1. Webinar: Botany 101 and Tricky Phenophases
April 8, 2014

2. NPN Webinar Team HOST PRESENTER Alyssa Rosemartin Assistant Director &
IT Coordinator
Erin Posthumus
Outreach Associate
Q&A Panel
Ellen Denny
Monitoring Design Coordinator
Patty Guertin
Botanist
LoriAnne Barnett
Education Coordinator
@LoriAnneBarnett

3. Phenology The science of the seasons Blooms and buds
Hibernation, migration, emergence
Easy to observe
More simplistically, phenology is nature’s calendar. What happens during certain times of the year – it provides a means for observation and affects every living thing on the planet. It is something that can be observed on a small scale, such as in a plant in your back yard to the regional and global scale – for example, noticing early bloom times for cherry blossoms all along the eastern seaboard of the United States, early emergence of mosquitos in Savannah, GA, or leaf out of maple trees across the whole US using satellite imagery. Phenology is: Phenology refers to recurring plant and animal life cycle stages, or phenophases, such as leafing and flowering, maturation of agricultural plants, emergence of insects, and migration of birds. Phenology, in short, is a “horizontal science” which transects all ordinary biological professions. Whoever sees the land as a whole is likely to have an interest in it.
Leopold, A., and S.E. Jones A phenological record for Sauk and Dane Counties, Wisconsin, Ecological Monographs 17(1):
…it is the study of the timing of recurring plant and animal life-cycle stages, or phenophases, and their relationship to environmental conditions.
Photo credit: L. Barnett

4. USA National Phenology Network
Primary goal
Create a standardized 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.
We would like to provide opportunities for people, young and old, to engage with our citizen science project and the natural world, to understand how species are responding to environmental variation and climate change. We also aim to make the collected data available to scientists, resource managers and the public so they can use it to make important decisions. And we aim to provide educational resources to teachers, park and refuge staff, Extension program educators, natural area programmers that will help them communicate information about climate change and how using our citizen science program contributes to a larger community of scientific research.
Photo credit: C. Enquist

5. USA National Phenology Network
Nature’s Notebook
for scientists, naturalists, volunteers, land managers, park rangers, and YOU!
Nature’s Notebook is the USA National Phenology Network’s plant and animal phenology observation program.  Through this program, scientists and non-scientists alike are collecting phenology observations on hundreds of species of plants and animals including birds, frogs, mammals, insects, fish, and herps, following scientifically rigorous protocols.  Nature’s Notebook can directly support research and decision-making.  The phenology observations collected through Nature’s Notebook are maintained in USA-NPN’s national phenology database made freely available for query, visualization, and download on the USA-NPN website.
Photo credit: L. Romano
Poll

6. USA National Phenology Network
Long term monitoring of the same individual plants
Importance of entering the “no” observations
At least weekly observations - catch the first “yes”
If uncertain, use the “?”
Species protocols, questions about leaves, flowers, and fruits.

7. USA National Phenology Network
Leaves
Flowers
Species protocols, questions about leaves, flowers, and fruits.
-long term monitoring of the same individual plants over time
-importance of entering the “no” observations
-at least weekly observations to catch the first “yes”
-if uncertain, use the ?
Fruits

8. Outline: Leaves Flowers Fruits Botany 101 and Tricky Phenophases
The definitions were written to be taken literally.
Some basics about leaves, flowers, fruits.
If people use too much of their own judgment, it won’t be standardized, so we tried to take all the guesswork out – you shouldn’t second guess the defs.

9. The definitions are there to help
Do you see…open flowers?
Definitions have lots of helpful species-specific information, use them!
Photo: Derek Ramsey via Wikimedia Commons
Open flowers : One or more open, fresh flowers are visible on the plant. Flowers are considered "open" when the reproductive parts (male stamens or female pistils) are visible between or within unfolded or open flower parts (petals, floral tubes or sepals). Do not include wilted or dried flowers. For Cornus florida, ignore the four large, white bracts and watch for the opening of the small flowers in the center of the bracts.

