I ventured out around campus to complete my phenology walk on 04-15-25. It was very windy and a bit rainy.
In general, “N” was the answer for almost every question the app asked me. 3 out of the 5 trees had begun to break buds – Sugar Maple, White Oak, and Red Maple – but no live leaves, flowers, or pollen were visible on any of them. Their phenophases may have varied a bit, but overall, they seemed pretty dormant, still waking up from the winter.
I read an article about dioecious trees. This means that some trees are male, and some are female, rather than having both in one tree. Because the sexes are separated, different male and female trees need to flower at the same time for fertilization. This flowering also has to happen before leaf development. With climate change leading to the early onset of phenophases for some plants, this could have detrimental effects. If female willow trees are flowering 5 days earlier than usual due to raised temperatures but male willow trees are still flowering at the usual time, less fertilization can occur, and willow populations will slowly disappear.