The National Climate Assessment (NCA) assesses current and future risks posed by climate change to the United States. In the 5th NCA, just released, the Ecosystems Chapter highlights changes in phenology as well as underscores the value of community-contributed data. The Assessment includes a map with Nature's Notebook sites. Can you find your site on this map (Figure 8.8)?

Read the Ecosystems Chapter »

The end of the year is a great time to check your data to make sure you have entered everything correctly. If you use the Nature's Notebook app, check out the Review tab and make sure that you see a green bar at the top that says "User data are up to date." If you collect data on paper datasheets, now is a great time to get everything entered online.

You can also use our visualization tools to look over your data and make sure that nothing stands out as an obvious error:

• Check out the My Phenology Calendar tab at the top of your Observation Deck. You can customize your calendar to show other species and phenophases.
• Follow the link on the bottom right of your Observation Deck to Visualize My Data.

Need to fix something? Watch this video on how to edit your data.

Contact support@usanpn.org with any issues »

Quercus Quest is a Nature's Notebook data collection campaign that is part of an NSF-funded project to better understand the role of oaks in their ecosystems. Two recent articles highlight the research of our project collaborators at the Morton Arboretum to understand phenology and other aspects of bur oak.

Read the Morton Arboretum blog »

Read the story from WBEZChicago »

Grasslands are among the most disturbed ecosystems globally. In the areas that remain, managers must balance practices such as mowing and burning that maintain natural systems while avoiding nesting periods for grassland birds. The authors of this study used information about nest survival from scientific literature as well as climate information and the USA-NPN’s Spring Bloom Index to develop models to predict the expected nest departure timing for 36 grassland bird species. This information can provide more localized information about nesting timing to better time management actions to avoid this critical period. 

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Pollen alerts give allergy sufferers the potential to reduce their exposure and the negative health impacts that result. An emerging data source for alerts is observations of flowering phenology, which can be highly correlated with the presence of airborne pollen. The authors compared data from National Allergy Bureau stations on daily pollen concentrations to flowering and pollen cone data from Nature’s Notebook. They found that the strength of the relationship between open flowers and pollen cones and pollen concentration varied by the type of plant, with the best agreement for Oaks (Quercus) and walnuts (Juglans). More specific data on the timing of open flowers and pollen release, like those that you collect in Nature’s Notebook, could lead to create real-time pollen alerts with local specificity.

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Many Nature's Notebook observers have noticed more seeds and nuts than usual on some of their trees this year. Years in which trees drop a bumper crop of seeds or nuts is called a "mast year." Much is still unknown about why trees do this and what prompts them to mast in a particular year. USA-NPN Director Theresa Crimmins recently shared findings from your data from Nature's Notebook on fruiting with NPR and the Brooklyn Botanical Garden.

Listen to the NPR story »

Read the blog from Brooklyn Botanical Garden »

In northern states, most plants will not need weekly observations in the middle of winter. However, if your species retains ripe fruit in the winter, you should still report on fruiting phenophases. In southern states, many species may have active flower buds or open flowers that will require normal weekly observations. Get familiar with the seasonal progression of phenophases for your species to predict what’s coming! 

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Do you have questions about the difference between El Niño and La Niña and what these conditions mean for your area? An article from NOAA's Climate.gov takes a deep dive into understanding these climate conditions.

Read the article »