[PCA] WEB: Volunteers Needed to Track Seasonal Signs of Climate Change (USA-NPN)

[Olivia Kwong]

News Release
Jake Weltzin 520-401-4932 weltzin at usgs.gov
Abraham Miller-Rushing 617-875-7847 abe at wildlife.org
Catherine Puckett 352-264-3532 cpuckett at usgs.gov

Taking the Pulse of our Planet:
Volunteers Needed to Track Seasonal Signs of Climate Change

Volunteers across the nation are being recruited to get outdoors and help 
track the effects of climate on seasonal changes in plant and animal 
behavior.

The USA-National Phenology Network (USA-NPN), a consortium of government, 
academic and citizen-scientists, is launching a new national program built 
on volunteer observations of flowering, fruiting and other seasonal 
events. Scientists and resource managers will use these observations to 
track effects of climate change on the Earth.s life-support systems.

"This program is designed for people interested in participating in 
climate change science, not just reading about it," said USA-NPN Executive 
Director and U.S. Geological Survey scientist Jake Weltzin. "We encourage 
everyone to visit the website (www.usanpn.org) and then go outside and 
observe the marvelous cycles of plant and animal life."

Phenology is the study of the seasonal cycles of plant and animals, such 
as plants sprouting, flowering and fruiting, and animals reproducing, 
migrating and hibernating. Changes in these patterns, caused by climate 
change or other factors, can significantly affect human economies and 
health. In some areas, such changes have already imperiled species, such 
as in the disappearance of some wildflowers from near Walden Pond, home of 
the famed 19th-century naturalist Henry David Thoreau.

The USA-NPN monitoring program harnesses the power of people and the 
Internet to vastly increase the data available to scientists and the 
public alike, Weltzin said. The program provides easy-to-use methods to 
track the life cycles of nearly 200 species of plants, and will begin 
monitoring animals next year. Mark D. Schwartz, a professor at the 
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and chair of the USA-NPN board of 
directors, said monitoring changes in seasonal events across large areas 
helps researchers forecast the effects of global climate change on plants, 
animals, and ecosystems.

Among other uses, data collected by USA-NPN will help resource managers 
predict wildfires and pollen production, detect and control invasive 
species, monitor droughts, and assess the vulnerability of various plant 
and animal species to climate change.

The USA-NPN, based at The University of Arizona in Tucson, is built upon 
partnerships among citizen scientists, government agencies, nongovernment 
organizations, academic researchers, educators and the public. The rapidly 
expanding network includes collaborations among the U.S. Geological 
Survey, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, The University of Arizona, U.S. 
Fish and Wildlife Service, and The Wildlife Society. Project BudBurst, a 
major partner of the USA-NPN, is launching its second season of plant 
phenology monitoring at www.budburst.org.

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