Tree Phenology Networks

Abstract

In recent years, the involvement of the general public and school students in monitoring the environment has gained popularity. This has been achieved with the development of ‘citizen-science’ initiatives. Citizen-science networks are being used extensively in phenology research and provide valuable data to determine climate change impacts. These networks also help raise awareness among the non-scientific community of potential environmental threats. Nature enthusiasts and farmers have been following the phenology of various plants for the last few centuries. However, many of these data remained as the private property of the collectors themselves or totally lost. Recently, as studies on climate change have been taken up by many organizations, much of the phenological data are getting reassembled and wide networks of volunteer observers have been formed. With the wide use of internet, much of these data are available for the user.