despite having more abundant and diverse bee communities (Carper et al 2014). This was likely due to increased competition in urban areas, and indirect effects of increase heterospecific pollen deposition, underscoring the need to understand the many indirect effects of land-use on species interactions. I also collaborate on a variety of applied research, from fire impacts on bee communities and pollination of mountain plants (Bieber et al 2024), to the impacts of road management on monarch butterflies (Hund et al 2024).
Environmental changes impact plants as well as the pollinators on which they depend. Land-use change, for instance, can indirectly affect plants, depending on how it changes the outcomes of plant-pollinator interactions (Irwin et al 2013). In collaboration with Rebecca Irwin (NCSU), Lynn Adler (UMASS-Amherst) and Paige Warren (UMASS-Amherst) I studied the impacts of urban development on pollination of three native, bee-pollinated plants in NC: Gelsemium sempervirens, Oenothera fruticosa, and Campsis radicans. All three flowering species were pollen-limited for some measures of female plant reproduction; however, contrary to our predictions, plants growing in suburban areas were more pollen limited for both fruit and seed set (Carper et al 2022) despite having more abundant and diverse bee communities (Carper et al 2014). This was likely due to increased competition in urban areas, and indirect effects of increase heterospecific pollen deposition, underscoring the need to understand the many indirect effects of land-use on species interactions. I also collaborate on a variety of applied research, from fire impacts on bee communities and pollination of mountain plants (Bieber et al 2024), to the impacts of road management on monarch butterflies (Hund et al 2024).
