1. Nature’s Notebook Phenophase Questions
Answered!
Welcome! Intro LA and Ellen
Hosted by NCO Staff:
Ellen Denny, Monitoring Design & Data Coordinator
LoriAnne Barnett, Education Coordinator
Recorded on:
Friday, March 1, 2019

2. Your hosts Questions about Phenophases? phenophases@usanpn.org
Nature’s Notebook?
LoriAnne Barnett
USA-NPN Education Coordinator
Ellen Denny
USA-NPN Monitoring Design & Data Coordinator

3. Quick definition of Nature’s Notebook, USA-NPN

4. Wha?!
Hosting this webinar because we always get lots of questions about the protocols and how to ”interpret” some of them.

5. Usually the same questions, fall into the same categories.

6. Resources
We have documented almost all of the questions we’ve received over the last 10 years and have tried to make the information available in multiple formats for people to reference. Our website is very rich with information! Which is good and bad because people become overwhelmed and don’t know where to look. This webinar is another way we can provide answers to your questions.

7. We plan to revise how and where the information is found on the website, and document the most frequently asked questions in a more prominent location. Hopefully by Spring 2020 we’ll have all of this reorganized for new observers coming on the scene.

8. Big picture value of data
Impetus for NN data collection effort is in the desire for national-scale data about the timing of plant and animal life cycle stages to be used in scientific inquiry and decision-making surrounding our societal need to understand the environmental changes we have been seeing in recent decades

9. What’s the goal?
Remember the protocols are to be taken at face value and are designed to be reported consistently - the goal is to give a data end user a valuable picture of what is happening on the ground with the plant throughout the season, with all of the phases, rather than to spend a lot of time overthinking if one leaf on the plant is a young leaf vs another which is old.

10. Big picture value of data
YES NO
Protocols are designed to capture the basic life stages that our plant and animal species go through during seasons in the US
Based primarily on presence and absence of structures in plants (leaves, flowers, fruits)

11. Big picture value of data
YES NO
Protocols are designed to capture the basic life stages that our plant and animal species go through during seasons in the US
and behaviors in animals (breeding, migration, use of different food resources) so we can document the patterns of these things coming and going in different locations across the nation

12. Big picture value of data
Point is for data to be used
Researchers will use data only if they trust the quality and consistency and since the roots of our program are about scientific inquiry, we work hard to attain a quality acceptable to scientists
Really hard to get consistent data from thousands of different observers distributed across a very large nation, especially when those observers are not getting paid and are not sent to a central hands-on training program
We do the best we can by providing a standard protocol that we ask everyone to follow, provide self-serve training resources, and invest in engaging local leaders to provide on-the-ground training that resonates with their volunteers, but also conforms to a minimum standard that we can tout as consistent across the US

13. YIKES!!!! What to fret Definitions Transitions Intensity
Follow the official phenophase definitions and don’t change the wording for your local volunteers!  This is one of the bare minimum ways we try to get consistency across the nation. But it is ok to provide additional tips for phenophase identification at your particular location since individuals of the same species will show regional and local variation.
Transitions -- catching no before yes happens -- get out there early to get the no and then observe frequently when a phenophase is due to start. Reducing the number of days between the first yes and the last no is important for data quality because some researchers are interested in the exact date of a transition and will filter out those transitions where more than 7 days has passed between and no and the first yes
Intensity measures can be intimidating and not everyone is comfortable providing them, but they are nice to have on the low end, like if you saw yes to Flower or flower buds, but you only see one of them, go ahead and report the “Less than 3” intensity
Example for Colored leaves, if you see only a few leaves, report an intensity of Less than 5%. If you are not comfortable trying to estimate higher percentages, its ok to stop reporting intensity as more of the leaves started to turn. Reason for this is a research project using our data to model the beginning of autumn by looking at when the “Colored leaves” phenophase status changes from no to yes at sites--we’d like to eliminate those cases where a few leaves turn color during the summer
YIKES!!!!

14. What NOT to fret Non-scientists General patterns Subtleties I’m chill,
Realize that the protocols and their terminology are intended for non-scientists who are willing to learn a little more about plant and animal life cycles than the average adult already knows. So if you have a scientific background, don’t overthink the phrasing or intent of the phenophase definitions--just take them at face value and try to evaluate the phenophases as you expect a volunteer observer without years of scientific training or familiarity with botanical/zoological jargon would.
Don’t waste your valuable time pouring over a single plant looking for the one flower or fruit that might be lurking in some hard-to-see spot. We are interested in more general patterns in the start and end of life stages and if you miss the absolute start of the very, very first open flower, that’s ok. You’ll catch it the next time when there are half a dozen and they jump out at you.
Especially don’t worry overmuch about pinpointing the beginning of “Flowers or flower buds” and “Fruits”. In many species these both start out with very small structures (tiny flower buds that get bigger) or very subtle signs (the mild swelling of a flower’s ovary that becomes a fruit) that are hard to see. People who use the data understand that it is hard even for trained botanists to see these subtle changes. So don’t spend time overthinking and just go straight to the “?” if it is ambiguous.
I’m chill,
it’s all good!!!

