POLAR BEARS AND PENGUINS may have to migrate as rising global temperatures alter their habitats. But that 100-year-old oak tree in your yard isn’t going anywhere. How’s it going to cope with climate change?
That’s what the researchers behind Project BudBurst want to know. The national effort, led by the Chicago Botanic Garden, is enlisting “citizen scientists” to record when trees and flowers near them start leafing and blooming. The idea grew out of a meeting last fall of the National Phenology Network. (Phenologists study the timing of natural life-cycle events like hibernation, insect hatching or plant flowering.)
“A lot of people notice that last year, it was May before their tulips came up and this year it’s April, and wonder why,” says Kayri Havens, director of the Botanic Garden’s Institute for Plant Conservation. The network figured it could make use of those observations by creating Project BudBurst. Organizers hope the project will continue for many years, so data can be compared over time to see if plants are waking up from their winter sleep earlier and earlier.
Volunteers choose a plant of interest from a list at www.budburst.org, then download a form to record its first leaves, flowers and seed dispersal. Scientists will then use the data to see how plants are reacting to climate change. (Hopefully not with “Lord of the Rings”-style trees marching farther and farther away.)
