1. Nature’s rhythms:
Understanding seasonal and long-term changes around us through PHENOLOGY
LoriAnne Barnett
Education Coordinator

2. Important things we’ll discuss today:
What is PHENOLOGY
Using phenology to teach about the natural world
How do I set up a Nature’s Notebook project?
Making it work!

3. What do I know about …
Phenology

4. What’s Phenology
Phenology refers to recurring plant and animal life cycle stages, such as leafing and flowering, maturation of agricultural plants, emergence of insects, and migration of birds. It is also the study of these seasonal changes, especially their timing and relationships with weather and climate.

6. Photo credit: L. Barnett

7. Photo credit: L. Barnett

8. Photo credit: L. Barnett

10. Primary goal
Create a standardized, long-term dataset for use in multiple types of research.
Mission
Make phenology data, models and related information available.
Encourage people of all ages and backgrounds to observe and record phenology.
Understand how species and landscapes are responding to climate change.
What we are….
Photo credit: C. Enquist

11. How we do it…
Photo credit: L. Romano

12. Phenology
and the natural world…

13. Climate & Weather?

14. Climate is what you expect,
Weather is what you get.
-Mark Twain
Climate
Long-term average of daily
weather in a given area.
The average annual rainfall in Phoenix, AZ is ~8.0 inches.
The average July high temp is 106°F.
December is the average coolest month at 44-66°F .
Weather
Day-to-day changes in the
Earth’s atmosphere.
It rained last Thursday.
There was a hard frost on January 15 in Tucson.
Sunday will be sunny and 96°F.
It is all about time …

15. Why is climate important to ecology?
So What?!?
Why is climate important to ecology?
Climate drives what occurs where, what lives where, and how those species respond to their environment.
Ecology

16. PHENOLOGY

17. Distribution
Ecology
Abundance

18. Observing the same individual through the seasons
Acer rubrum (red maple); Photo credit: D. Hartel
Observing the same individual through the seasons

19. PLANT
LIFE CYCLE
GREEN GROWTH
Requires Optimum Conditions

20. American kestrel Active Falco sparverius Reproduction Reproduction
Life cycles are, essentially, what we call phenophases or those observable events in a species life that can be recorded through observation. Again, these are often things people are very familiar with – for example, folks who are bird watchers often pay close attention to what the particular bird is doing at the time it is spotted. The look for cues in habitat and seasonality to provide information about what they see and when and where they see it.
©Wikimedia Commons
©Wikimedia Commons

21. LARVA ADULT INSECT Complete Pupa PUPA www.askabiologist.asu.edu
The same is true for insects.
PUPA

22. What does PHENOLOGY tell us?
So What?!?
What does PHENOLOGY tell us?

23. Nature’s Notebook projects
Phenology
and
Nature’s Notebook projects

24. Observable life cycle events or
ANIMAL >> Mammal, Bird, Snake, Insect
Activity
Reproduction
Development
Method
Observable life cycle events or
PHENOPHASES
PLANT
For all plants and animals, each of the life cycle events we can observe are called phenophases. At the most basic level they are as indicated on this slide. What is the animal doing? And How? And for plants, the Leaves, Flowers, and Fruits of the life cycle.
Leaves
Flowers
Fruits

25. PHENOPHASES ANIMAL PLANT Activity Method Active individuals
Feeding
Individuals at a feeding station
PLANT
Leaves
Flowers
Fruits
This is an expansion of the earlier slide, depicting the full suite of protocols we ask for many of the species in our database. It should be noted, though, that until people are very familiar with what their individual of the species looks like, they should feel comfortable with just entering the data at the basic level – e.g. leaves flowers, fruits, or presence or absence of an animal. Lastly, the abundance of each species can be captured. Any observation is valuable, so it is not a problem for participants to start with the easiest thing for them to observer and then increase the data they capture through time.
Leaves
Colored leaves
Open flowers
Recent seed or fruit drop
PHENOPHASES

26. YES NO ?
We ask participants to capture either YES they see the phenophase, NO they do not see the phenophase, or ? If they are UNSURE if they phenophase is occurring. It is absolutely OK for participants to indicate that they are unsure. From a data quality perspective we would rather know that someone was observing and unsure instead of guessing the answer (which could be incorrect) OR leaving it entirely blank (we a data end user may wonder if someone just forgot to make an entry for that particular protocol).

27. Leaves Flowers Fruits Gambel Oak
This is an example of the full suite of protocols on one of our data sheets – in this instance, a gambel oak. The protocols for any of the oaks will be the same, as they are in the deciduous tree functional group. The more basic protocols are circled, so observers can see how they can start there. You may choose to use a species found near you, OR one that you are asking your participants to observe. I simply captured the protocols from a datasheet and saved the cap as an image – pasted it in here.
Fruits
Gambel Oak

28. The same is true for this bird protocol
The same is true for this bird protocol. Feel free to select one of your own local species. People can record presence/absence using active individuals OR they can record what the individual is doing, if they are comfortable identifying the activity.
Photo from All About Birds
Acorn Woodpecker

29. Recent fruit or seed drop
Breaking leaf buds
Leaves
Increasing leaf size
Colored leaves
Flowers or Flower Buds
Open Flowers
Fruits
This slide demonstrates the annual cycle of phenophases for a deciduous tree. The boxes indicate each of the categories of phenophases and how they may overlap during the growing season. Of course, variation is possible, but this provides a general sense of how phenophases may appear when recorded in the database. NOTE that the main phenophases, such as leaves and fruits will be YES if there are, at all, leaves or fruits on the tree.
Ripe Fruits
Recent fruit or seed drop
DECIDUOUS PLANT PHENOPHASES

30. Class Assignment! Create a Nature’s Notebook
phenology monitoring project!

31. PROJECT?!
Photo credit: L. Barnett

32. Long term road map to understanding species interactions at the regional level - path
"Road in Norway" by Piotr Małecki Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

33. Long-Term

34. Identify: Saguaro Candy barrel cactus Buck-horn cholla Tree cholla
Velvet Mesquite
Yellow paloverde
Desert ironwood
Brittlebush
Beavertail pricklypear

35. Identify: A science question… When are the milkweed in bloom?
In what month does the red maple leaf out?
When do the sandhill cranes return to their summer habitats?
In what week of April are the saguaros in full flower, and when do the white-winged doves visit them?

38. NATURE’S NOTEBOOK PROJECT
Homework
Assignment!
Create your own
NATURE’S NOTEBOOK PROJECT

41. Web Demo
Photo credit: L. Barnett

42. Sign up for a phenology quarterly e-newsletter Become an observer
Connect with USA-NPN…
Sign up for a phenology quarterly e-newsletter
Become an observer
Discover new tools and resources
Closing slide with contact information – don’t forget to insert your information here, instead of mine.
LoriAnne Barnett