Citizen scientists! Help with Budburst campaign.
Listen to a 15-minute podcast about Project Budburst. Want to join Project Budburst in observing the 2007 spring season? Go to the Project Budburst website. (Photo by Stuart Yeates)
While spring is in the air, a citizen science project across North America needs your help.
It’s called Project Budburst, and the idea is as simple as going outside and taking a walk in nature. As you walk, you’ll look for and record blooms and leaves that are easy to find in a neighborhood or local park. Then you’ll share what you find on the internet at budburst.org.
Carol Brewer: Project Budburst is about phenology, that is, the timing of when plants put out leaves and flowers. We like to say that phenology is Nature’s clock. Watch it and use it.
That was Carol Brewer, professor of biological sciences at the University of Montana. She’s working with various organizations – including the Chicago Botanic Garden and the National Phenology Network – on the Budburst campaign.
The project begins April 1 and will run until June 15. Brewer told Earth & Sky that the observations of people like you can help scientists answer questions about the timing of this year’s northern hemisphere spring.
Carol Brewer: And as we learn about all the different neighborhoods around the country, we start to get a picture of how environmental changes affect the species that live with us on this planet.
More information about Project Budburst at budburst.org.
In the past decade, some scientific studies have shown springtime arriving earlier in some places as Earth’s climate has warmed. Brewer said that climate change is one of the motivations for developing the Budburst campaign.
Project Budburst is a collaborative effort of the Chicago Botanic Garden, Plant Conservation Alliance, ESRI, National Science Foundation, National Phenology Network, UCAR Office of Education and Outreach, University of Arizona, University of Montana, University of California – Santa Barbara, University of Wisconsin – Madison, and Windows to the Universe. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management provided funding for the spring 2007 event.
Project Budburst begins April 1, 2007. To join Project’s Budburst’s mailing list, click here.
This Earth and Sky segment was funded by the Chicago Botanic Garden, The University of Montana, and the National Science Foundation.
Here are some good websites related to phenology, citizen science, and using schoolyards as ecological laboratories:
Ecologists, Educators, and Schools Program
Cornell Lab of Ornithology Citizen Science Toolkit
Nature’s Calendar (phenology network of the United Kingdom)
Wikipedia description of phenology
Our thanks to:
Carol Brewer, PhD
Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
Professor, Division of Biological Sciences
University of Montana
Missoula MT
