Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Trees are Greening Up as I write this....


Take a look outside in most of  our region and you will see that the trees are beginning to leaf out...one by one....


You know what that means, Buds, Leaves and Global Warming Teachers!

If you haven't already, get your students outside as soon as possible to track leaf emergence on your study trees.



We are excitedly collecting spring data on our trees. We had a surprise last week, pictured in these attachments. A beaver felled the crab apple tree #18. The study leaves were out so the team measured them and recorded on the data sheet but I guess this will be the last year for that tree! We have not seen the beaver but the tree was standing the week before. 



Photo and comments from Jane Lucia, Williston Northampton School 



Here is what the Phenocams are showing:


From the Northeast (Reading, Ma.)






What phenological changes can you see on any of these trees between
March 8th and April 26th?



Southwestern Massachusetts (Springfield)





Mid Atlantic Region (25 miles from Washington DC): 







North Carolina:






What are things looking like near your school???


Please send us photos and notes from your field site and/or school location so we can better see where buds are bursting and leaves are emerging.


Email photos and comments to Pamela Snow at psnow@fas.harvard.edu


To search for canopy images from throughout North America: 

Go to the Phenocam website at:https://phenocam.sr.unh.edu/webcam


For more about tracking Budburst through The Harvard Forest Schoolyard Ecology program:






3 comments:

  1. "wow, this is great - I am really impressed by the dedication of the teachers and their students to this project. Congratulations!"
    Andrew

    ReplyDelete
  2. "It’s been a slow spring for the trees!"
    Maria Blewitt
    Austin Prep School, Reading, MA

    ReplyDelete
  3. "We have been having a great time observing our buds. We've also been keeping temperature records, and it's been great for students to see graphs the trend of gradually rising temperature despite daily fluctuations, concurrent with swelling buds on their trees."
    Warren Perdrizet,
    The Fay School
    Southborough, MA

    ReplyDelete