1. Nature’s exquisite timing:
Using Nature’s Notebook to track seasonal & long term environmental change
October 29, 2016
LoriAnne Barnett
Education Coordinator

2. Objectives of today’s discussion:
Define phenology and explain its applicability
Understand the importance of record- keeping.
Understand long-term phenology monitoring.
Apply citizen science and phenology!
Learn where to find resources to get started.
Use this slide to include the outcomes and objectives for your training. You may wish to include information about how monitoring phenology will benefit your program at your site, including any information about any current phenology related outreach and education programs you do. These could include weekly bird walks, wildlife gardens, climate change speaker series, etc. and they may or may not need to include any existing Nature’s Notebook monitoring.
Think about a science question that you can answer using phenology at your site and share that with your volunteers. Having a question to answer and a desire to obtain observations specifically related to those questions, will ensure that your volunteers remain engaged. Don’t forget to regularly share information with that about what your observations are telling you seasonally, annually, and in the long term.

3. Seasonal & long-term changes in plants and animals in Arizona

5. PHENOLOGY

6. phRenology – a pseudoscience focused on measurements of the human skull and size of the brain
phOnology – a branch of linguistics concerned with the organization of sounds in language
I often use this slide to introduce the definition of phenology – to demonstrate common mistakes made by many, including scientists (sometimes) – especially if one is not familiar with the word phenology.
Just to be clear…

7. What is phenology? The science of the seasons Blooms and buds
Hibernation, migration, emergence
Easy to observe
Climate change research
Photo credit: P. Warren
Use this time as a primer to gauge understanding of the concept of phenology. This can be done in conjunction with a KWL activity. Activity worksheet can be found here:
…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

8. Who observes phenology?
Scientists
Gardeners/Agriculturists
Land managers
Educators
Youth
Photo credit: P. Warren
Photo credit: S. Schaffer
Use this time as a primer to gauge understanding of the concept of phenology. This can be done in conjunction with a KWL activity. Activity worksheet can be found here:
Photo credit: C. Enquist

9. CLIMATE & PHENOLOGY
Keeping track of phenology can be as simple as taking a picture of the same individual in your yard through your local seasons.

10. Day-to-day changes in the
Climate is what you expect…
…weather is what you get.
-Mark Twain
Climate
Long-term average
of daily
weather in a given area.
Weather
Day-to-day changes in the
Earth’s atmosphere.
It is about…
…time
It is important to point out the difference between weather and climate. Phenology is influenced, in many instances, by weather and immediate environmental conditions cueing the next step in a species’ life cycle. However, studying a species response to environmental conditions through time, can tell us how, in the long term, species may be affected by a changing climate.

11. Biodiversity Life Zones
Arizona is unique – it has all biomes represented. Biomes can be described across elevational gradients as well as latitude. If you are not in Arizona, you can insert a biodiversity slide to demonstrate that climate is not only driven by latitude and longitude, but elevational gradients as well.

12. Elevation-Veg-Climate gradient
800 mm
10 ºC
Mile 5
Pine
forest
Mile 4
Oak-pine
woodland
Mile 3
Annual Average Precipitation
Use this time as a primer to gauge understanding of the concept of phenology. This can be done in conjunction with a KWL activity. Activity worksheet can be found here:
Annual Average Temperature
Oak woodland
Mile 2
Scrub grassland
Mile 1
Desert scrub
300 mm
20 ºC

13. Est. 2007

14. 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

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

16. 7,341 active observers 8,236 active sites 7.3+ records
Lilac data from 1956
1137 taxa, some from 2009
This slide is a generic slide used to discuss the coverage of plants and animals and spatial distribution of the sites. The number of observers and observations changes daily, so we suggest updating that figure before your presentation using the following dashboard: The numbers on this particular slide were pulled on 8/12/14 at 2:33 pm Pacific Time. The number of observers reporting (3707) indicates the number of active observers in the database. The 11,336 observers total indicates the number of people who registered and who are active. You can see that about 1/3 of our observers register and have submitted at least one observation. The rest have not gotten to that point yet, and we are hoping to increase that number by doing trainings. The total number of observations, 593,177 is the total number of observations (one for each phenophase protocol in the database). And the number of sites is self explanatory between the registered vs. active.

