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Phenology is the study of the times of recurring natural phenomena. The word is derived from the Greek Phainomai - to appear, come into view, and indicates that phenology has been principally concerned with the dates of first occurrence of natural events in their annual cycle. Examples include the date of emergence of leaves and flowers, the first flight of butterflies and the first appearance of migratory birds, the date of leaf colouring and fall in deciduous trees, the dates of egg-laying of birds and amphibia, the timing of the developmental cycles of honeybee colonies. Because many such phenomena are very sensitive to small variations in climate, especially to temperature, phenological records can be a useful proxy for temperature in the study of climate change. Variations in CO2, temperature and dust from the Vostok ice core over the last 400,000 years Climate change refers to the variation in the Earths global climate or in regional climates over time. ...
Phenological Records from the past Observations of phenological events have provided indications of the progress of the natural calendar since pre-agricultural times. Many cultures have traditional phenological proverbs and sayings which indicate a time for action: "When the sloe tree is white as a sheet, sow your barley whether it be dry or wet" or attempt to forecast future climate: "If oak's before ash, you're in for a splash. If ash before oak, you're in for a soak". But the indications can be pretty unreliable, as an alternative version of the rhyme shows: "If the oak is out before the ash, 'Twill be a summer of wet and splash; If the ash is out before the oak,'Twill be a summer of fire and smoke."
In Japan and China the time of blossoming of cherry and peach trees is associated with ancient festivals and some of these dates can be traced back to the eighth century. Such records form an important part of climate change research. Species Several, including: Prunus apetala Prunus avium (Wild/Sweet Cherry) Prunus campanulata Prunus canescens Prunus cerasus (Sour Cherry) Prunus concinna Prunus conradinae Prunus dielsiana Prunus emarginata (Bitter Cherry) Prunus fruticosa Prunus incisa Prunus litigiosa Prunus mahaleb (Saint Lucie Cherry) Prunus maximowiczii Prunus nipponica Prunus pensylvanica (Pin Cherry) Prunus pilosiuscula Prunus...
Binomial name Prunus persica (L.) Batsch Percentages are relative to US recommendations for adults. ...
The pinot noir grape can also be used in historical phenology. Writing in Nature, Chuine et al. [2004] describe how French records of pinot noir grape-harvest dates in Burgundy can be used to reconstruct spring–summer temperatures from 1370 to 2003. (Chuine et al. claimed that 2003 summer temperatures were probably higher than in any other year since 1370 (see global warming); this claim, however, is now known to be unfounded [Keenan, 2007].) Pinot noir grapes at Chehalem Ridgecrest Vineyard, Newberg, Oregon Pinot noir is a variety of Vitis vinifera, the red grape used commonly in winemaking. ...
Species Vitis acerifolia Vitis aestivalis Vitis amurensis Vitis arizonica Vitis x bourquina Vitis californica Vitis x champinii Vitis cinerea Vitis x doaniana Vitis girdiana Vitis labrusca Vitis x labruscana Vitis lincecumii Vitis monticola Vitis mustangensis Vitis x novae-angliae Vitis palmata Vitis riparia Vitis rotundifolia Vitis rupestris Vitis shuttleworthii Vitis...
First title page, November 4, 1869 Nature is one of the oldest and most reputable scientific journals, first published on 4 November 1869. ...
Coat of arms of the 2nd duchy of Burgundy and later of the French province of Burgundy Burgundy (French: Bourgogne) is a historic region of France, inhabited in turn by Celts (Gauls), Romans (Gallo-Romans), and various Germanic peoples , most importantly the Burgundians and the Franks. ...
Events Beginning of the rule of Poland by Capet-Anjou family. ...
2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Global mean surface temperatures 1856 to 2005. ...
Gilbert White and William Markwick reported the seasonal events of more than 400 plant and animal species, Gilbert White in Selbourne, Hampshire and William Markwick in Battle, Sussex over a 25-year period between 1768 and 1793. The data, reported in White's Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne are reported as the earliest and latest dates for each event over 25 years; so annual changes cannot therefore be determined. Gilbert White (July 18, 1720 – June 26, 1793) was a pioneering naturalist and ornithologist. ...
Modern phenological recording Robert Marsham is the founding father of modern phenological recording. Marsham was a wealthy landowner who kept systematic records of "Indications of spring" on his estate at Hevingham, Norfolk, from 1736. These were in the form of dates of the first occurrence of events such as flowering, bud burst, emergence or flight of an insect. Consistent records of the same events or "phenophases" were maintained by generations of the same family over unprecedentedly long periods of time, eventually ending with the death of Mary Marsham in 1958. so that trends can be observed and related to long-term climate records. The data show significant variation in dates which broadly correspond with warm and cold years. Between 1850 and 1950 a long-term trend of gradual climate warming is observable, and during this same period the Marsham record of oak leafing dates tended to become earlier.
