Spring Flowers: Clues to Climate Change
by Lauren Whisenhunt
CBS 42 News
|
When you walk outside, you can see all of the beautiful flowers popping up all over. This spring, scientists believe there may be more to those buds and blossoms in your backyard than meets the eye.
The timing of when plants start to bud and flowers bloom is changing. Researchers believe it’s because nature's calendar starts getting warmer earlier every year. While studying climate change, the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in
Boulder, Colorado is recruiting volunteers across the country to monitor their back yards.
Scientists can't be everywhere, but they need these extra sentinel eyes on the landscape.
Coordinator Sandra Henderson spearheads "Project BudBurst." It may not seem like a lot to you when a plant blooms earlier or later. Researchers believe that plants are actually giving them clues as to how the climate is changing. When they started tracking this long-term, they were able to see these changes as they occurred.
Botanists anxiously await "Project BudBurst's" findings. They believe there's validity as to how the climate is changing when you look over the long term. Botanists say that things are very different from one season to the next, but it's really averages over time you have to consider.
Project BudBursts allows volunteers to record weekly data on-line. It gives individuals the opportunity to learn more about climate change through participation and the comfort of your own home.
Project BudBurst will be repeated year after year, so volunteers will build their own archive of evidence from their own backyard.
Project BudBurst: Participants of Project BudBurst choose a plant or plants to observe and then check the plants at least a week before the date of the average budburst. They look for the point when the buds have opened to reveal visible leaves. Participants report that data and continue to observe the plant for other events such as first leaf, first flower and also seed dispersal. Project BudBurst takes the data participants input and creates maps of these events across the .
What is Phenology? The science of phenology is the study of the timing of the life cycle of plants and animals. It focuses on establishing how and why plants and animals undertake processes at certain times of the year; for example when to hibernate, flower, and reproduce. Phenology has a long and distinguished history. In and , cherry and peach blossom festivals extend back more than a thousand years.
|
