Jake F. Weltzin US Geological Survey Alyssa Rosemartin University of Arizona

1. The USA National Phenology Network A Practical Tool for Conservation and Education in the Face of Climate Change Jake F. Weltzin US Geological Survey Alyssa Rosemartin University of Arizona www.usanpn.org

2. Outline • Introduction to USA-NPN • Core functions • Web-based tools and services • Phenology monitoring methods • Nature's Notebook • Field adventure! • Break-out groups • Research • Management and decision-support • Education and outreach

3. “Phenology…is perhaps the simplest process in which to track changes in the ecology of species in response to climate change.” (IPCC 2007)

4. Easy to observe • Sensitive to environmental variation • Scales from 'leaf to globe' • Linked to most aspects of ecosystems

5. A new data resource—a national network ofintegrated phenological observations across space and time Key Goal Understand how plants, animals and landscapes respond to environmental variation and climate change

6. Key sponsors and collaborators… The Great Sunflower Project

7. USA-NPN in a nutshell • A national biological science and monitoring program • Agencies, NGOs, academia, the public • Standard protocols for plants, animals & landscapes • Facilitate scaling from 'leaf to globe' • Integrate with other monitoring networks • Business to Business and Business to Customer

8. Outline • Introduction to USA-NPN • Core functions • Web-based tools and services • Phenology monitoring methods • Nature's Notebook • Field adventure! • Break-out groups • Research • Management and decision-support • Education and outreach

9. Corefunctions Develop a national phenology information management system Develop partnerships for implementation Facilitate phenology science and research Facilitate development of decision support tools Conduct and facilitate education and outreach Develop a national phenology monitoring system

10. National Phenology Network Data NCO Information Management System User interface Data curation Products Contemp-orary Legacy Partners Ancillary Search Synthesis Visualizations Work platform Datasets Databases Decision- support Education Metadata Research Information management

11. Scientists Specialized Networks Citizen Scientists National Coordinating Office Information Management Monitoring Programs Communications NGOs Native American Tribes Resource Managers Public Agencies Educators Partnerships and services

12. Science and Research Increasing Decreasing Predicting vulnerability, invasions and distributions + 0 Populations & Distributions Willis et al. 2008 PNAS Moller et al. 2008 PNAS Willis et al. 2010 PLOS Biology Hulme 2010 New Phyt. Change in phenology

13. Applications and decision-support tools • Science • Predictive services • Health • Resource mgmt • Conservation • Agriculture • Ecosystem services • Recreation

14. Ross Franklin, AP Steve Ringman, The Seattle Times Education and outreach for K-Gray

15. Outline • Introduction to USA-NPN • Core functions • Web-based tools and services • Phenology monitoring methods • Nature's Notebook • Field adventure! • Break-out groups • Research • Management and decision-support • Education and outreach

16. A national phenology monitoring system www.usanpn.org/how-observe

17. Real time data available soon

18. Data set registry tool www.usanpn.org/node/add/ct-dataset

19. Phenology dataset search tool www.usanpn.org/results/dataset-list

20. Educator’s Clearinghouse www.usanpn.org/education/clearinghouse

21. Phenology publications www.usanpn.org/resources/biblio

22. Partnership tool www.usanpn.org/participate/new-partners

23. Training resources www.usanpn.org/resources/resources

24. Learn about other phenology programs www.usanpn.org/participate/other-programs

25. Outline • Introduction to USA-NPN • Core functions • Web-based tools and services • Phenology monitoring methods • Nature's Notebook • Field adventure! • Break-out groups • Research • Management and decision-support • Education and outreach

27. Phenology Monitoring Methods Status Status & Abundance Activity Reproduction Development Event Day of year

28. Alternate Monitoring Methods e.g., frog-calling • Event • When did you hear the first frog call? (date) • Status • Do you hear a frog calling? (YN ?) • Status & Abundance • Do you hear a frog calling? (YN ?) • If Y, are they • Non-overlapping calls? • Overlapping with distinguishable individuals? • A full chorus—constant, overlapping calls?

29. Status NNNN??NNNYNNNYYYYYNN Event vs Status Monitoring e.g., frog calling Event Y Day of year

31. Outline • Introduction to USA-NPN • Core functions • Web-based tools and services • Phenology monitoring methods • Nature's Notebook • Field adventure! • Break-out groups • Research • Management and decision-support • Education and outreach

32. a project of the USA-NPN • 253+ plant species • 58+ animal species • Core status monitoring protocols • Species on demand • Abundance reporting • User profiles

33. Participants across the nation Cumulative

34. Data reporting in 2010 similar to 2009 3K participants; website: 67K visitors, 100K visits,500K pageviews

35. 2010

36. Identify & Register a Site Select Plants & Animals Animal Checklist Register Individual Plants Make Observations in the Field Submit Observations Online a project of the USA-NPN

37. a project of the USA-NPN 37 A site is: • The area within which you’ll look for your animal species • The area which encompasses any plants you plan to observe

38. a project of the USA-NPN Site Selection Guidelines 38 Convenience Representative location Uniform habitat Appropriate size Proper permission

40. Overview • Identify & Register a Site • Select Plants & Animals • Animal Checklist • Register Individual Plants • Make Observations in the Field • Submit Observations

41. a project of the USA-NPN • Animals: create a checklist for your site, look and listen for all species each time you visit • Plants: repeat observations of the same individual plants 41

42. a project of the USA-NPN 42

44. a project of the USA-NPN

45. a project of the USA-NPN • Identify & Register a Site • Select Plants & Animals • Create Animal Checklist • Register Individual Plants • Make Observations in the Field • Submit Observations

46. a project of the USA-NPN 46 Compare phenophases to what you observe.

47. a project of the USA-NPN 47 Yes (Y) – if the phenophase is occurring No (N) – if the phenophase is not occurring Unknown (?) – if you did not or forgot to look for signs of this phenophase or not certain you heard or saw that animal species

48. a project of the USA-NPN 48 An example: • Site: your front yard • Species on your animal checklist: • American robin • Black-capped chickadee • Bumblebee • Plants registered: • One individual mayapple plant

49. 49 On your site visit, you stand in one place and observe: • A bumblebee visiting flowers • One robin perched and singing • You also make observations of your mayapple plant

50. 5/5/10 Robin Black-capped chickadee Bumblebee 50 50