We are still making strides with the new and improved Nature's Notebook app! We are working hard to ensure that the new app is inviting, engaging, and accessible to everyone who wants to connect with nature's rhythms and document phenological changes. We invite you to join our participant pool, where we will send progress notes and ask for your feedback so that we can ensure that we are creating the best user experience that will suit your needs. All members of the participant pool will even earn an exclusive badge when the new app releases!

Learn more and join! »

Right on time for monarch migration, we have two new educational activities designed to help volunteers and students engage in our Desert Refuge campaign! Even if you don't live in Arizona, these activities will help you and your students learn more about monarch and milkweed phenology, and how to collect and interpret data collected through Nature's Notebook. We want to extend a special thank you to Viviana Beltran for helping us develop these activities and translate them into Spanish!

Explore our education resources »

Actividades in Español »

USA-NPN Outreach Assistant McKinsey Tighe is putting together some helpful (and short!) new training videos focused on Nature's Notebook phenophases. The videos walk through when to report "yes" for phenophases like breaking leaf buds, leaves, increasing leaf size, and colored leaves with helpful photos of buds at various stages. The videos will soon be available in the Observer Certification Course and are also linked from the Learning tab of your Observation Deck.

Watch the newest video for colored leaves »

Researchers are using Natures Notebook data to examine how climate change affects phenology. The model presented in this paper predicts that species active earlier in the season and in warmer areas with slower warming rates show the highest sensitivity to climate change. Using plant phenology data from the 1850s and 2010s, they confirm that sensitivity is highest in regions with low temperature velocity, while actual phenological shifts are most pronounced in northern areas where warming is more rapid. This model could improve how we predict phenological changes for multiple species across different temperate regions.

Read the Article »»

Researchers examined data collected by multiple phenology networks across the Northern Hemisphere, including Nature's Notebook data, to examine how late spring frosts (frosts that occur after plants leaf out) affect the subsequent timing of flowering. They found that these late frosts do delay the timing of flowering by about 6 days, and that late-leafing species are more sensitive than early-leafing species.

Learn more »

As summer days shorten and temperatures drop, some plants respond with a beautiful change to their leaf color. These color changes don't happen all at once, and documenting the intensity of leaf color helps us better understand the relationship between climate and fall colors.

Learn more »

Our annual Redbud Phenology Project Training is scheduled for Thursday January 9, 2025 via Zoom. This is a great opportunity to meet researcher Jorge Santiago-Blay, and learn about this beautiful tree and how you can help us better understand Eastern and Western redbud phenology!



Register Now »

Looking for a basic primer on the topic of phenology, for use in your classes, or even to simply better explain to your friends and loved ones what the term means? We've got you covered! Phenology, authored by our Director Dr. Theresa Crimmins and a part of the MIT Press's Essential Knowledge book series, provides a simple and comprehensive overview of the topic. Preorders are now available!

Preorder now on Amazon » »