Nature's Notebook Quarterly   Issue: Fall 2013
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Greetings,


Happy fall! I hope it's been a great year for you so far. I see that you've been busy...once again I am delighted to share with you that Nature's Notebook participants have submitted more observations so far this year than in any previous year! The graph to the right depicts the number of phenology observation records submitted to Nature's Notebook by month since early 2009. Thank you for another record-setting year! We look forward to seeing your observations of fall phenology roll in.

Would you like to learn more about what we're finding with your very valuable observations? Please join us for a webinar on November 13 (3pm Eastern, 2pm Central 1pm Mountain, 12pm Pacific; click to register). If you are unable to join at that time, we'll make a recording available. And, be on the lookout for your own personalized data summary, coming to your inbox this fall. If you participated in one of our campaigns this year, you'll be able to see how your observations compare with others in your region, state, and across the country.

A quick, but important reminder: all phenophases, as well as the intensity/abundance estimates, are optional when you are observing. If all you wish to record is flowering status, then feel free to ignore leaf and fruit phenophases every time you observe, guilt-free! Similarly, if you just feel overwhelmed by having to answer how many fruits you see, or what percentage of the leaf canopy is open, just ignore these questions, they are optional!  
 

Sincerely,

 

What's in this issue:

  

 

alaska3What your data are telling us

Nature's Notebook observations used to improve predictions of vegetation change

A research team from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks recently used data collected by participants in Nature's Notebook to more accurately predict vegetation growth under future climate change scenarios. The researchers clearly indicated that phenology observations collected by species and across the varying Arctic landscape - like those collected by you! - were critically important to their predictions. Euskirchen et al., Global Change Biology
Timing of breaking leaf buds, flowering and cloned dogwoods (spring 2013)
2013.

webinarSneak preview of Nov 13 webinar...
Why do scientists care what's happening in your yard? Is what you observe what your neighbors have observed? Is there a pattern in the data presented in the map to the right? Find the answers to this and more in our webinar on November 13... be sure to join us! Click to register.
hto_handbookWhat's new at Nature's Notebook and USA-NPN
 
How to Observe Handbook updated

Got a question about observing? Consult our updated How to Observe Handbook, it covers everything you need to know to get up and running (and keep running) using Nature's Notebook. You can download the entire manual as a single .pdf file, or the chapters individually.

 

Paper describing Nature's Notebook recently published

A recent paper in Biological Conservation describes the data resources and tools that the USA-NPN are creating and delivering to support natural resource management and increased understanding of climate change-induced alterations to plant and animal phenology. If you're interested, you can check out this open-access article by Rosemartin et al., "Organizing phenological data resources to inform natural resource conservation". 

animationsRecent happenings in the field of phenology

Compelling phenology animations

In the last couple of months, several great phenology animations have cropped up. The options below run the gamut of scales, from global to individual flowers.

"This Pulsing Earth": John Nelson's loop of satellite imagery published by NASA.

"California Buckeye," created by Russell Doughty, the phenology and climate change intern at Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park this past summer. If you'd like to learn more about Russ and what he did this summer, check out his wonderful video narrative.

Really awesome high-resolution time-lapse photography of Arizona grasslands, a garden on the campus of Carnegie-Mellon University,  and "Wisconsin Fast Plants" growing in a greenhouse. Note that in all of these examples, you can zoom in to discern great detail on the subjects.
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