The California Phenology Project: Linking Plant Phenology to Climate Change through Citizen Science

Dr. Liz Matthews 
Post-Doctoral Scientist, UC Santa Barbara 

The subtitle of this presentation is “Linking plant phenology to climate change through Citizen Science.” Phenology is the study of periodic plant and animal life cycle stages and how these are influenced by seasonal and by longer-term variations in climate.  The California Phenology Project began in 2010 and is focused on plants in seven California National Parks. Volunteers help identify and monitor species. Phenology is an indicator of environmental change – for example, over time, for some plant species, the date of the first leaf and/or the date of the first flower is earlier in the spring than 10 or 20 years ago. Dr. Matthews shows how such changes can affect an entire ecosystem. 

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Recorded: February 11, 2013