Report flowering and become a Pollen Tracker

Dear Pollen Trackers,

This year's Pollen Trackers campaign has come to a close. Thank you for all of your reports of open flowers and pollen release on your Pollen Trackers plants this year! Below, we take a look at the data you reported this year.

For folks in Texas, Ashe's juniper season is just about to begin! You can expect to hear from us in coming weeks about when to start looking for pollen cones on your juniper trees.



Your data collected on flowering and pollen release as part of this campaign will be used to help fill gaps in understanding pollen concentrations, leading to improved forecasts of allergy season timing and severity. Further, since the observations you contribute to Nature’s Notebook are available to users very soon after you submit them, they allow for pollen forecasts to be updated in near-real time with incoming reports.

Photo Credit: Eliot VanOtteren via iNaturalist (CC-BY-NC)

What you reported this year

This year, 1,962 observers reported data on 117 Pollen Trackers species at 954 sites. There are 151 Local Phenology Programs submitting data on Pollen Trackers species, as well as 467 independent observers. The top 10 Local Phenology Programs submitting data for Pollen Trackers species are listed below. Thank you all for your efforts!

The map below shows the months when a first "yes" was reported for open flowers (plus symbol) and pollen release (circle). The color of the icon indicates the month that open flowers or pollen release was first reported at that site. You can explore this visualization here.

The activity curve below takes a closer look at when open flowers were reported by genus since the beginning of this year. Elms were the first to have a peak in the proportion of "yes" reports for open flowers in February. Willows, alders, and several other genera peaked in April. A second group of genera including walnuts peaked in May. Ragweed peaked in August. You can explore this visualization here.

The curves below show pollen release for the same genera over the past year. The peak in pollen release was quite variable, occurring in February, March, April, May, or September, depending on the genus. You can explore this visualization here.

We hope that you will join us again next year to report on flowering and pollen release in your Pollen Trackers species! Your data become even more valuable when collected on the same individual plants over multiple years. Thank you for being part of this important project!

Earn your Pollen Trackers badge!

Did you earn your Pollen Trackers badge this year? You can earn this badge by submitting observations of one of the Pollen Trackers species in six different weeks within the year.

The badge will appear on your Observation Deck.

Contact

Erin Posthumus

Partnerships and Projects Manager

erin@usanpn.org

McKinsey Tighe

Student Outreach Assistant

mckinsey@usanpn.org

This campaign is a collaboration with researchers from Cornell University, CDC Climate and Health Program, University of Michigan, Fordham University, and MercyOne Waterloo Medical Center. Learn more about the research team behind this campaign.