USA-NPN – USFWS Partnership in Phenology Monitoring & EducationNature’s Notebook: Plant & Animal Observing Program

L. Barnett, K. Kilcullen, T. M. Crimmins, E.G. Denny, C. Enquist, R. L. Marsh, A. Rosemartin, J. Weltzin

Nature’s Notebook resourcesWhat is phenology?Phenology is the study of recurring plant and animal life cycle events such as leafing and flowering of plants, maturation of agricultural crops, emergence of insects, and migration of birds.

USA-NPN & US FWS PartnershipScience in the Refuge System

Partnership Goals:✓Methodology and educational tools for engaging with nature and contributing to climate science research ✓Streamlined data collection processes, with user-friendly interfaces to record phenophase data; contributes to data integrity

Nature's Notebook engages Refuge System employees, volunteers and visitors as scientists and citizen scientists and educates users about the effects of climate change on refuges. Data are contributed to the national phenology database for research and resource management decisions.

Extensive support and training materials are available on the USA-NPN website (www.usanpn.org/resources/resources):

D. InouyeD. Inouye

Phenology is simple to observe and record. Also, phenological events are sensitive to climatic variation and change. For example we now know:

• In New York, spring peepers breed earlier now than in the 1900s1

• In Wisconsin, largeleaf wild indigo & butterfly weed bloom 18 days earlier than in the 1940s; common & marsh milkweed bloom about 12 days earlier2

• In the NE U.S., lilacs, apple trees, & grape vines are blooming 2-8 days earlier than in the 1960s3

• In northern California, the field skipper butterfly emerges nearly 30 days earlier than in the 1980s4

Why observe phenology?

The USA National Phenology Network (USA-NPN) brings together citizen scientists, government agencies, non-profit groups, educators and students of all ages to monitor the impacts of climate change on plants and animals in the United States. The USA-NPN was created in response to the need for rigorous plant and animal phenology data to better inform resource management decisions and to further our understanding of ecosystem response to climate change.

What is the USA-NPN? Scripted presentations & voiced videos

“How to Observe” Handbook

Please take our survey if you are interested in adding phenology programming to your refuge

or would like to offer us feedback on resources!

References1Gibbs and Breisch (2001) Cons Biol 15:1175-1178; Blaustein et al. (2001) Cons Biol 15:1804-1809; 2Bradley et al. (1999) PNAS 96:9701-9704; 3Wolfe et al. (2005) Int J Biometeorol 49:303-309; 4butterfly.ucdavis.edu

For more information please contact: LoriAnne Barnett, USA-NPN Education Coordinator

(520) 792-0481 lorianne@usanpn.org

Kevin Kilcullen, NWRS Chief of Visitor Services(703) 358-2382 Kevin_Kilcullen@fws.gov

The national phenology database encompasses over 75,000 observations of 160 species of animals and 258 species of plants from nearly 5,000 locations. Nature’s Notebook provides a user-friendly interface and visualization tools for data exploration.