Budbreak Project
You are invited to join a “weather-spotters” network for plants to observe and record the first day of flowering of plants in your backyard.
Last year we had over 150 people from all over central New York record over 500 observations. Some facts: The annual average temperatures right here in the northeastern United States have increased by 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit in the last 30 years and are expected to continue to rise. Because of the temperature increase, lilacs have been flowering days earlier. Increasing temperatures are starting to affect many of our native plant species.
The effects of global warming may be evident right in your backyard and Cornell scientists need your help. Climate change may be affecting our native plants by changing the timing of bud break, leaf emergence, flowering, fall coloration, and leaf drop. To begin to sort out whether increasing temperatures are causing damage, we are asking people to join our plant-spotter network.
Recording this information is easy and fun, and takes only a few minutes a week. We have made it fast to enter your observations into an easy-to-use website, including videos you can watch that show how to make observations. We’ll be putting all kinds of information, maps, and tools on the web site about what is happening to plants here in central NY, so you’ll be able to learn as we learn too!
Pick one or two or more plants outside your house and start watching each day for the first signs of flowers beginning to form, branches greening up, and leaves starting to spring forward. You’ll start to see a whole new world happening before your eyes.
So please join us.
For more information or questions, contact David Weinstein (email: daw5@cornell.edu; phone 607-351-4214).
Join us today, because spring is about to happen!
Thanks, David
Dr. David A. Weinstein
Department of Natural Resources
Assistant Director of Sustainable Initiatives Cornell Agricultural Experiment Station
Cornell University
204 Fernow Hall
607-351-4214
Email: daw5@cornell.edu
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