Originally published by Maryland Department of Natural Resources- Wildlife & Heritage Service
In life, as in comedy, timing is everything. The study of the timing of the cycles of life – when plant buds burst, when frogs start to sing, or butterflies emerge from winter cover – is called phenology. Our native plants and animals have evolved alongside one another, so their timing is synchronized. But does phenology change? You bet! Even renowned naturalist Henry David Thoreau noted plant emergence and flowering times at his cabin on Walden Pond in the 1850s (and other people have continued that effort, creating a really long data set). There are cool community science projects out there in which you can help track phenological phenomena around the world. One is the USA National Phenology Network (USA NPN).
USA NPN uses information provided by professionals AND community scientists like YOU to track these changes. Visit USA NPN, https://tinyurl.com/38vb44a8, to find out when spring is coming to your neck of the woods. And join the Nature’s Notebook phenology project and be the next Thoreau!