17. Observable life cycle events or
PLANT
Leaves
Flowers
Fruits
Observable life cycle events or
PHENOPHASES
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.
ANIMAL >> Mammal, Bird, Snake, Insect
Activity
Reproduction
Development
Method

18. 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).

19. Observations RECORD KEEPING
Keeping track of phenology can be as simple as taking a picture of the same individual in your yard through your local seasons.
RECORD KEEPING

20. Keeping records enhances the pleasure of the search. –Aldo Leopold

21. In these next series of slides I often open with a personal anecdote about how I first became interested in phenology and the importance of making regular observations in nature. I also emphasize how important it is to record what you see so that it is available for you for reference in years to come. This practice is especially important when trying to make sense of the natural world, doing any type of gardening, or trying to remember when favorite species visit your favorite outdoor space.

22. Shadbush or Serviceberry Open flowers phenophase
Amelanchier arborea
Shadbush or Serviceberry
Open flowers phenophase
Notice phenology from a distance, not as obvious…
Image credit: EGDenny

23. Using nature as a guide Tradition and Lore
February – Full Worm Moon
November -Beaver Moon
Photo credit: B. Powell
September – Harvest Moon
This slide is used to introduce the topic of traditional cultures, ethnobotany, and the importance of paying attention to surroundings for survival. Traditional cultures were far more in tune with nature than we are in today’s world – simply because they had to be. This slide describes how the monthly full moons were named for seasonal occurrences. There are many other examples of full moon names – these are just a few.
May – Full Flower Moon
“Tribes kept track of seasons by giving distinct names to each recurring full moon.”
Photo Credits: Wikimedia Commons unless otherwise noted
Photo credit: L. Barnett

24. Powell
Here are a few slightly more modern examples of people who paid careful attention to phenological happenings for a period of time. The reasons for doing so varied, from curiosity, to documentation of travels, to understanding how best to tend to one’s land. If you can provide other local examples, they would fit nicely here.
Thoreau
Jefferson

25. Photo credit: Monticello
Garden re-created
Thomas Jefferson’s garden at Monticello, in Charlottesville, VA has been famously recreated using the careful records that Jefferson kept for many years. Without his meticulous details, modern-day gardeners and staff would not have been able to replicate what he had growing at the time. In recent years, Monticello staff are noticing that the timing of certain phenophases of species are different than they were during Jefferson’s day. There could be many reasons for this, including the urban heat island effect and climate change. Keeping records into the future will be important to understanding how and when things are changing through time. For more information, visit the Monticello website: or better yet, visit in person!

26. Historic Lilac Network
Cloned lilac program
Photo credit: L. Barnett
Historic Lilac Network
Established in the 1950s
Santa Rita
Experimental Range,
Green Valley, AZ
The historic cloned lilac program was one of the first citizen science programs, beginning in More info can be found here: the photos on this slide are from the Santa Rita Experimental Range outside of Tucson, AZ, where one of the historic lilacs can be found and is still being observed today.
Photo credit: L. Barnett

27. David Bertelsen,
Naturalist

28. The Finger Rock Dataset
Collected by a single individual
1984-present
1480+ round-trip hikes (10 miles), 4158’ elevation gain
Approximately weekly
587 flowering plant taxa (group of species)
155K+ records of plant flowering.
73,000 vertebrate records *
Photo credit: B. Wilder

29. Observing the same individual through the seasons
Acer rubrum (red maple); Photo credit: D. Hartel
Keeping track of phenology can be as simple as taking a picture of the same individual in your yard through your local seasons.
Observing the same individual through the seasons

30. Phenology &
CLIMATE CHANGE

31. Phenology and Climate Change
Research, spring timing and range
A three-way mismatch

32. Image credit: L. Barnett
Image credit: P. Guertin
Image credit: P. Guertin
Earlier Bloom Times
Based on models and herbarium specimens,
Shrubs in the Sonoran Desert Bloomed
10-41 days earlier between 1841 and 2004
Bowers, J. E., Southwestern Naturalist

33. Invasive species that thrive in warmer and wetter
environments could displace beneficial Mid-Atlantic
species and create pest control problems.
Invasive species – move in when conditions are right. Use resources from the environment.

