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ABSTRACT As graduate students transition into advanced academic environments, the physical and social contexts in which they engage play a critical role in shaping their sense of belonging, academic success, and personal development. Using a qualitative approach, this study explores how an immersive and place‐based fieldwork program impacted community building and self‐efficacy in incoming graduate students in an Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) program. Data were collected through surveys, focus groups, and in‐depth interviews with students over the program's duration. Our findings reveal that the remote location of the program played an important role in community development and fostered autonomy and competence. We also found that choosing a discipline‐focused location for fieldwork can positively impact student experiences. Opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration and mentorship emerged as key components of fostering a supportive academic community. The study demonstrates a positive role for place‐based strategies in graduate program design, suggesting that creating spaces that nurture collaboration, allow students to enact disciplinary skills, and present students with formative challenges can enhance academic resilience and self‐confidence. The findings offer implications for institutions looking to cultivate stronger, more cohesive graduate communities and for future research on the intersection of place, identity, and academic success in higher education. 

This range expansion experiment was installed in the summer of 2021. We experimentally simulated the range expansion of a subalpine buttercup, Trollius albiflorus, by transplanting six adults into the west edge of the ITEX global change experimental plots, for a total of 288 transplants. To parse apart abiotic and biotic drivers on range expansion, we manipulated half the transplants to ‘reduce below-ground biotic interactions’ using PVC pipe vs ‘control’ biotic conditions where below-ground interactions we left intact. To record above-ground interactions, starting in 2022 we recorded neighborhood percent cover at the species-level around each Trollius albiflorus transplant using a 10 cm circular hoop. Starting in 2023, we quantified soil conditions surrounding each transplant by recording soil moisture (%VWC) and soil temperature (Celsius). 

The Turf Transplant Experiment was set up in the summer of 2024. Paired experimental sites were established in two tundra community types - dry meadow and moist meadow - with one site of each community type pair in a lower elevation/warmer area and one site in a higher elevation/cooler area. Subplot turfs (25 cm^2) were transplanted (1) between sites of the same community type at different elevations/temperatures, (2) between plots within the same site or (3) left in place as non-transplant controls. Plant species composition was measured once per year at approximately peak flowering. 

The Turf Transplant Experiment was set up in the summer of 2024. Paired experimental sites were established in two tundra community types - dry meadow and moist meadow - with one site of each community type pair in a lower elevation/warmer area and one site in a higher elevation/cooler area. Subplot turfs (25 cm^2) were transplanted (1) between sites of the same community type at different elevations/temperatures, (2) between plots within the same site or (3) left in place as non-transplant controls. This data package contains dates and depths of turfs as installation as well as plot-level moisture and temperature. 

A central issues in ecology is the underrepresentation of individuals from diverse backgrounds. Using the Phenomenological Variant Ecological Systems Theory, we present findings from the evaluation of a field-based graduate training program. Three cases describe different students belonging outcomes, providing critical constructive perspectives. 

Abstract One of the most reliable features of natural systems is that they change through time. Theory predicts that temporally fluctuating conditions shape community composition, species distribution patterns, and life history variation, yet features of temporal variability are rarely incorporated into studies of species–environment associations. In this study, we evaluated how two components of temporal environmental variation—variability and predictability—impact plant community composition and species distribution patterns in the alpine tundra of the Southern Rocky Mountains in Colorado (USA). Using the Sensor Network Array at the Niwot Ridge Long‐Term Ecological Research site, we used in situ, high‐resolution temporal measurements of soil moisture and temperature from 13 locations (“nodes”) distributed throughout an alpine catchment to characterize the annual mean, variability, and predictability in these variables in each of four consecutive years. We combined these data with annual vegetation surveys at each node to evaluate whether variability over short (within‐day) and seasonal (2‐ to 4‐month) timescales could predict patterns in plant community composition, species distributions, and species abundances better than models that considered average annual conditions alone. We found that metrics for variability and predictability in soil moisture and soil temperature, at both daily and seasonal timescales, improved our ability to explain spatial variation in alpine plant community composition. Daily variability in soil moisture and temperature, along with seasonal predictability in soil moisture, was particularly important in predicting community composition and species occurrences. These results indicate that the magnitude and patterns of fluctuations in soil moisture and temperature are important predictors of community composition and plant distribution patterns in alpine plant communities. More broadly, these results highlight that components of temporal change provide important niche axes that can partition species with different growth and life history strategies along environmental gradients in heterogeneous landscapes. 

Abstract How repeatable is evolution at genomic and phenotypic scales? We studied the repeatability of evolution during 8 generations of colonization using replicated microcosm experiments with the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum. Based on the patterns of shared allele frequency changes that occurred in populations from the same generation or experimental location, we found adaptive evolution to be more repeatable in the introduction and establishment phases of colonization than in the spread phase, when populations expand their range. Lastly, by studying changes in allele frequencies at conserved loci, we found evidence for the theoretical prediction that range expansion reduces the efficiency of selection to purge deleterious alleles. Overall, our results increase our understanding of adaptive evolution during colonization, demonstrating that evolution can be highly repeatable while also showing that stochasticity still plays an important role.