10. Recent fruit or seed drop
Deciduous plant phenophases
Breaking leaf buds
Leaves
Increasing leaf size
Colored leaves
Flowers or Flower Buds
Open Flowers
Note nestedness of some leafing and flowering phenophases.
Very general, will vary by species, some plants have flowers first, fruits all year around.
Fruits
Ripe Fruits
Recent fruit or seed drop
Poll

11. About buds, in general
Buds are embryonic and undeveloped shoots from which leaves, stems, and flowers arise.
Can remain dormant for extended periods of time.
Buds in woody plants from colder climates often have tough, protective outer scales.

12. About buds, in general
Here you can see the process of a scaled bud breaking, then leaves unfolding and increasing in size.

13. About leaves, in general
A leaf consists of a leaf blade.
Many leaves have a petiole – a stem that attaches the leaf blade to the stem or branch of the plant. This is a critical structure for determining the answer to the question of breaking leaf buds.

14. Do you see…breaking leaf buds?
Breaking leaf buds: One or more breaking leaf buds are visible on the plant. A leaf bud is considered "breaking" once a green leaf tip is visible at the end of the bud, but before the first leaf from the bud has unfolded to expose the leaf stalk (petiole) or leaf base. No
Yes No
Once you see one leaf from that bud unfolded it’s no longer a breaking leaf bud. But, there could still be other leaf buds breaking on the plant, as not all buds on a plant break at the same rate.
BLB for the plant is over when all the leaf buds have at least one leaf with petiole visible.
Photos: Ellen Denny
Leaf stalk or petiole is visible.

15. Pop Quiz! Do you see…breaking leaf buds?
Breaking leaf buds: One or more breaking leaf buds are visible on the plant. A leaf bud is considered "breaking" once a green leaf tip is visible at the end of the bud, but before the first leaf from the bud has unfolded to expose the leaf stalk (petiole) or leaf base.
Photo: Erin Posthumus
Poll

16. Pop Quiz! Do you see…breaking leaf buds? Yes
Breaking leaf buds: One or more breaking leaf buds are visible on the plant. A leaf bud is considered "breaking" once a green leaf tip is visible at the end of the bud, but before the first leaf from the bud has unfolded to expose the leaf stalk (petiole) or leaf base.
Photo: Erin Posthumus

17. Recent fruit or seed drop
Forb phenophases
Initial growth
Leaves
Flowers or flower buds
Open Flowers
Fruits
Ripe Fruits
Recent fruit or seed drop

18. Do you see…initial growth?
Initial growth: New growth of the plant is visible after a period of no growth (winter or drought), either as new green shoots sprouting from nodes on existing stems, or new green shoots breaking through the soil surface. For each shoot, growth is considered "initial" until the first leaf has unfolded.
Yes No
Left Photo: Ellen G Denny, Right Photo: Mocologista.blogspot.com
Similar to “Breaking leaf buds”, the “Initial growth” phenophase is designed to capture the presence of that first spurt of growth in a forb or grass before the first leaf on the plant has unfolded.
Sometimes this will happen so fast that you will see nothing one day, and then unfolded leaves the next day. In that case, just report that you see “Leaves” and don’t worry that you missed the “Initial growth” phenophase.
In some species that generally die back before a dormant season, the old stems do not always completely die. When new green growth comes from points along these old stems, you can consider that “Initial growth” until the first leaf has unfolded. However, again it might happen so fast that you miss seeing the “Initial growth” phenophase and your first report will be “Leaves”

19. Do you see…leaves?
Leaves: One or more live, unfolded leaves are visible on the plant. A leaf is considered "unfolded" once its entire length has emerged from the breaking bud so that the leaf stalk (petiole) or leaf base is visible at its point of attachment to the stem. Do not include fully dried or dead leaves.
No – don’t count leaves as either leaves or colored leaves after they have lost all their pigments, nutrients and chlorophyll.
Some plants hang onto leaves even after all the chlorophyll, pigments and nutrients have been taken out of them, and they become brown and dry (e.g. oak, beech). Do not count these as “Leaves” or “Colored leaves”. Ignore them.
Photo: casey artandcolor

20. Do you see…colored leaves?
Colored leaves: One or more leaves have turned to their late-season colors. Do not include fully dried or dead leaves that remain on the plant.
Yes
… and it doesn’t matter why:
Summer drought
Insect damage or other stresses
If a significant number of leaves on a plant start turning their typical late season color for ANY reason, report them as colored leaves. This could include summer drought and insect damage, as well as the fall cold weather that typical induces deciduous leaves to change color.
If there are only a handful of leaves in this condition and you are using the intensity estimates, you can report these few leaves as less than 5% of the canopy filled with colored leaves. If you are not reporting intensity measures, we recommend you include in the comments that only are few leaves are colored.
Photo: Matt Sutkoski

