The USA National Phenology Network: A national science and monitoring framework for phenology Jake F. Weltzin Ecologist US Geological Survey
Outline • Why build a national phenology network? • Strategic Plan Themes – Advance Science – Inform Decisions – Communicate and Educate • Implementation
Why build… a national phenology network? 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…" "…understanding the dynamics of 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
Why build… a national phenology network? Phenology is… • Easy to observe • Sensitive to environmental variation • Links to populations, communities, ecosystems and ecosystem services • Scales from 'leaf to globe'
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, organizing and distributing phenological information to aid decision-making and adaptation to variable climates and changing environments. Large fires in western US Mean growing season length (d) 2001-2006 Ganguly et al. 2010 Betancourt et al. in prep USA-NPN 5-year Strategic Plan www.usanpn.org/pubs/reports
Outline • Why build a national phenology network? • Strategic Plan Themes – Advance Science – Inform Decisions – Communicate and Educate • Implementation
Strategic Plan Theme Highlights Theme 1. Advance Science Improve understanding of plant and animal phenology as a key response to environmental variation and change.
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
How do we… forecast forest green-up at regional scales? A. rubrum , 2080-2099 Red maple ( A. rubrum ) Jeong et al., GRL 2013
How do we… understand impacts of anomalous climate? Spring Onset, 1950-2012 From Ault et al., EOS 2013 and Ault et al., in prep
Strategic Plan Theme Highlights 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.
How do we… provide capacity for decision-making? www.usanpn.org/fws
How do we… determine species vulnerability?
How do we… manage invasive species? MODIS EVI In-situ % green 16-day composites 250 m pixel In-situ % green Precipitation Wallace et al., in prep
How do we… improve urban water quality? http://kstp.com/news/stories/S2979604.shtml?cat=1
Strategic Plan Theme Highlights 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.
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"?
Ground-based, multi-taxa, national-scale observing system • Organism-based - status (presence/absence) - abundance or intensity • Standard protocols - vetted & published - provenance - cross-walked - 945 species (plant+animal) • 7 data pubs to date Denny et al., Intl J Biomet 2014 www.usanpn.org/natures_notebook OMB Control #: 1028-0103
Data, metadata, documentation freely available www.usanpn.org/results/data
Dynamic tools for visualizing data www.usanpn.org/data/visualizations
A network of partnerships… www.usanpn.org/partner/current
Providing national capacity… Advance Science Inform Decisions Communicate and Educate
Providing support for Research and Engagement at the National Park Service Katharine Gerst Assistant Research Scientist USA-NPN
National Park Service: Strategic Mission Areas 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
Phenology and NPS Phenology helps parks achieve their goals related to natural resource management, science, public engagement and education. Photo credit: Abe Miller-Rushing www.usanpn.org/nps
Recent Phenology Articles in Park Science
Northeast Temperate Network: Phenology as a Vital Sign
Briefing from the Field: Acadia National Park 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 ---Abe Miller-Rushing, Science Coordinator Photo credit: Abe Miller-Rushing
Appalachian Trail Seasons www.usanpn.org/appalachian
California Phenology Project
California Phenology Project: Goals and Objectives Establish a coordinated phenological monitoring network over 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
USA-NPN and CPP Collaboration Hosted website Collaborate on proposal development, reports, and publications Staff liaison Addition of species, changes to protocols, and IT tools www.usanpn.org/cpp
NPS Standardized Protocols
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 www.usanpn.org/nps
Providing capacity to the USFWS National Wildlife Refuge System: Valle de Oro NWR case study Erin Posthumus Outreach Associate & FWS Liaison USA-NPN
US Fish & Wildlife Service Response to Climate Change “Climate change makes monitoring and adaptive management more important than ever….” 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.
USA-NPN & USFWS NWRS Inventory & Monitoring Partnership Partnership Goals: 1. Evaluate use of phenology monitoring throughout Refuge System 2. Build web portal to online 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 • Established in 2012 • South valley of Albuquerque, NM • First urban wildlife refuge in Southwest • Community engagement • Restoration activities along Rio Grande Photo credit: LA Barnett
VdO Management Objectives • 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 Outreach 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
What USA-NPN Provides – Management • 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 Monitoring sites at Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge Focal species at Valle de Oro Volunteer effort saves Valle de Oro over $300 per month (https://www.independentsector.org/volunteer_time)
What USA-NPN Provides – Outreach • Facilitates collaboration with local groups – Master Naturalists – Master Gardeners – Friends of Valle de Oro Photo credit: Sandra Schwanberg – 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
Preliminary Results Avian species richness 8 7 6 Species richness 5 4 3 2 Photo credit: Sandra Schwanberg 1 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Day of Year
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