Project Budburst

Magnolia stellata (Star Magnolia)

I thought that this was interesting:  I receive news summaries from the National Science Foundation, and this morning I find one in my Inbox (pasted in below) about Project Budburst, ' A National Phenology Network Field Campaign for Citizen Scientists' - you can go to the project website to register, and become a volunteer yourself - it appears that the project is starting today, 15 February.  From the NSF website, here is a partial overview of what Project Budburst is all about:

A nationwide initiative starting this week will enable volunteers to track climate change by observing the timing of flowers and foliage. Project BudBurst, operated by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) and a team of partners, allows students, gardeners and other citizen scientists in every state to enter their observations into an online database that will give researchers a detailed picture of our warming climate.

The project, which will be launched tomorrow, will operate year round so that early- and late-blooming species in different parts of the country can be monitored throughout their life cycles. Project BudBurst builds on a pilot program carried out last spring, when several thousand participants recorded the timing of the leafing and flowering of hundreds of plant species in 26 states.

The Chicago Botanic Garden and University of Montana are collaborators on Project BudBurst, which was funded with a grant from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The project is also supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Windows to the Universe, a UCAR-based Web site that will host the project online as part of its citizen science efforts.

"As we track the effects of climate change, it's important that we include information obtained by 'citizen scientists,'" said Elizabeth Blood, program director in NSF's Division of Biological Infrastructure. "Project BudBurst will further our understanding of how the biosphere is changing, by bringing local knowledge into our observations."

"Climate change may be affecting our backyards and communities in ways that we don't even notice," says project coordinator Sandra Henderson of UCAR's Office of Education and Outreach. "Project BudBurst is designed to help both adults and children understand the changing relationship among climate, seasons and plants, while giving the participants the tools to communicate their observations to others."

"Project Budburst provides an exciting opportunity for the public, particularly children, to contribute to scientific research on the effects of global climate change on plants," adds Kayri Havens, a scientist at the Chicago Botanic Garden.

Each participant in Project BudBurst selects one or more plants to observe. The project Web site suggests more than 60 widely distributed trees and flowers, with information on each. Users can add their own choices.

Participants begin checking their plants at least a week prior to the average date of budburst--the point when the buds have opened and leaves are visible. After budburst, participants continue to observe the tree or flower for later events, such as the first leaf, first flower and, eventually, seed dispersal.

When participants submit their records online, they can view maps of these phenological events across the United States.

The science of phenology, or tracking cyclic behavior among plants and animals, has a distinguished history. In Japan and China, for example, the blossoming of cherry and peach trees is associated with ancient festivals, some of which extend back more than a thousand years. Cherry trees in Japan now bloom four days earlier than in the 1950s, according to the nation's meteorological agency.

Many species are being affected by climate change throughout the world. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that 20 to 30 percent of all plant and animal species that researchers study will likely be at increased risk of extinction should global temperatures rise by 2.7 to 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit this century.

You can find a list of the plant species they are monitoring here.

As for monitoring gardens, I hope I find time later today to post for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - seems like a bunch of the folks that participate in Bloom Day would be perfect for Project Budburst...don't you think?

Comments

[jodi]

Sounds exactly like Plantwatch, which is what our citizen scientist program is called in Canada. It's too early for anything to be bursting bud here, even most of the salixes are sulking--the way the weather has been lately. However, things tend ot level out and I'll start Watching in the next few weeks. Glad you brought this up, and I should do a similar post for PlantWatch on my blog!

[jodi]

PS I keep forgetting to mention--we also have a threelegged kitty, (along with seven other cats with all their legs. When he was first operated on to remove his back leg after being hit badly by a car, the other cats were SO solicitous of him, very gentle and attentive. That was three years ago, and he roars around the house with the best of them. He's a tad eccentric, but a spunky little devil.
and he's not allowed out anymore, for obvious reasons. He was feral originally and rescued by the local animal society, where we adopted him, so I don't know how many lives he's already used up.

[kate]

I just like the photograph - Project Budwatch sounds as if it would be right up the alley of everyone who loves posting for GBBD.

[Ellis Hollow]

Check out also the Journey North, especially their tulip tracking page: http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tulip/index.html

[kate]

Just wandered through all of your blooms and then came to see this bud ... I love this photograph.

I was sorry to hear about your mum. It is sucha difficult thing for us to think about letting go. It must be good to know that your brother is with your parents this weekend and that your mum has many, many people about who love her.

[Pam]

Jodi: This was the first I had heard of Project BudBurst - when I got the email from NSF. It does sound interesting - and I'll have to take a look at what PlantWatch is all about. How cool that you have a three-legged cat too! Mine rules the dog world here, that's for sure.

Kate: That's what I thought too. In a way, alot of folks are doing that already anyway. (And thanks for your words about my Mother. It is a difficult time - and we're all just muddling through).

Craig: I went to that site - and how nice is that? Sounds like a really great program.