Citizen Scientists Retrace Frank Craighead's Steps using Nature's Notebook: Revealing Shifts in Teton-Yellowstone Plant Phenology
Abstract
Around the world, phenology —or the timing of ecological events — is shifting as the climate warms. This can lead to a variety of consequences for individual species and for ecological communities as a whole, most notably through asynchronies that can develop between plants and animals that depend upon each other (e.g. nectar-consuming pollinators or ungulates who surf the 'green wave'). Within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) and Grand Teton National Park (GTNP), there is little understanding of how climate change is affecting plant and animal phenology, yet through detailed scientific and citizen science observation there is tremendous potential to further our knowledge and increase public awareness. Detailed historic data are rare, but in GTNP we have the opportunity to capitalize on phenology data gathered by Dr. Frank Craighead, Jr. in the 1970s, before significant warming had occurred. We have gathered, digitized, and quality-controlled Craighead's observations of plant first flowering dates. First flowering date for 87% of a 72-species data set correlate significantly with spring temperatures in the 1970s, suggesting that these plants are now flowering earlier and will continue to flower earlier in the future. Our multi-year project has 4 primary goals: (1) initiate and maintain a citizen science project, Wildflower Watch, to train volunteer scientists to collect contemporary phenology data on certain species using the USANPN's platform Nature's Notebook (2) gather further historical records of plant phenology in the region, (3) model continued phenological changes under future climate change scenarios using satellite derived climate data and on the ground observations and (4) connect to cascading effects on the overall ecosystem - possibly including nectar consuming pollinators, bear foraging, and migrating ungulates. This project simultaneously increases public involvement in climate research, collaborates with the National Park Service and US Forest Service to inform management strategies, and furthers scientific understanding of ecological responses to climate change.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018AGUFM.B51H2040B
- Keywords:
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- 0414 Biogeochemical cycles;
- processes;
- and modeling;
- BIOGEOSCIENCESDE: 0439 Ecosystems;
- structure and dynamics;
- BIOGEOSCIENCESDE: 0476 Plant ecology;
- BIOGEOSCIENCESDE: 0480 Remote sensing;
- BIOGEOSCIENCES