Dances with Alpine Ecology

Pat Munday
When most people think of scientific research, they think of esoteric work performed in a sterile laboratory. For Dr. Martha Apple, however, that’s not how it works. As an Assistant Professor of Biology who studies the effect of climate change on Alpine ecology, Dr. Apple’s “laboratories” are the remote, beautiful places that many Montanans consider heaven.



Look south from Dr. Apple’s office at Montana Tech and you can see one of her research sites near the summit of Mount Fleecer. Several times over the course of each growing season, she drives to the end of a rutted Forest Service road and then hikes more than a mile to visit the site. Once there, she spreads a grid over several sample points and carefully inventories the various grasses and forbs within the grid. There is also a temperature logger at each sample point. [see photo of Dr. Apple setting out the grid]


Dr. Apple’s work is part of an international research program called GLORIA—Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments. Scientists like Dr. Apple monitor 80 sites on five continents. [see illustration of GLORIA sites worldwide] Data are entered into a central database and, according to the GLORIA website, “The data will be used to assess and predict losses in biodiversity and other threats to these fragile alpine ecosystems which are under accelerating climate change pressures.” (http://www.gloria.ac.at/)


Dr. Apple is also part of a national research collaborative called ZERT—Zero Emissions Research & Technology. ZERT is focused on carbon dioxide sequestration, and Dr. Apple studies the response of plants to carbon dioxide leakage.


As a researcher, Dr. Apple has been exceptionally productive for one who also teaches a heavy load of large classes. She has five peer-reviewed publications in the last two years alone, including a book chapter and an article in the prestigious journal, Global Change Biology.


Climate change affects everyone. To ranchers and farmers, drier and hotter summers mean economic hardships. Skiers may have a shorter season and less snow. Anglers may find diminished populations of trout and other cold-water species. And to indigenous peoples living on islands or in coastal areas, it’s a matter of life and death. As we come to terms with one of the greatest problems facing humankind, it is comforting to know that Dr. Apple and her many graduate and undergraduate research assistants are helping us understand and develop solutions to the problem.


Dr. Apple is a gifted researcher who also teaches a heavy course load and performs service to the institution. Much of her research stems from her friendly, collaborative nature—an ability to work with scholars whether they are across the campus or across the globe. Dr. Apple is like many of Tech’s younger faculty who are changing the nature of the institution by transforming Montana Tech into a research institution while retaining our traditional emphasis on undergraduate education.