3/31/25
Hello Blog! This week I went out on a walk around campus to observe the 5 trees assigned, White Oak, Red Oak, Red Maple, Sugar Maple, and Norway Maple. For the most part, all 5 of these trees were in similar phenophases, with not many buds breaking or flowering. The red oak had the leaves still attached from the fall but were all dead and dry. The only noticeable change was that a few of the trees such as red maple had leaf stems beginning to sprout out of the branches and the oak trees had a few acorn caps, but no acorn body as of yet.
Post-phenology walk when exploring the United States National Phenology Network I came across this article about how plants and animal species are beginning to respond differently due to climate change. This study found that spring and summer phenological events are beginning to start earlier than they did 40 years ago. This was found from data of over 2,000 species, which helps researchers to understand how climate change is affecting species’ relationships. I wish I took a picture of the trees but I did not get to it on this walk, so thats all for today!