As the climate changes, the timing of life stages — the phenology — of plants and animals are changing, too.
To prepare for a changing future, we need to track these changes. With so many powerful forces in society distorting the reality of climate change for their own benefit, it’s easy to feel pretty helpless. Participating in community science phenology projects is a concrete way I can help.
Besides knowing I’m helping scientists track the changing climate, a more immediate benefit is that I’m much more aware of these life cycle changes now, adding to my enjoyment of the plants and wildlife in my yard.
Projects I’ve participated in:
- Nature’s Notebook – A great project, but I’ve switched to BudBurst
- Project BudBurst – More doable in time and expertise than Nature’s Notebook
- North American Bird Phenology Project
Resources
- Nature’s Notebook:
- Nuggets – answers common questions about monitoring plant phenophases
Reflections
What we will do in the next two, three years will determine our future. This is the defining challenge.
~ Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the International Panel on Climate Change
How could I look my grandchildren in the eye and say I knew about this and did nothing?
~ Sir David Attenborough, naturalist and BBC nature program producer/host
It’s amazing what this group of citizen scientists had done.
~ Elizabeth Crone, Harvard Forest senior ecologist
Boston.com, commenting on the data the Mass. Butterfly Club had compiled over the years— valuable climate information