Ecologist US Geological Survey Outline Why build a national - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Jake F. Weltzin Ecologist US Geological Survey

The USA National Phenology Network: A national science and monitoring framework for phenology

Outline

• Why build a national phenology network?
• Strategic Plan Themes

– Advance Science – Inform Decisions – Communicate and Educate

• Implementation

Major infrastructure recommendation: "Establish a U.S. Phenological Network that relies largely on public observers and is designed to integrate ground-based and remotely sensed observations…"

Why build… a national phenology network?

"…understanding the dynamics

• f global change and…modeling

the Earth’s physical systems will require the systematic development of [phenological- biospheric] observation networks on a national and global scale…"

• Schwartz Int J Biometeorol, 1999

• Easy to observe
• Sensitive to environmental

variation

• Links to populations,

communities, ecosystems and ecosystem services

• Scales from 'leaf to globe'

Phenology is… Why build… a national phenology network?

Science, management, decision-making, policy

Enquist et al., Intl J Biomet 2014

Why build… a national phenology network?

Why build… a national phenology network?

USA-NPN serves science and society by collecting,

• rganizing and distributing phenological information to aid

decision-making and adaptation to variable climates and changing environments.

USA-NPN 5-year Strategic Plan www.usanpn.org/pubs/reports

Why build… a national phenology network?

Ganguly et al. 2010 Mean growing season length (d) 2001-2006 Betancourt et al. in prep Large fires in western US

Outline

• Why build a national phenology network?
• Strategic Plan Themes

– Advance Science – Inform Decisions – Communicate and Educate

• Implementation

Theme 1. Advance Science

Improve understanding of plant and animal phenology as a key response to environmental variation and change.

Strategic Plan Theme Highlights

How do we… understand bird migrations and habitats?

Proportion trees reported flowering % eBird checklists/week

Williams et al., 2013 Derived from Kellermann et al., in prep

Jeong et al., GRL 2013

Red maple (A. rubrum)

• A. rubrum, 2080-2099

How do we… forecast forest green-up at regional scales?

Spring Onset, 1950-2012 From Ault et al., EOS 2013 and Ault et al., in prep

How do we… understand impacts of anomalous climate?

Theme 2. Inform Decisions

Develop and distribute derived phenological information to inform human land use, risk management, and the conservation and management of natural resources in variable climates and changing environments.

Strategic Plan Theme Highlights

How do we… provide capacity for decision-making?

www.usanpn.org/fws

How do we… determine species vulnerability?

How do we… manage invasive species?

Wallace et al., in prep

MODIS EVI In-situ % green Precipitation 16-day composites 250 m pixel In-situ % green

http://kstp.com/news/stories/S2979604.shtml?cat=1

How do we… improve urban water quality?

Theme 3. Communicate and Educate

Improve public understanding of phenology, science and environmental change to build public support for science and proactive adaptation to environmental change.

Strategic Plan Theme Highlights

How do we… communicate climate change?

Next up:

How do we… engage the next generation?

www.usanpn.org/nn/mobile-apps

How do we… develop a diverse workforce?

Credit: Carolyn Enquist

How do we… help educators implement programs?

www.usanpn.org/education

Outline

• Why build a national phenology network?
• Strategic Plan Themes

– Advance Science – Inform Decisions – Communicate and Educate

• Implementation

How do we… track the status and trends of "biodiversity"?

• Organism-based
• status (presence/absence)
• abundance or intensity
• Standard protocols
• vetted & published
• provenance
• cross-walked
• 945 species (plant+animal)
• 7 data pubs to date

Ground-based, multi-taxa, national-scale observing system

Denny et al., Intl J Biomet 2014 www.usanpn.org/natures_notebook

OMB Control #: 1028-0103

www.usanpn.org/results/data

Data, metadata, documentation freely available

www.usanpn.org/data/visualizations

Dynamic tools for visualizing data

www.usanpn.org/partner/current

A network of partnerships…

Advance Science Inform Decisions Communicate and Educate

Providing national capacity…

Katharine Gerst Assistant Research Scientist USA-NPN

Providing support for Research and Engagement at the National Park Service

• 1. Connecting People to Parks
• 2. Advancing the NPS Education Mission
• 3. Preserving America’s Special Places
• Revisiting Leopold
• 4. Enhancing Professional and

Organizational Excellence

National Park Service: Strategic Mission Areas

www.usanpn.org/nps

Phenology and NPS

Phenology helps parks achieve their goals related to natural resource management, science, public engagement and education.

