Train Extension Volunteers to Track Climate Change by Monitoring Phenology

Phenology is the study of recurring life cycle changes—such as flowering, breeding, migration; their timing; and relationship to weather and climate. Because many such phenomena are sensitive to small variations in temperature, phenological observations provide insight into timing changes as species respond to amplified climate variability and change.  Shifts in phenological phenomena have implications for traditional Extension clientele groups—from farmers to game managers, gardeners to beekeepers.  Giving clientele a method for recording the footprint of a changing climate on the plants and animals they routinely observe, should motivate them to develop adaptation strategies in their own interest.  The need for systematic collection of long-term phenological data, and the opportunities for involving citizen–scientists in doing so, led to the 2005 launch of the USA National Phenology Network (USA–NPN) by a consortium of federal agencies, universities and NGOs. Since 2005, the NPN has developed cyber-infrastructure behind a web page (Nature’s Notebook) for use by citizen–science monitors; developed protocols for data collection and entry; and developed a list of target species for each state.  These steps set the stage for Extension faculty to train citizen-scientist observers for the network.  The objectives of the presentation are to introduce the idea of reaching out to citizen scientists for assistance with collecting and analyzing phenology data; to demonstrate how these volunteers have been educated to collect accurate, quality driven data; and discuss lessons learned from the experiences in various state Extension programs.

Abstracts:

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