Tracking climate change in flowers
An online database allows people to monitor climate change in their own backyards.
Dandelions, forsythia, dogwoods, bluebells. When will they bloom this year? The answer is likely to be different than it was 50 years ago. To keep track of how flowers and foliage respond to a changing climate, the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) and a team of collaborators have launched an online database called Project BudBurst.
The initiative allows citizen scientists, gardeners, and students to document when they see that first bud open, the timing of the first leaf, the first flower, and when the plant goes to seed. Maps showing these events across the U.S. are available on the website. Volunteers can choose from more than 60 suggested trees and flowers, or they can add their own favorite species.
The project began as a pilot program in April 2007. Several thousand volunteers in 26 states participated in recording the leafing and flowering patterns for hundreds of plant species. Building on the success of that program, Project Budburst was launched this year on February 15. Expanded features include an online geolocator to help users obtain the correct latitude and longitude for their observations and an expanded list of species. The project will now operate year-round.
Some plant species are known to extend their growing seasons in response to warmer temperatures. Others relocate to higher elevations or toward the cooler poles. The problem is that many insects, which are important for pollinating plants, don't depend on temperature cycles to breed and disperse. Instead, they rely on sunlight. Climate change has already led to a mismatch between the behavior of pollinating many insects and flowers that bloom earlier than expected.
Project Budburst is funded by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and Windows to the Universe, a UCAR-based website that will host the database.