34. Observations SHARED FOR SCIENCE
Keeping track of phenology can be as simple as taking a picture of the same individual in your yard through your local seasons.
SHARED FOR SCIENCE

35. Leaves Flowers Fruits Velvet mesquite, Prosopis velutina
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.
Image credit: Patty Guertin
Fruits
Velvet mesquite, Prosopis velutina

36. Do you see…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.
We have phenophase definitions for each of the protocols for all of the species in our database. This is a sample description for open flowers for a deciduous tree, in this case, Cornus florida, a flowering dogwood. The definitions were written to be interpreted very literally, so we advise not reading anything into the definition when recording your observations.
Image credit: Patty Guertin
Velvet mesquite, Prosopis velutina

37. What percentage of all fresh flowers are open?
Less than 5%
5% - 24%
25% - 49%
50% - 74%
75% - 94%
95% or more
Select the most appropriate bin
Write the bin number on the line
Another task that is for more advanced volunteers, but bears pointing out, are the abundance fields on the datasheet. Abundance information provides the data end user with a sense of the shape of the database, meaning, not only will the be able to determine if and when something occurs, but how many there are. This can be important information when estimating canopy cover to use in comparison with satellite data, understanding how many flowers may be available at any given time for a species of pollinator, etc. We have, on our website, resources for observers who are not familiar with abundance estimations and canopy cover. I also suggest having an activity during your workshop that covers these protocols. Again, participants need not record these details until they are comfortable with them.
Image credit: Patty Guertin

38. Activity Reproduction Development Method Songbirds
Image credit: Ken Thomas via Wikimedia Commons
Development
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.
Method
Songbirds
Northern cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis

39. Cardinalis cardinalis1 2
Image credit: Wikimedia commons and Pinterest 3 4

40. Recent fruit or seed drop
Breaking leaf buds
Leaves
Increasing leaf size
Colored leaves
Flowers or Flower Buds
Open Flowers
Fruits
The phenophases can then be imagined in conjunction with species that may interact with them throughout the growing season. GIF courtesy of
Ripe Fruits
Recent fruit or seed drop
DECIDUOUS PLANT PHENOPHASES

41. Mobile app interface
Image credit: Wikimedia commons "Cornus florida 02 by Line1

42. You MUST have your account completely set up online first to use the mobile apps!
The FREE mobile apps have made life a lot easier for people in the field. Our apps for iPhone and Android are downloadable from the iTunes store (and work on phones and iPads) and the Google Play store. Search for “natures notebook” without an apostrophe S in either location. We recommend setting up accounts online FIRST before downloading the app bc it can be difficult to create a user name and a site on a small screen. However, once your information is online and you download the app, you can log in on the phone or tablet and all of your information, including sites and species, becomes pre populated. The apps both work when participants are out of cell phone range, the data is stored locally and uploaded when they return to service.

43. Objectives of today’s workshop:
Define phenology and explain its applicability to understanding changes in the natural world
Understand the importance of record- keeping.
Understand long-term phenology monitoring.
Apply citizen science and phenology!
Learn where to find resources to get started.
Use this slide to include the outcomes and objectives for your training. You may wish to include information about how monitoring phenology will benefit your program at your site, including any information about any current phenology related outreach and education programs you do. These could include weekly bird walks, wildlife gardens, climate change speaker series, etc. and they may or may not need to include any existing Nature’s Notebook monitoring.
Think about a science question that you can answer using phenology at your site and share that with your volunteers. Having a question to answer and a desire to obtain observations specifically related to those questions, will ensure that your volunteers remain engaged. Don’t forget to regularly share information with that about what your observations are telling you seasonally, annually, and in the long term.

44. Discover new tools and resources Visit a local phenology trail
Connect with USA-NPN…
Become an observer
Discover new tools and resources
Visit a local phenology trail
Closing slide with contact information – don’t forget to insert your information here, instead of mine.
LoriAnne Barnett