In December 2008 the Willow Beetle Project team was awarded a 5-year, $800,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, Division of Environmental Biology for the research proposal entitled "Collaborative Research, RUI: Ecological and evolutionary responses to environmental change in Sierra Nevada populations of a montane willow beetle." The award is a well-deserved boost for this research project which has been based at WMRS for nearly three decades.

The proposed research is focused on the evolution, physiology and ecology of Chrysomela aeneicollis, a species of Willow Leaf Beetle, living in the higher reaches of the Eastern Sierra drainages near Bishop. "Team beetle", consisting of Professsors Dahlhoff and Rank and WMRS Associate Director Smiley, and and their students and volunteers, will investigate how the beetles are responding to climate change. Are they moving their populations to new more favorable sites? Staying in place and coping? Evolving new traits? All of the above? How does genetic diversity at the PGI locus affect this adaptation? What is the role of heat shock proteins? The project draws on years of previous investigation by the senior scientists and their students, and includes detailed knowledge of the genetics, physiology, behavior, chemical ecology, predator ecology and temperature adaptations of the beetles. Much of this knowledge has been published in over 20 primary research articles (see reference list) and many student papers and theses. The project overview page has more information about the project and its history.