USA National Phenology Network — Partner to Advance Science Decisions

Phenology – the timing of life cycle events in plants and animals and their relationship to climate - is a key component of life on earth. This video introduces the USA National Phenology Network (www.usanpn.org) - a USGS funded, national network that exists to collect, store, and share information about phenology. Scientists, managers, and decision-makers can work with the USA-NPN to access existing phenology data, advance scientific understanding, and inform resource management and decision-making. For more information, contact partners@usanpn.org.

This video follows researchers and managers who exemplify the different ways to partner with USA-NPN. First we meet Catherine Chamberlain, PhD Candidate at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, who studies plant phenology. She uses data collected through USA-NPN’s Nature’s Notebook (www.naturesnotebook.org) and freely accessible through the National Phenology Database (www.usanpn.org/data/observational) to better understand the impact of early springs and frost damage on trees. Some of the data is collected right at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University by volunteers called the Tree Spotters. Next we meet Mike Dietz, Associate Professor at Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts. Mike’s Ecological Forecasting lab uses data collected on the ground by Nature’s Notebook volunteers and others to create and validate ecological predictions (www.usanpn.org/data/maps). Finally we meet Ben Wilder, Director of the Desert Laboratory on Tumamoc Hill in Tucson, Arizona. Ben uses the USA-NPN’s Buffelgrass Pheno Forecast (www.usanpn.org/data/forecasts) to know when to treat invasive buffelgrass on Tumamoc Hill. This video was created by Landmark Stories of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at the University of Arizona.

This video was recorded in Boston Massachusetts on May 2-3rd, 2019 and in Tucson, Arizona on August 23rd and September 4th. Additional footage provided by PhenoCam and Duke Forest (2017) and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (2017)