Tracking Annual Tree Life Cycles
(Phenology)
Plant life history events such as spring leaf out and fall color are often used to track species responses to climate variability and change. The study of these events is called phenology. In The Morton Arboretum’s Living Collections, we have the opportunity to compare how the phenologies of individuals from multiple species and populations within species are affected by climate. The main questions we will try to answer by monitoring phenology in the Arboretum’s Living Collections are:
What drives phenological sensitivity to climate and it’s variation within and among species and locations?
Can leaf phenology be used as an indicator of species or population vulnerability to climate?
How does tree phenology impact other components of a community or ecosystem?
In addition to tracking phenology in The Morton Arboretum’s collections, we are doing long-term monitoring in the Arboretum’s East Woods where we are characterizing the overstay community and tracking everything from canopy composition and phenology to understory meteorology, understory plant community composition, and soil nutrient cycling in collaboration with Meghan Midgley, Soil Ecologist at The Morton Arboretum. You can follow along with Christy’s weekly understory phenology surveys on Twitter (@RolliEcology, #PhenologyFriday)
NEW! Oak Budburst Forecasts (updated daily)
Oak Budburst Forecast: https://mortonarb-forestecology.shinyapps.io/mortonarb_phenoforecast/
In 2022, we have begun formal forecasting of bud burst of over 50 oak species (Quercus spp.) grown in The Morton Arboretum’s Oak Collection. These predictions are made based on the citizen science observations collected at The Morton Arboretum by volunteers since 2018 and are automatically updated every morning with the latest weather station data from the Arboretum and NOAA weather forecasts. For a more technical description of the statistical modeling methods used in the forecast, please refer to the technical description here.
Phenology Status data portals (updated daily)
Phenology data through time in list mode: https://mortonarb-forestecology.shinyapps.io/phenology_status_list
Phenology data by week in map mode: https://mortonarb-forestecology.shinyapps.io/phenology_status_map
These graphics were made with the help of 2020 youth volunteer Shiven Shah (Hinsdale Central 2022).
More information about what we’ve seen in the past can be viewed in our biannual phenology reports:
2020 - Spring [none produced due to COVID19]
Current phenology volunteers at The Morton Arboretum, should check out our phenology page for resources. If you are interested in becoming on of our phenology citizen science volunteers, please contact Christy or Brendon for more information.