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As the summer days begin to shorten, you may be seeing changes such as fruits beginning to form and ripen on your plants and young animals leaving their nests and moving on to the next stage of their lives.
Here at the USA-NPN National Coordinating Office, we are also in a time of transition. Theresa Crimmins, the wonderful voice of these newsletters who has long provided you with phenology news, resources, and opportunities, is moving into the role of Assistant Director for the USA-NPN. Erin Posthumus, who you may recognize from Nature's Notebook campaign messages, will be stepping into the role of Outreach Coordinator to continue to deliver useful and timely content to your inbox. We hope you share our excitement with these transitions and the new possibilities they bring.
Warmly,
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What's new at Nature's Notebook and USA-NPN
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 Visualize data and create graphs for your group
Earlier this year, customized phenology calendars on your Observation Deck let you view your group's data and download calendars to share with your group members. Now, you can do much more with the USA-NPN Visualization Tool.
Create calendars to show phenophase activity over the year for up to 14 species and scatter plots to visualize relationships such as onset of breaking leaf bud vs. latitude. Compare your group's data to those of other groups and individual observers across the country.
Watch a video tutorial on how to visualize your group's data �
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 Nature's Notebook
Don't miss the last 2 webinars for this year:- Sep 8: Partner Showcase: Learn how other groups are using Nature's Notebook. Get insight, tools, and tricks from other groups who are using phenology programs to meet science, outreach, and education goals. This webinar is special for Local Phenology Leaders. Register for webinar
- Oct 6: Year-end summary - What happened in 2015? Join us to learn what your 2015 observations reveal, and the ways scientists are using your observations. We will cover results from the 2015 Campaigns, as well as a range of other results from observers across the country. Register for webinar
Webinars take place at 11am Pacific (and AZ), 12pm Mountain, 1pm Central, 2pm Eastern. Have you missed a webinar? Recordings of webinars hosted earlier this year are available for viewing on the USA-NPN YouTube page.
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Recent happenings in the field of phenology
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High winter temperatures delay onset of phenophases in four California plant species
The California Phenology Project, a partner of the USA-NPN, began in 2010 to test data collection methods by volunteers and National Park Service staff using Nature's Notebook. Some of these observations of leaf budding, flowering, fruiting and leaf drop were compared with climate variables such as temperature and rainfall in a recent article in Ecosphere.
The authors were able to detect variability in phenology across California for the four plant species studied, demonstrating the usefulness of data collected by trained volunteers. Generally, precipitation strongly influenced leaf phenology, while both precipitation and temperature were important for flower and fruit phenology.
Learn more �
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Whenology project features USA-NPN data
The new Whenology project brings previously separate data sets together to begin the process of studying relationships between climate change, phenology, and bird migration. These data are collected primarily by citizen scientists through different organizations such as Earthwatch, eBird, the Hawk Migration Association of North America, and the USA-NPN.
See how your data are being integrated �
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More ways to get involved
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Bird Phenology Program hiring
The North American Bird Phenology Program is looking to hire a Program Coordinator to start immediately. The successful candidate will have knowledge of birds, skills to work with volunteers who are entering data online, and ability to help proof and correct data for quality control. This position has funding through January with possibility of further extension.
Learn more �
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Find us at ESA this week
Are you in Baltimore this week for the Centennial Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America? Come visit the USA-NPN at booth 343 in the Exhibition Hall or find us during one of our staff presentations. We would love to chat with you and tell you more about the resources we have cooked up for you!
Learn more �
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Especially for Local Phenology Leaders
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Is your group on the map?
In a continued effort to make it easier for you to find the resources you need, we have reclassified our previous Geographic Affiliates to Local Phenology Projects and Networks. The Connect Regionally page is a great place to list your Project or Network if you are open to being contacted by individuals interested in working with your group.
See the map �
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Resources on fruiting to share with your group
As fall approaches, fruits appear! You may have seen our latest Nature's Notebook Nugget on when a flower turns into a fruit. Other resources for your fruit identification needs include the fruit chapter of our lovely Botany Primer and several FAQs on this subject. Still have questions?
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