After 1960 the rate of warming accelerated, and this is mirrored by increasing earliness of oak leafing, recorded in the data collected by Jean Combes in Surrey. Over the past 250 years, the first leafing date of oak appears to have advanced by about 8 days, corresponding to overall warming of the order of 1.5oC in the same period.
Towards the end of the 19th century the recording of the appearance and development of plants and animals became a national pastime, and between 1891 and 1948 a programme of phenological recording was organised across the British Isles by the Royal Meteorological Society. Up to 600 observers submitted returns in some years, with numbers averaging a few hundred. During this period 11 main plant phenophases were consistently recorded over the 58 years 1891-1948, and a further 14 phenophases were recorded for 20 years between 1929 and 1948. The returns were summarised each year in the Quarterly Journal of the RMS as “The Phenological Reports”. The 58-year data have been summarised by Jeffree (1960), and show that flowering dates could be as many as 21 days early and as many as 34 days late, with extreme earliness greatest in summer flowering species, and extreme lateness in spring flowering species. In all 25 species the timings of all phenological events are significantly related to temperature (Sparks et al., 2000), indicating that phenological events are likely to get earlier as climate warms. The Royal Meteorological Society traces its origins back to April 3, 1850 when the British Meteorological Society was formed as a society the objects of which should be the advancement and extension of meteorological science by determining the laws of climate and of meteorological phenomena in general. ...
The Phenological Reports ended suddenly in 1948 after 58 years, and Britain was without a national recording scheme for almost 50 years, just at a time when climate change was becoming evident. During this period, important contributions were made by individual dedicated observers. The naturalist and author Richard Fitter recorded the First Flowering Date (FFD) of 557 species British flowering plants in Oxfordshire between about 1954 and 1990. Writing in Science in 2002, Richard Fitter and his son Alistair Fitter found that "the average FFD of 385 British plant species has advanced by 4.5 days during the past decade compared with the previous four decades". They note that FFD is sensitive to temperature, as is generally agreed, that "150 to 200 species may be flowering on average 15 days earlier in Britain now than in the very recent past" and that these earlier FFDs will have "profound ecosystem and evolutionary consequences". Richard Sidney Richmond Fitter (1 March 1913 – 3 September 2005) was a British naturalist and author. ...
Science is the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). ...
For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ...
Professor Alastair Hugh Fitter FRS is a British botanist at the University of York. ...
In the last decade, national recording in Britain has been resumed by the UK Phenology network, run by Woodland Trust and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, and the BBC Springwatch survey. There is a USA National Phenology Network[1], in which both Professional scientists and lay recorders participate, a European Phenology Network[2] which has monitoring, research and educational remits, and many other countries such as Canada, China and Australia have phenological programs. The woodland trust logo The Woodland Trust, founded in Devon in 1972, and now based in Grantham, Lincolnshire, is a conservation charity in the United Kingdom concerned with the protection and sympathetic management of native woodland heritage. ...
The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually known as the BBC (and also informally known as the Beeb or Auntie) is one of the largest broadcasting corporations in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the UK alone and with a budget of more than £4 billion. ...
Springwatch with Bill Oddie is a live BBC TV show, broadcast nightly, Monday - Thursday, from 30 May - 16 June 2005. ...
In eastern North America, almanacs are traditionally used for information on action phenology (in agriculture), taking into account the astronomical positions at the time. An almanac (sometimes spelled almanack) is an annual publication containing tabular information in a particular field or fields often arranged according to the calendar. ...
Will Felker has studied phenology in Ohio, USA since 1983 and now publishes "Poor Will's Almanack", a phenological almanac for farmers (not to be confused with a late 18th century almanac by the same name). Official language(s) None Capital Columbus Largest city Columbus Largest metro area Cleveland Area Ranked 34th - Total 44,825 sq mi (116,096 km²) - Width 220 miles (355 km) - Length 220 miles (355 km) - % water 8. ...
Phenology with airborne sensors Recent technological advances in studying the earth from space have resulted in a new field of phenological research that is concerned with observing the phenology of whole ecosystems and stands of vegetation on a global scale using proxy approaches. These methods complement the traditional phenological methods which recorded the first occurrences of individual species and phenophases.
The most successful of these approaches is based on tracking the temporal change of a Vegetation Index (like Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)). NDVI makes use of the vegetation's typical low reflection in the red (red energy is mostly absorbed by growing plants for Photosynthesis) and strong reflection in the Near Infrared (Infrared energy is mostly reflected by plants due to their cellular structure). Due to its robustness and simplicity, NDVI has become one of the most popular remote sensing based products. Typically, a vegetation index is constructed in such a way that the attenuated reflected sunlight energy (1% to 30% of incident sunlight) is amplified by ratio-ing red and NIR following this equation:
NDVI temporal profile for a typical patch of coniferous forest over a period of six years. This temporal profile depicts the growing season every year as well as changes in this profile from year to year due to climatic and other constraints. Data and Graph are based on the MODIS sensor standard public vegetation index product [3]. Data archived at the ORNL DAAC [4], courtesy of Dr. Robert Cook [5]. Image File history File links MODIS_NDVI_Temporal_Profile_Conifer. ...