21. Pop Quiz! Do you see…colored leaves?
Colored leaves: One or more leaves have turned to their late-season colors. Do not include fully dried or dead leaves that remain on the plant.
Sometimes a few individual leaves on a tree will turn color very early in the season due to stress. If you are using the intensity estimates, you can report this as the presence of colored leaves at less than 5% of the canopy filled with colored leaves, or make a comment.
Photo: Yard of nature
Poll

22. Pop Quiz! Do you see…colored leaves? Yes
Colored leaves: One or more leaves have turned to their late-season colors. Do not include fully dried or dead leaves that remain on the plant.
Add a comment (for example “just a few leaves, due to stress”)
Sometimes a few individual leaves on a tree will turn color very early in the season due to stress. If you are using the intensity estimates, you can report this as the presence of colored leaves at less than 5% of the canopy filled with colored leaves, or make a comment.
Photo: Yard of nature

23. About flowers, in general
There is a lot of variation in flowers, but here is one example of a flower.
A flower is supported by a peduncle or pedicel, or flower stalk, attached at a stem node.
Most flowers have 4 arrangements of flower parts – sepals, petals, stamens, pistil.
Sepals usually serve to protect the flower bud, before the flower opens.
Petals are the showy parts of the flower, help advertise to pollinators that they are ready for visitation and pollination.
Stamens are a collection of the anther and filament, the male parts of a flower.
Pistils are a collection of the stigma, style, and ovary, which, if pollinated, turns into the fruit.
In some plants the male and female flower parts will be on separate flowers (monoecious), or even separate plants (dioecious).

24. About flower structure…
Some flowers are arranged in groups, called an infloresence. Even if you see one flower bud or one open flower on these plants, you would still report a yes for those phenophases.

25. Do you see…flowers or flower buds?
Flowers or flower buds: One or more fresh open or unopened flowers or flower buds are visible on the plant. Include flower buds that are still developing, but do not include wilted or dried flowers.
Yes
Yes
The “Flowers or flower buds” phenophase is intended to capture any flowers on the plant that are either actively developing or fully open.
“Bud” is a tricky word that to a lay audience means a unopened flower where you can see the undersides of the petals still tight together (think rosebud).
Photos: Ellen G Denny

26. Do you see…open flowers?
Open flowers: One or more open, fresh flowers are visible on the plant. Flowers are considered "open" when the reproductive parts (male stamens or female pistils) are visible between or within unfolded or open flower parts (petals, floral tubes or sepals). Do not include wilted or dried flowers.
Yes, Flowers or flower buds
No, Open flowers
Yes, Flowers or flower buds
Yes, Open flowers
Photos: Ellen G Denny

27. Do you see…flowers or flower buds?
Flowers or flower buds: One or more fresh open or unopened flowers or flower buds are visible on the plant. Include flower buds that are still developing, but do not include wilted or dried flowers.
Yes No
Black oak, male flowers, don’t count if wilted, pollen gone might stay on a long time,
IN the case of persistent dead flowers on some oaks, again, don’t count them as flowers or flower buds – if they are dead/wilted, only if actively growing.
Photos: Ellen G Denny

28. Pop Quiz! Do you see…flowers or flower buds? Open flowers?
Flowers or flower buds: One or more fresh open or unopened flowers or flower buds are visible on the plant. Include flower buds that are still developing, but do not include wilted or dried flowers.
Open flowers: One or more fresh open or unopened flowers or flower buds are visible on the plant. Flowers are considered "open" when the reproductive parts (male stamens or female pistils) are visible between or within unfolded or open flower parts (petals, floral tubes or sepals). Do not include wilted or dried flowers.
Photos: Ellen G Denny
Poll

29. Pop Quiz! Do you see…flowers or flower buds? Open flowers? Yes Yes
Flowers or flower buds: One or more fresh open or unopened flowers or flower buds are visible on the plant. Include flower buds that are still developing, but do not include wilted or dried flowers.
Open flowers: One or more fresh open or unopened flowers or flower buds are visible on the plant. Flowers are considered "open" when the reproductive parts (male stamens or female pistils) are visible between or within unfolded or open flower parts (petals, floral tubes or sepals). Do not include wilted or dried flowers.
Photos: Ellen G Denny

