I went around campus finding the different marked trees, which were a northern red oak, sugar maple, white oak, red maple, and a Norway maple. I did my walk on April 24, so spring is well underway by this point in time. Generally, I noticed that all of the different trees either had breaking buds, had already flowered, or were producing seeds that had fallen on the ground. The majority of the trees, including the white oak, red maple, red oak, and Norway maple had breaking leaf buds. Notably, the sugar maple and Norway maple also had breaking flower buds or already had flowered prior. Generally, most of the trees were preparing to get new leaves, and some having already produced seeds or flowers. Looking at the NPN’s website, there was an article that they published a few months ago researching if plants and animals respond differently to climate change. The study found that plants are leafing out, flowering, and fruiting earlier than they used to before. Although interestingly, even though plants are flowering earlier, most pollinators have been consistently sticking to the same cycle, having more phenological mismatches and less overlap between the two species. This study shows the changing and evolving effects that climate change has on many different species.
