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The Mola Lab

Welcome!

The Mola Lab is located in the Forest and Rangeland Stewardship Department at Colorado State University. We’re a part of the Graduate Degree Program in Ecology. 

The lab conducts a variety of work mostly centered on pollinator and pollination ecology and conservation. Check out the Research page for more on our work or feel free to reach out to discuss anything related to insects or plants!

Photo of the Mola Lab 2024
Photo of the lab and associates from a fall 2024 lab meeting. From left to right: Nicki, Nancy, Jon (Harmon-Threatt Lab), Laura, John, Zella, Kyle, Sophia, Nathan, Allie.

Lab News and Musings

  • FRSBEE Lab takes on another successful FRSES!
    In late February, members of our lab participated in the 32nd annual Front Range Student Ecology Symposium, hosted by graduate student volunteers from the Ecology Program and other departments. Our very own Kyle Ruzkowski, Nicki Bailey, and Laura Lukens served on this year’s organizing committee, and overall we had seven presentations—and two award winners—from our… Read More »FRSBEE Lab takes on another successful FRSES!
  • New publications
    In our new review paper (Ruszkowski and Mola 2025), we ask how the abundance of non-native bees in cavity nesting blocks may cause spillover of native parasitic wasps impacting native bees. Photo by Kyle Ruszkowski We may not be very diligent about updating lab news – but the lab has been diligently at work producing… Read More »New publications
  • An unusually (good) year for Colorado bumble bees so far
    There have been several interesting and notable bumble bee observations along the Front Range this year. I wanted to summarize them to bring attention to these intriguing observations in hopes of gathering more information and energizing folk’s interest in seeking more bumble bee observations.  It’s possible that this seemingly good year for bumble bees in… Read More »An unusually (good) year for Colorado bumble bees so far
  • Lab Kudos!
    Although rejection is often the norm in scientific research and careers, successes do occur and they are sweet to enjoy. It’s been a big few weeks in the lab with multiple awards, fellowships, and grants being received (more information on some of the big grants soon)! Well done everyone!
  • New paper on Rusty Patched Bumble Bee Genetics
    Our paper on Rusty Patched Bumble Bee (Bombus affinis) genetics is out in Journal of Insect Ecology. It’s open access, so give it a read. There has also been a decent chunk of press coverage on it. You can see some of that below:

Mola Lab
Forest and Rangeland Stewardship
1472 Campus Delivery
Fort Collins, CO 80523-1472

Interested in supporting our work with a donation to the Warner College?

Read more here and then get in touch with John at john.mola[at]colostate.edu!