30. Leaf bud? Flower bud? Get to know the species
You’ll have to get to know the species before you can definitively tell which buds contain leaves and which contain flowers
Leaves and flowers may develop in separate buds or in the same bud (e.g. sugar maple), and leaves may emerge first or flowers may emerge first
Regardless of whether leaves emerge from a dedicated leaf bud or a shared leaf and flower bud, you should always wait to see a green leaf tip before reporting breaking leaf buds
Get to know the species
Leaves and flowers may develop in the same bud (e.g. sugar maple)
Before reporting breaking leaf buds, wait for green leaf tip to emerge
Photos: Ellen G Denny

31. Leaf bud? Flower bud?
If unsure, make a comment on the first date you see a bud expanding
If it turns out to be a flower bud, go back and report “yes” to flowers or flower buds starting with the date with comment
Photos: Ellen G Denny

32. When a flower becomes a fruit
Once a flower with female parts starts to wilt, IF it has been successfully pollinated and its ovary fertilized, the fruit will start to grow.
Generally once the bottom part of the dead flower begins to get bigger, you’ll know a fruit is present.
However, it might be difficult to tell for a few weeks whether or not an ovary has been fertilized and is developing into a fruit.
Don’t fret over when you start reporting the presence of those initial tiny, unripe fruits. It is useful to know there are fruit present once they become large and start ripening, but it is not so important to know whether or not they are there from the first day the ovary is fertilized. When in doubt use the ? option!
Flowers do not always turn to fruits
Male plants – no fruit

33. Do you see…fruit? One or more fruits are visible on the plant.
Photos: Steven J. Baskauf, Diana Olszowy, super-sad.info, PhreddieH3, Robert Sivinski, IPFW, Mackenzie Younger
Fruits come in an incredibly diverse array of shapes, sizes, colors and seed dispersal mechanisms.
Top: Maple, Oak, Beech, Blueberry
Bottom: Mesquite, Birch, Black Cherry
For this reason we have species-specific phenophase defs

34. Do you see…fruit? Yes for fruit No for ripe fruit
Photos: Steven J. Baskauf, Diana Olszowy, super-sad.info, PhreddieH3, Robert Sivinski, IPFW, Mackenzie Younger
Fruit: One or more fruits are visible on the plant. For Acer rubrum, the fruit is two joined seeds in a "V" shape, each seed having a wing, that changes from green or red to tan or brownish and drops from the plant.
Ripe Fruit: One or more ripe fruits are visible on the plant. For Acer rubrum, a fruit is considered ripe when it has turned tan or brownish and readily drops from the plant when touched.
For this reason, instructions about what to look for in defining “Fruits” and “Ripe fruits” are included in these phenophase definitions for each plant species in Nature’s Notebook.

35. Do you see…fruit? Yes for fruit No for ripe fruit
Photos: Steven J. Baskauf, Diana Olszowy, super-sad.info, PhreddieH3, Robert Sivinski, IPFW, Mackenzie Younger
Fruit: One or more fruits are visible on the plant. For Quercus rubra, the fruit is a nut (acorn), partially covered with a "cap", that changes from green to green-brown to brown, red brown or dark brown.
Ripe Fruit: One or more ripe fruits are visible on the plant. For Quercus rubra, a fruit is considered ripe when it has turned brown, red brown or dark brown.

36. Pop Quiz! Do you see fruit? Ripe fruit?
Fruit: One or more fruits are visible on the plant. For Prunus serotina, the fruit is a small, fleshy "cherry" that changes from green to purple-black or black.
Ripe fruit: One or more ripe fruits are visible on the plant. For Prunus serotina, a fruit is considered ripe when it has turned purple-black or black.
Photos: Steven J. Baskauf, Diana Olszowy, super-sad.info, PhreddieH3, Robert Sivinski, IPFW, Mackenzie Younger
Fruits come in an incredibly diverse array of shapes, sizes, colors and seed dispersal mechanisms.
Top: Maple, Oak, Beech, Blueberry
Bottom: Mesquite, Birch, Black Cherry
For this reason we have species-specific phenophase defs
Poll