15. Common errors
Reporting “Increasing leaf size” or “Breaking leaf buds” throughout the season. These are only meant for new flushes of leaves, of which there is usually only one per season for tree is the northern half of the US.
Trees will put out new leaves all summer at the ends of branches but this should not be counted in these phenophases.

16. Tricky situations
Persistent fruits -- when does a fruit go from ripe to inedible?
Lots of other gray areas where you’ll just need to make a judgement call. We try to cover this type of situation in the Phenopase Primer, but inevitably you will come across a gray area for which we do not have a concrete answer. We recommend you discuss it with fellow observers and try to at least be consistent within your local group.

17. Overlapping phases & when to stop reporting

18. How often and when to stop
When to stop reporting a phase
How often to make observations (to capture change from yes to no to yes, during growing season, to capture peak)

19. What’s the goal?
Remember the protocols are to be taken at face value and are designed to be reported consistently - the goal is to give a data end user a valuable picture of what is happening on the ground with the plant throughout the season, with all of the phases, rather than to spend a lot of time overthinking if one leaf on the plant is a young leaf vs another which is old.

20. Big-picture questions
Your site-based protocol says that we should observe 3 plants. What if I don’t have 3 plants of that species at my site? Does that mean I can’t observe?

21. Big-picture questions
I’m new to this (this is my first season observing) and I’ve noticed that it is taking me a long time to answer all of your phenophase questions. Some of them I have trouble identifying, especially the intensity. Can I leave some of the observation fields blank or is my observation incomplete if I do not answer all of the questions?
YES

22. Big-picture questions
We have had difficulty observing ‘Initial Growth’ on a perennial forb we monitor, Solidago altissima (Canada Goldenrod, SOAL6). The definition states that “Growth is considered "initial" on each bud or shoot until the first leaf has fully unfolded”, but no matter how young a SOAL6 seems, there is at least one leaf fully unfolded on its single shoot.
Some species develop so quickly in the spring, especially if days are suddenly very warm, that you might never see an individual in the “Initial growth” stage unless you get really lucky and happen to observe it during the 15 minutes that it remains in that state. It is perfectly fine to never have reported yes to this stage and the first yes report of the year will be for “Leaves”. For some species this will be the norm, and for other species you’ll usually get a chance to see initial growth except in those years where spring warmth comes on exceptionally sudden.

23. Big-picture questions
It takes me a long time to count all of the flowers at the top of the tree, which I cannot see very well. Is there a better way to get that information?

24. Big-picture questions
My plant’s natural history indicates that the flowers appear before the leaves on the plant, but your protocol says that breaking leaf buds is the first thing to report on the list. Can I report my answers out of order?  
Phenophases are NOT listed in order of appearance for each species, just a general order.
Include details about taking each question independently from the suite and report one at a time.

25. Big-picture questions
The maple leaves turned yellow with dark spots in late August and the Dawn Redwood needles turned brown. There is a locust tree which also has similar symptoms. Other trees in my neighborhood do not show these signs. I had hesitated entering the color change for this reason.
In the spring time the first thing I see on my tree are reddish leaves. Do I report these as colored leaves?  
Let’s review the definition of “Colored leaves”: One or more leaves show some of their typical late-season color, or yellow or brown due to drought or other stresses. Do not include small spots of color due to minor leaf damage, or dieback on branches that have broken. Do not include fully dried or dead leaves that remain on the plant
For red maple, this reddish color happens to be the same hue as typical late-season color, but the intent of the Colored leaves is the beginning of leaf senescence, so no, do not reported the reddishness of new leaves as “Colored leaves”
Definition of Colored leaves: One or more leaves show some of their typical late-season color, or yellow or brown due to drought or other stresses. Do not include small spots of color due to minor leaf damage, or dieback on branches that have broken. Do not include fully dried or dead leaves that remain on the plant.
The intent is to just report what you see without worrying too much about whether it is “normal”, so in that case you should report your colored leaves and note in the comments that the plant might be sick or at least looks different than neighboring individuals. However, if after a few weeks or months it becomes clear the individuals you are monitoring are definitely sick and in decline whereas others nearby are not, you should consider dropping them and registering different, healthy individuals to monitor.

26. Big-picture questions
My deciduous tree keeps putting out new leaves all year at the end of each stem. I’ve been reporting breaking leaf buds or young leaves for this. Is this correct?
talk about how we are really interested in the first flush of leaves

27. Big-picture questions
What to report on plants that have phases (such as buds or fruits) that stay in bud phase for a really long time? 
We do not have a solution for indicating first vs. second year fruits so if a viable fruit is still on the plant, record it regardless of how old it is. However, if it seems to be dried up and "mummified" and just got stuck on the plant without dropping, I'd suggest ignoring it. The observer could always include a comment about age of the fruit if they want.