Ash plumes on Kamchatka Peninsula, eastern Russia MODIS (Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) is a payload scientific instrument launched into Earth orbit by NASA in 1999 on board the Terra (EOS AM) Satellite, and in 2002 on board the Aqua (EOS PM) satellite. ...
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a multiprogram science and technology national laboratory managed for the United States Department of Energy by UT-Battelle, LLC. ORNL is located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, near Knoxville. ...
The evolution of the vegetation index through time, depicted by the graph above, exhibits a strong correlation with the typical green vegetation growth stages (emergence, vigor/growth, maturity, and harvest/senescence). These temporal curves are analyzed to extract useful parameters about the vegetation growing season (start of season, end of season, length of growing season, etc.). Other growing season parameters could potentially be extracted, and global maps of any of these growing season parameters could then be constructed and used in all sorts of climatic change studies. A noteworthy example of the use of remote sensing based phenology is the work of Ranga Myneni [6] from Boston University. This work showed an apparent increase in vegetation productivity that most likely resulted from the increase in temperature and lengthening of the growing season in the boreal forest [7]. Another example based on the MODIS enhanced vegetation index (EVI) reported by Alfredo Huete [8] at the University of Arizona and colleagues showed that the Amazon Rainforest, as opposed to the long held view of a monotonous growing season or growth only during the wet rainy season, does in fact exhibit growth spurts during the dry season.[9]. For the unrelated Jesuit university in Chestnut Hill, see Boston College. ...
Boreal may refer to these: Northern from the eponymous Boreas, god of the North Wind in Greek mythology. ...
Ash plumes on Kamchatka Peninsula, eastern Russia MODIS (Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) is a payload scientific instrument launched into Earth orbit by NASA in 1999 on board the Terra (EOS AM) Satellite, and in 2002 on board the Aqua (EOS PM) satellite. ...
The enhanced vegetation index (EVI) is an optimized index designed to enhance the vegetation signal with improved sensitivity in high biomass regions and improved vegetation monitoring through a de-coupling of the canopy background signal and a reduction in atmosphere influences. ...
The references in this article would be clearer with a different style of citation, footnoting or external linking. ...
River in the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest. ...
However, these phenological parameters are only an approximation of the true biological growth stages. This is mainly due to the limitation of current space based remote sensing, especially the spatial resolution, and the nature of vegetation index. A pixel in an image does not contain a pure target (like a tree, a shrub, etc.) but contains a mixture of whatever intersected the sensor's field of view.
References - Chuine, I., Yiou, P., Viovy, N., Seguin, B., Daux, V., Le Roy Ladurie, E.(2004) Grape ripening as a past climate indicator. Nature 432: 289-290.
- Clark, M. & Thompson, R. (2004) Botanical records reveal changing seasons in a warmer world. Australian Science, Oct 2004, 37-39.
- Fitter, A.H. & Fitter R.S.R. (2002) Rapid changes in flowering time in British plants. Science 296, 1689-1691.
- Huete A. R., K. Didan, Y. E. Shimabukuro, P. Ratana, S. R. Saleska, L. R. Hutyra, W. Yang, R. R. Nemani, R. Myneni (2006), Amazon rainforests green-up with sunlight in dry season, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L06405, doi:10.1029/2005GL025583.
- Jeffree, E.P. (1960) Some long-term means from the Phenological reports (1891-1948) of the Royal Meteorological Society. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society 86, 95-103.
- Keenan, D.J. (2007) Grape harvest dates are poor indicators of summer warmth. Theoretical and Applied Climatology 87: 255-256.
- Myneni R.B., C.D. Keeling, C. J. Tucker, G. Asrar, R. R. Nemani, Increased plant growth in the northern high latitudes from 1981 to 1991, Nature 386, 698 (1997).
- Sparks, T.H. & Carey, P.D. (1995) The responses of species to climate over two centuries: an analysis of the Marsham phenological record, 1736–1947. Journal of Ecology 83, 321-329.
- Sparks T.H., Jeffree E.P., Jeffree C.E. (2000) An examination of the relationship between flowering times and temperature at the national scale using long-term phenological records from the UK. International Journal of Biometeorology 44, 82-87.
- White, G. (1789) The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne.
Gilbert White (July 18, 1720 – June 26, 1793) was a pioneering naturalist and ornithologist. ...
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