37. Pop Quiz! Do you see fruit? Ripe fruit? Yes Yes
Fruit: One or more fruits are visible on the plant. For Prunus serotina, the fruit is a small, fleshy "cherry" that changes from green to purple-black or black.
Ripe fruit: One or more ripe fruits are visible on the plant. For Prunus serotina, a fruit is considered ripe when it has turned purple-black or black.
Photos: Steven J. Baskauf, Diana Olszowy, super-sad.info, PhreddieH3, Robert Sivinski, IPFW, Mackenzie Younger
Fruits come in an incredibly diverse array of shapes, sizes, colors and seed dispersal mechanisms.
Top: Maple, Oak, Beech, Blueberry
Bottom: Mesquite, Birch, Black Cherry
For this reason we have species-specific phenophase defs

38. Do you see…fruit or ripe fruit?
Ripe fruit: One or more ripe fruits are visible on the plant. For Hamamelis virginiana, a fruit is considered ripe when it has turned brown and has split open to expose the seeds. Do not include empty capsules that have already dropped all of their seeds.
Yes, fruit
No, ripe fruit
Yes, fruit
Yes, ripe fruit
No, fruit
No, ripe fruit
Once the seeds leave the plant, a fruit is no longer considered present on the plant. In many cases, the capsule/pod/cone remains on the plant with no seeds left and these structures can be ignored and do not count as “Fruit” or “Ripe fruit” (e.g. witchhazel capsules, sweetgum balls, conifer cones, birch catkin rachises)
In some cases, mature seeds can take a long time to drop from the plant (e.g. birch catkins can take months to drop all their seeds). In that case, count these as “Ripe fruits” until all the seeds have fallen from the fruit structure.
In many cases, the capsule/pod/cone remains on the plant with no seeds left and these structures can be ignored and do not count as “Fruit” or “Ripe fruit”
Photos: Ellen G Denny

39. Do you see…recent fruit drop?
Recent fruit drop: One or more mature fruits or seeds have dropped or been removed from the plant since your last visit. Do not include obviously immature fruits that have dropped before ripening, such as in a heavy rain or wind, or empty fruits that had long ago dropped all of their seeds but remained on the plant.
Yes, if a lot of unripe fruit from your last visit appears to have ripened and fallen.
Yes, if a storm seems to have brought a lot of ripe or almost ripe fruit down
?, if you cannot determine if the fruit is old or recent.
This phenophase is most valuable in cases where fruit fall off almost immediately upon ripening, eg witchazel that we just saw, and magnolia. Observers might miss the day that the fruit ripened and then fell, so there would never be a report of “Ripe fruits” present on the plant. This phenophase gives observers a chance to indicate that ripe fruit were present and dropped off since their last visit to the plant.
Only report yes for this phenophase if it appears that fruit or seeds dropped SINCE YOUR LAST VISIT.
If fruit that is not close to being ripe falls off in a storm, do not count that as recent fruit drop.
Photos: Matt Oden

40. Resources
Start with the definitions, and species-specific information.

41. Resources
Start with the definitions, and species-specific information.

42. Resources
Start with the definitions, and species-specific information.
Try the FAQ page.

43. Resources
Start with the definitions, and species-specific information.
Try the FAQ page.

44. for making observations in Nature’s Notebook
Resources
Start with the definitions, and species-specific information.
Try the FAQ page.
Botany 101 guide – due this summer
Basic Botany
for making observations in Nature’s Notebook

45. Mark your calendars… Upcoming webinars:
Tuesday, June 10, 2014: A summary of spring: What have we learned from our campaigns so far?
Tuesday, July 8, 2014: What came first, the flower or the bee? Learn to explore patterns in space and time with our Visualization Tool

46. Join a Nature’s Notebook campaign!
By participating in one of our regional campaigns you can help researchers answer key questions, get info-rich s with localized results, and an end of season summary.

47. Thank you! HOST PRESENTER Alyssa Rosemartin Assistant Director &
IT Coordinator
Erin Posthumus
Outreach Associate
Q&A Panel
Ellen Denny
Monitoring Design Coordinator
Patty Guertin
Botanist
LoriAnne Barnett
Education Coordinator
@LoriAnneBarnett