28. Big-picture questions
I see leaf buds on my tree in the fall or winter, these are breaking leaf buds, right?
Definition of 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.
Winter leaf buds are formed in late summer and might appear green and fresh at first, but this is not a leaf tip and not a breaking bud.
These buds eventually “harden”, appearing tougher, and stay dormant until spring. Occasionally these buds intended for the following spring will break during a warm spell in the fall and you might seen a bright green leaf tip emerge. If this is the case, then you can report yes.

29. Big-picture questions
How do we explain, or, take into account, external factors that can effect data that have nothing to do with climate change.  

30. Detailed species, botanical, or intensity questions
Is the intensity based on each flower or on the inflorescence as a whole? Single flowers vs. catkins/inflorescence  OR
Flowers and flower buds is a count of inflorescenses, unless the species does not have inflorescences, then single flowers. We unfortunately haven’t had the resources to write descriptions of what the flower/inflorescence structure for each NN species looks like so observers need to do a little bit of research to understand what kind of flowers their plants have to understand exactly what they should be counting.
Open flowers is always a percentage of single flowers that are open -- that is the number of single flowers that are open divided by the count of all single flowers on the plant

31. Detailed species, botanical, or intensity questions
I am very confused about little bluestem flowers and can't find the information I need on the web.  I see fluffy tufts (spikelets). Are these flowers? I also see anthers and and fuzzy stigma. Do I wait to see these before saying I see a flower, mature flower?
Grasses are hard! I have not personally spent a lot of time observing grass phenology nor am I familiar with little bluestem, but we do have some detailed information about grass flowering in the Phenophase Primer that might help.
I think the fluffy tufts you describe are just hairs that are part of the spikelet that become more obvious as the season progresses. They are part of the reproductive structure, but I don’t think looking closely at them will help you with determining phenophase status. Use the following clues instead:
You can start saying yes to “Flower heads” once you see that spike start to come up between rolled leaf blades on the stem.
Once you see those anthers and/or fuzzy stigmas you can also start saying yes to “Open flowers”.
Once the anthers and stigma are all withered, then you’d be saying no to both “Flower heads” and “Open flowers” because the flowers are now gone.
But you will probably be saying yes to “Fruits” after the flowers wither if it seems there are soft, watery grains developing. This is going to be hard to determine without practice!

32. Detailed species, botanical, or intensity questions
I am having trouble distinguishing between buds and seeds on forsythia. Understanding the timing of appearance and disappearance would also be helpful.
Dormant flower and leaf buds are present on the plant over the winter and you can start saying yes to “Flowers and flower buds” when the flower buds start to swell in the early spring and you can see green color between the bud scales, and yes to “Breaking leaf buds” once you see the green leaf tip at the end of the bud.
Fruits will develop after flowering and are present from summer into fall when I think they usually break open and the seeds are dropped. So you’d probably only be saying yes to fruit phases in summer to fall.
BTW for my forsythia, fruits are rare and hard to see when they are present. I also have never heard of anyone interested in studying forsythia fruit, so I stopped bothering to look for them and now I ignore the fruit phenophases and don’t circle anything!

33. Detailed species, botanical, or intensity questions
One of the species we will be observing is the honey bee. We have several apiaries on the property. Do we count the activity in there when we are making observations? I was most curious about larva and eggs? Is it ok to report on honeybees that were part of an apiary with our program?
Yes, you can report on honeybees that are in a managed apiary in our program. If your apiaries artificially heated be sure to note that in the comments to explain alterations that would affect phenology, just like watering or fertilizing plants.
We include eggs, larva, drone cell, etc phenophases for honey bee specifically for beekeepers because those can be seen in apiaries without destroying the hive. We would not include those for other bee species in the wild for fear observers would disturb or destroy hives in the interest of observation. So they can just follow the protocols for honey bee as they are written. I suppose it is good to mention there is an apiary at the site (in site comments) because that would indicate an increased probability of seeing Active adults, but if they are answering yes/no for Eggs, Active larvae, etc. I imagine we could pretty much assume it is in an apiary where they are seeing those stages.

34. Other questions from the field?

35. Resources

36. Thank you! Questions about Phenophases? phenophases@usanpn.org
Nature’s Notebook?
LoriAnne Barnett
USA-NPN Education Coordinator
Ellen Denny
USA-NPN Monitoring Design & Data Coordinator

37. Nature’s Notebook Phenophase Questions
Answered!
Hosted by NCO Staff:
Ellen Denny, Monitoring Design & Data Coordinator
LoriAnne Barnett, Education Coordinator
Recorded on:
Friday, March 1, 2019