I'm thrilled to share with you some "hot off the press" phenology publications below which highlight data from the National Phenology Database. These include a long-term lilac and honeysuckle dataset, a study detecting long-term trends using Gridded Spring Indices, and a study exploring variability in California plants.

My goal is to facilitate your use of USA-NPN data for your research and management applications. I am also currently looking for collaborators interested in developing national-scale phenology data products. Don't hesitate to contact me if you want to explore the possibilities!


 
   
 
What's new at the USA National Phenology Network
Meet our new Assistant Director!

 

Many of you know Theresa Crimmins from her role as phenology researcher extraordinaire and as the USA-NPN Partnerships and Outreach Coordinator for the past 7 years.  We are excited to see Theresa step into her new role and work with our Executive Director, Jake Weltzin, to lead us towards our strategic vision. 

 

Don't fret, we are not losing Alyssa Rosemartin, who has guided the USA-NPN to achieve great success over the past 5 years. She will soon embark on a cross-country move to Boston, where she will continue to play an important role at the USA-NPN managing key partnerships and participating in data product development.  

 

 

Data and data products
Explore and Visualize Phenology Data 

 

We are happy to announce that the new USA-NPN Visualization Tool is available! 

 

This tool offers significant enhancements over the previous version, and allows you to explore spatial and temporal phenology data resources and trends. 

  

Explore Data � 

 
Lilac and Honeysuckle Dataset

 

The historic lilac and honeysuckle data (1956-2014), housed in the National Phenology Database, is now published in Nature Scientific Data. This publication describes the nature of these long-term records and technical validation of the records. 

 

This dataset was used to generate the Spring Indices which were included as a US Global Change and Research Program Indicator. 

 

Read more �

 
Opportunities
Phenology Session at AGU 2015

Do you have new research to share with the phenology research community? Consider submitting an abstract to the phenology session at AGU 2015, held in San Francisco from December 14-18, 2015. 

The session is entitled, "Understanding Phenology Across Scales and Improving Linkages to Ecosystem Functions".  The deadline to submit is August 5th!
DataONE postdoc in Community Engagement and Outreach

DataONE is hiring a postdoctoral associate based at the University of New Mexico to work in the education and engagement of scientists and other stakeholders. USA-NPN is a member node of DataONE and we share a common of goal of increasing data accessibility and improving the management of large datasets.

Upcoming meetings
Research spotlight
The Gridded Spring Indices show continental scale phenology patterns

In a recent Journal of Climate article, Ault et al. (2015) explored trends and variability in the Spring Indices by developing gridded surfaces using modeled climate data. This study found that large scale climate modes play an important role in modulating spring onset. 

These gridded indices were used by the USA-NPN this Spring to encourage lilac observations in real-time!  We expect this to be the first of many gridded phenology models to be developed with data from the National Phenology Database.
Precipitation and rainfall are important cues for California plants

Mazer et al (2015) used data collected by the California Phenology Project to investigate the roles of precipitation and temperature as climate drivers in a recent Ecosphere article. Using three years of data collected in National Parks on four species, this study found that the effects of drivers varied by species and phenophase. Generally, precipitation was found to strongly influence leaf phenology whereas both precipitation and temperature were important for flower and fruit phenology.

Contact

 
Kathy Gerst
Associate Research Scientist
Data Product Coordinator
520-792-0571