Download a variety of classroom
materials for all grades here.
Syringa chinensis,
‘Red Rothomagensis’
phenological events from
buds bursting to full bloom. |
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“Project Budburst” and the National Phenology Network: Phenology is the timing of seasonal events such as bud break, germination and flowering time: well-known indicators of the arrival of spring. The study of phenology has occurred for centuries and has been practiced by people of all walks of life. For example, phenological clues to the onset of spring have been used by farmers to guide them in the selection of sowing dates that are likely to maximize crop production. Today, phenological patterns are used to track the effect of climate change on plants and animals, to anticipate wildflower displays (and allergies), to make predictions about fuel loads and wildfires, and to plan the best time to plant our gardens.
A consortium of scientists and educators throughout the U.S. are initiating the first National Phenology Network (NPN) in the U.S. The NPN is dedicated to fulfilling a range of both educational and scientific objectives. Primary scientific objectives of the NPN include using long term phenological patterns to detect the effects of climate change on the function of plant communities. In addition, scientists aim to detect correlations between the onset of spring, the length of the growing season, availability of water in streams and lakes, and phenomena such as wildfire intensities, plant invasions, weed and pest outbreaks, allergy intensity, and rodent population dynamics (along with the diseases they carry).
Educational objectives include training and involving students, teachers, docents, land stewards, and community members in the collection and contribution of phenological data to a growing national database. Amateur naturalists in Europe and Canada have an impressive history of recording — and making available to the public — the flowering dates of many wild plant species; indeed, the comparison of historical and current flowering dates has been a critical way to demonstrate the direct effects of climate change on plants. To date, the U.S. has remained far behind, and most students (from K-12 through college) remain unaware of how sensitive plants and animals are to climate and to sustained climate change. In response, PhD student Brian Haggerty (Mazer lab, Department of Ecology, Evolution & Marine Biology), with funding from UCSB’s Shoreline Preservation Fund, has designed and implemented a training program for UCSB undergraduates to participate in the long term phenological monitoring of fifteen species at the Coal Oil Point Natural Reserve. This spring, Brian trained UCSB students to use CCBER herbarium specimens to track the phenological effects of climate change over the last 100 years in the Santa Barbara region.
UCSB Ecology and Evolution professor Dr. Susan Mazer is co-director of NPN's Education, Citizen Science, and Outreach committee with Dr. Carol Brewer (University of Montana). This past spring, the committee established a web site targeting the participation of students, teachers, native plant societies, botanic gardens, and natural reserves. The effort is called "Project Budburst," and the website http://www.budburst.org went live on April 1, 2007. The website presents and solicits phenological data in a way that is user-friendly both to novices and to amateur botanists, and there are a variety of downloadable classroom materials for teachers of all grade levels. Project Budburst and the NPN invites community members of all ages to subscribe to Project Budburst (it's free!), to observe the phenological progression of any plant species (including those that are on our national species list), and to contribute their observations to the Project Budburst website.
Dr. Mazer is also Co-PI with Dr. Mark D. Schwartz of the University of Wisconsin, on a newly awarded NSF "Research Coordination Network" grant ($500K) to continue to design and to implement the NPN in collaboration with researchers aiming to integrate the fields of community ecology, hydrology, climatology, remote sensing, cyberinfrastructure, and citizen science. Project Budburst is a collaborative effort of: the University of California, Santa Barbara; the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; the University of Montana; the Chicago Botanic Garden; the University of Arizona; the University Consortium of Atmospheric Research; and the European Phenology Network.
(Photos by Prof. Mark D. Schwartz, Courtesy of University Consortium of Atmospheric Research.) |
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