Photo credit: Abe Miller-Rushing

Recent Phenology Articles in Park Science

Northeast Temperate Network: Phenology as a Vital Sign

Acadia National Park is using phenology for:

Research – climate change vulnerability, indicator of resilience Resource management – scheduling (e.g. optimize treatment of invasive species) Citizen science – Nature’s Notebook Communication and education

Photo credit: Abe Miller-Rushing

• --Abe Miller-Rushing, Science Coordinator

Briefing from the Field: Acadia National Park

www.usanpn.org/appalachian

Appalachian Trail Seasons

California Phenology Project

Establish a coordinated phenological monitoring network

• ver a large and heterogeneous region including key

environmental gradients

• Address scientific questions
• Guide resource management decisions
• Educate the public about phenology & climate change by

engaging them in meaningful research experiences

California Phenology Project: Goals and Objectives

www.usanpn.org/cpp Hosted website Collaborate on proposal development, reports, and publications Staff liaison Addition of species, changes to protocols, and IT tools

USA-NPN and CPP Collaboration

NPS Standardized Protocols

www.usanpn.org/nps

Phenology and NPS

USA-NPN is working with the Park Service to create a community of practice and provide resources to achieve their goals.

• Science and climate change
• Natural resource management
• Public engagement
• Education

Erin Posthumus Outreach Associate & FWS Liaison USA-NPN

Providing capacity to the USFWS National Wildlife Refuge System: Valle de Oro NWR case study

US Fish & Wildlife Service Response to Climate Change

Climate Change Strategic Plan Goal 4:

Develop monitoring partnerships that make available information to plan, deliver, evaluate, and improve actions that facilitate fish and wildlife adaptations to accelerating climate change. “Climate change makes monitoring and adaptive management more important than ever….”

USA-NPN & USFWS NWRS Inventory & Monitoring Partnership

Partnership Goals:

• 1. Evaluate use of

phenology monitoring throughout Refuge System

• 2. Build web portal to
• nline phenology program

for Refuge staff & volunteers

• 3. Initiate a pilot

implementation study on a refuge, preferably in an urban area…

Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge

Photo credit: LA Barnett

• Established in 2012
• South valley of Albuquerque, NM
• First urban wildlife refuge in Southwest
• Community engagement
• Restoration activities along Rio Grande

• Document the change in species richness and

abundance of animals in response to restoration efforts

• Understand shifts in phenology of animals and

plants

• Manage invasive species

VdO Management Objectives

• Provide a unique long-term environmental education and

recreation opportunity

• Fulfill the goals of America’s Great Outdoors initiative –

reconnect people of all ages to the natural world

VdO Outreach Objectives

• Vetted protocols for species of

interest

• Data infrastructure
• Training on data collection, entry
• Data download and visualization
• Liaison for implementation and

volunteer support

What USA-NPN Provides – Management

Focal species at Valle de Oro

Monitoring sites at Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge

Volunteer effort saves Valle de Oro

• ver $300 per month

(https://www.independentsector.org/volunteer_time)

What USA-NPN Provides – Management

• Facilitates collaboration with local

groups – Master Naturalists – Master Gardeners – Friends of Valle de Oro – Local Schools

• STEM opportunities for grades 5-12

and higher education

• Volunteers involved in science inquiry,

data collection, entry, summarization, presentation

• Rio Grande Phenology Trail

What USA-NPN Provides – Outreach

Photo credit: Sandra Schwanberg

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Species richness Day of Year

Avian species richness

Preliminary Results

Photo credit: Sandra Schwanberg

Management:

• Pre-restoration baseline data on focal species
• Documentation of change in species diversity and phenology
• Preliminary data analytics
• Phenology calendar

Outreach:

• Phenology walks on the refuge
• Content for kiosks and interpretive signs
• Long-term projects for school groups

Future Products & Next Steps

• Documentation through

standards of practice – Implementation of phenology monitoring on refuges – Data summary and report writing – Implementation of Phenology Trails

• Resources available on website
• Standardized protocols across

refuges

• Long-term outreach program

fosters collaboration

www.usanpn.org/fws

Framework for NWRS

Extra material

www.usanpn.org/nn/campaigns

Data collection “campaigns”

Courtesy of Dawn Browning, USDA-ARS, 16 Oct 12

Ground Camera

23 Mar 12 16 May 12

UAV Satellite Historical vs contemporary

Capacity for Partners

Integrate Communicate Forecast

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Acquire

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"Aggregate"

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Derive Add value

API

USGS GDP Archive

Information Management