For the Phenology Walk, I walked around campus observing the trees in the study on Monday April 14th.
Data Collected
Sugar Maple #618 Located Near the Davis Center
| Phenophase | Was it Present? |
| Breaking Lead Buds | No |
| Leaves | No |
| Increasing Leaf Size | No |
| Colored Leaves | No |
| Falling Leaves | No |
| Flowers or Flower Buds | No |
| Open Flowers | No |
| Pollen Release | No |
| Fruits | No |
| Ripe Fruits | No |
| Recent Fruit or Seed Drop | No |
Red Oak #615 Located Near the Davis Center
| Phenophase | Was it Present? |
| Breaking Lead Buds | Yes |
| Leaves | No |
| Increasing Leaf Size | No |
| Colored Leaves | No |
| Falling Leaves | No |
| Flowers or Flower Buds | No |
| Open Flowers | No |
| Pollen Release | No |
| Fruits | No |
| Ripe Fruits | No |
| Recent Fruit or Seed Drop | No |
Norway Maple #3261 Near Williams Hall
| Phenophase | Was it Present? |
| Breaking Lead Buds | No |
| Leaves | No |
| Increasing Leaf Size | No |
| Colored Leaves | No |
| Falling Leaves | No |
| Flowers or Flower Buds | No |
| Open Flowers | No |
| Pollen Release | No |
| Fruits | No |
| Ripe Fruits | No |
| Recent Fruit or Seed Drop | No |
White Oak #761 Near the Aiken Center
| Phenophase | Was it Present? |
| Breaking Lead Buds | Yes |
| Leaves | No |
| Increasing Leaf Size | No |
| Colored Leaves | No |
| Falling Leaves | Yes |
| Flowers or Flower Buds | No |
| Open Flowers | No |
| Pollen Release | No |
| Fruits | No |
| Ripe Fruits | No |
| Recent Fruit or Seed Drop | No |
Red Maple #280 Near Old Mill
| Phenophase | Was it Present? |
| Breaking Lead Buds | No |
| Leaves | No |
| Increasing Leaf Size | No |
| Colored Leaves | No |
| Falling Leaves | No |
| Flowers or Flower Buds | ? |
| Open Flowers | No |
| Pollen Release | No |
| Fruits | No |
| Ripe Fruits | No |
| Recent Fruit or Seed Drop | No |
April 14th was an oddly warm day after a period of 40–50-degree weather. The high of the day was 66 with a low of 30 degrees Fahrenheit. Despite this warmer temperature of the day, the past few weeks of colder weather impacted the phenophases present. Overall, not much activity was happening. Some of the trees showcased beginning signs of budding, and some trees began to break these buds such as the white oak. While other trees didn’t even have these early signs of budding. Overall, most trees didn’t showcase any phenophases other than budding.
Looking at the Bigger Picture
Looking at the bigger picture, utilizing the National Phenology Network, it is evident that climate change is changing the timing of these phenophases indictive of spring to be earlier and earlier each year. Due to this, there is this question of how does this impact species?
I looked at an article on NPN’s website that looked at this question of “Are plant and animal species responding differently to climate change?” utilizing a 2025 article by Lang, W., Y. et al.
There are some key findings of this study that showcase that spring and summer phenological changes (such as leaf out, flowering, and fruiting) for the past 40 years are occurring earlier. Specifically, these increased temperatures had drastic impacts on plants, making typically later stages like flowering and fruit ripening occur faster than earlier stages. However, interestingly enough, this study found that the increased temperatures have weaker impacts on animal cycles suggesting that it is actually resource availability that plays a larger role in the occurrence of animals than the increased temperatures. The issue is that animals aren’t necessarily changing their activity in response creating problems with resources. For instance, since plants are blooming earlier, pollination is occurring earlier, yet pollinators aren’t coming out earlier, losing time of pollination.
This study is vital because it looks at the large scale and identifies these patterns with over 2,000 global plants and animals. So, when it comes to Vermont, we see signs of budding breaking in mid-April which questions when will flowering occur and will that be earlier than historically? Although it might not seem too early, given the very cold weather preceding this, it seems early for these trees to begin budding. Along with this study on trees, it could be interesting to monitor animal activity surrounding it, specifically pollinators.