phenology – envirobites

Saturday, April 27, 2024

Dead plants breathe new life into botanical research

January 18, 2021September 16, 2022 Sienna Wessel 0 Comments biodiversity, botany, Climate Change, Ecology, herbaria, natural collections, phenology

I’ll never forget the first time that I stepped into a herbarium. Picture a room full of towering metal cabinets. Inside, there are thousands of pressed plants carefully glued onto special paper upon which thoughtfully recorded field notes describe the plant’s habitat, location, life stage, and more. At a moment’s notice I can still recall the unique smell of preserved plants, reminiscent of the comforting scent that lofts when ruffling the pages of an old book. In those days, as a budding botanist, I never questioned the immense value of these collections. Then, when I learned that one herbarium in seven has closed in the last twenty-five years (Deng 2015), I realized that we simply aren’t talking enough about all the unique ways that old plants can fuel modern science.

Climate Ecosystems Environmental Science

Right Place Wrong Time: Timing Mismatches Between Humans and Plants at Mount Rainier National Park

July 8, 2020July 8, 2020 Brianne Palmer 0 Comments Climate Change, crowd-sourced, flowers, Mount Rainier National Park, phenology

In a recent study using crowd-sourced data, Harvard researchers found that National Park visitors may increasingly visit the parks at the wrong time and the small window when most of the wildflowers bloom. At Mount Rainier National Park, early snowmelt means the plants flower before the majority of tourists visit the park. With climate change, these timing mismatches will become more common, however small changes to human behavior may put the flowers and and the humans that admire them back in sync.

Climate Ecosystems Environmental Science Science through time

It matters where you eat: seabird foraging strategies alter their responses to climate change

December 6, 2019 Lindsay Green-Gavrielidis 0 Comments breeding, Climate Change, phenology, seabirds, spring

Climate warming in the Arctic is happening faster than other regions of the globe and leading to earlier springs. The timing of spring is important for ecosystems because it often signals the arrival of food resources and favorable weather. In Arctic seabirds, springs arrival often begins the start of breeding season. A recent study looked at how the timing of spring has changed in the Arctic and what impact this may be having on Arctic seabirds based on where birds forage for food. The results suggest that birds that feed in the upper layers of the ocean have been strongly impacted by climate change and have significantly advanced their breeding.

Case Studies Climate Environmental Science Science through time

Spring flowers are arriving earlier

May 6, 2019 Lindsay Green-Gavrielidis 0 Comments Climate Change, phenology, spring flowering, Trees

In recent decades, trees and plants have begun to flower earlier in the spring. Many studies have shown that this advancement in timing is due to climate change, particularly increases in air temperature. However, these studies have generally been conducted in small areas. A recent study conducted across Europe reports that the timing of spring flowering and other events in 16 tree species has been advancing. More importantly, the timing of flowering trees in warmer and cooler regions of Europe is becoming more similar, which has wide spread ecological consequences.