NSF Award
2423081
Phenology is the study of recurring or seasonal natural phenomena, such as animal migrations and springtime flowering. Humans rely on predictable phenological patterns for our agricultural systems and seasonally dependent economic sectors that enable us to plan planting and harvesting dates for crops, anticipate disease and pest outbreaks, and attract tourists to take part in seasonal recreation. Natural ecosystems are similarly dependent on predictable phenological patterns. Minor disruptions in the timing of events, such as insect emergence or bud break, can impact species interactions and have significant consequences for ecosystem functions. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms underlying phenological processes is critical for assessing and predicting impacts of climate change and informing policy and management decisions. This project analyzes data from the Campus Trees Project (CTP), a student-driven inquiry project at Michigan State University (MSU), and from USA-National Phenology Network (NPN), a nationally-distributed network of professional and citizen scientists, to better understand dynamics and trends in autumn tree phenology. In comparison to spring, much less is known about autumn phenological processes but shifts in the timing of autumn leaf color change and leaf fall can significantly impact a tree’s potential to store carbon aboveground in woody tissue and belowground in roots and soils. This collaboration aims to contribute research about autumn tree phenology as a relatively under-studied phenological process and to build infrastructure that will support expanding the CTP to diverse educators and researchers collaborating to engage students in phenological research.<br/><br/>This work integrates and analyzes data from two long-term observational autumn tree phenology studies. The CTP is a robust dataset generated by students over seven years of an introductory biology course at MSU. The dataset focuses on a subset of local campus trees (n=120 trees) and embeds replication within species and across years to capture fine-grained data that demarcates specific autumn phenophases. USA-NPN data span species’ entire geographic ranges and include larger numbers of individuals but with sporadic or low levels of replicate sampling. Research conducted in this partnership will contribute to gaps in the phenology literature about drivers of autumn senescence and compare findings within and among species at differing geographic scales. High-resolution CTP data hold promise for revealing trends in the specific timing and duration of distinct autumn phenophases (e.g., onset and duration of color change and leaf abscission) that are difficult to discern using other sampling methods. USA-NPN data, however, offer greater potential for detecting trends at larger regional scales. Data quality analyses will assess affordances and limitations of differing methodological approaches and inform protocol revisions that seamlessly integrate data between projects. USA-NPN is the premier source of phenology information in the U.S. and is used extensively in basic and applied research and in national and international assessments of climate change impacts. Partnering with USA-NPN expands the reach and impact of CTP data by leveraging their vast network of institutional partners and media and scientific outlets. Infrastructure developed in this partnership lays the groundwork for future projects that engage researchers, students, and educators as collaborators in autumn phenology research.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
