Early Spring? Yes and Maybe...

Skunk Cabbage by Sally Farrow, Drumlin Farm, Lincoln, MA

The awareness of early spring struck me almost literally in mid February as was skiing in Quebec through a thunder and lightning storm in pouring rain.   This was certainly not what I expected to find after months of preparing for skiing hut to hut through the "normal" below freezing  conditions northwest of Montreal in winter.  Rain in Quebec was not out of the question, as I had encountered rain in Quebec city in February years ago, but thunder and lightning, really???

Upon my return to New England on February 25th, I was greeted with 60 degree temps, and my Facebook feed and email inbox were reflecting a bunch of unusually early signs of spring.

Earliest snowdrops ever. Sighted in the hilly wilds of West Hawley, MA on 2/25/17!

Edite Cunha

Left:   Nature Log. Petersham, MA.  Thursday redwing blackbirds arrived. Satureday ice went out on the ponds. Fifteen min. later Canada Goose finds open water.  2-26-16
Tom also reported seeing 2 Eagles nesting by Quabbin Reservoir that week. 

Right:  Wood frog near the Swift River in Petersham on March 1!  Skunks also out tonight....
John Burk.

March 2, amherst ma

Audrey Barker Plotkin 

Aside from these casual observations,  here are some more scientific reports:

Definitely worth checking out an article and new set of scientifically backed maps produced by the USGS-led USA-National Phenology Network that shows just how unusually early spring is arriving in the United States.   

https://www.usgs.gov/news/just-how-early-spring-arriving-your-neighborhood-find-out-0

To see some specific examples of phenological changes occuring in Spring in the Northeast, check out: 

https://www.usanpn.org/files/shared/files/Changes_in_Phenology-NE.pdf

Back at Harvard Forest, researcher Joshua Rapp is busy collecting and measuring Maple syrup.  

This is what he's been finding since Feb. 18th about early spring harvest: 

This year I tapped the maples at Harvard Forest on February 18th and collected the first sap on the 19th, near the median day for the season start day around here. While the season started at the 'normal' time, the start of the season was anything but normal - 60 and 70 degree temps in the first week started the sap gushing and in less than 2 weeks have collected about half as much sap as we typically do in full season, and about the same amount as we did last year by this date even though last year's season started more than 2 weeks earlier. 

The colder temps predicted for the next few days will push the pause button for sap flow, but next week looks to be excellent sap flow weather again. The big question is whether the early season warmth foretells an early end of the season. If the season goes to the end of March as is typical, sap volumes may rival the high mark of 2013. If it ends early sap and syrup production may be more typical.

Stay tuned,

Josh  
--

Joshua M. Rapp, PhD

Harvard Forest, Harvard University

rapp@fas.harvard.edu / joshmrapp.com

And from  Drumlin Farm's  field sites....

Silver Maple by Sally Farrow
Drumlin Farm, Lincoln, Ma. 

The skunk cabbage is blooming by preschool pond , the silver maples and pussy willows are blooming in Boyce field.

2/25 I heard peepers calling and 3/1 I heard and saw wood frogs in preschool and Ice pond.
The ponds have refrozen but there is a gentle rain and I hope for some movement tonight
Happy Spring!

Sally Farrow

Excerpt from Early Spring; An Ecologist and Her Children Wake to a Warming World by Amy Seidl: 

While I have spent time in regions of the world where global warming is more rapidly affecting ecosystems, I want to emphasize the changes I see in my landscape close to home-in my garden, in local woods, and ponds. It is in this everyday context that I notice the world entering flux.  The timing of seasonal events, for instance, is shifting:  lilacs are blooming earlier; gardens remain prolific well into fall, and butterflies appear weeks earlier than previously recorded....and the the start of maple sugaring rarely begins in early March as it historically did.... 

   With each year I am compelled to ask: How are natural communities and ecosystems where I live responding to climate change?  What does a thunderstorm in January signal?  ...As these events collect, I a realize how more and more of my observations reflect the predictions that climate scientists are making for New England-greater single precipitation events, warmer nights, shorter winters, and overall more variable weather.  While it remains difficult to draw casual relationships between global climate change and local weather, we are able to see how our local conditions increasingly resemble the forecasted predictions.*

* pages XII and XIII in Preface, Early Spring; An Ecologist and Her Children Wake to a Warming World.

So Are We Having an Early Spring This Year or Not? 

Certainly we are seeing signs of an early spring on most fronts this year, but much of our phenological observations are not complete yet. We hope that over a thousand students will begin observing study trees and recording the state of the buds to report to Harvard Forest soon.  Buds, Leaves and Global Warming Project Ecologist, John O'Keefe, has indicated to us that spring phenology is highly variable based on his 27 years of observing timing of the emergence of leaves. He has seen that local weather in the key months of March and April seem to be the largest drivers of timing of leaf out.  So while the mild spell in February has helped swell the buds on many species, we won't know about the timing of leaf out until we actually see the leaves emerge...and then there is always the chance that a late frost could kill those early emerging leaves, so the jury is still out on early spring for our local trees.  Please get out and start recording some data to track it for us, and we will look forward to hearing back from you soon.  

Explore More about Spring Phenology:

Early Spring by Amy Seidl, Goodreads review and links 

 I recommend this book highly to those who want to explore this topic further.

 While the author is an ecologist, she writes in a highly accessible way that

 is engaging and ultimately relatable.  Very relevant to our Buds, Leaves and

 Global Warming Schoolyard project.  

Phenocam

Find current images of tree canopies that are updated daily

from sites all over the world, including this one from the 

Boston Common, along with several sites at Harvard Forest

and some Schoolyard Ecology sites. 

Buds, Leaves, and Global Warming Schoolyard protocol

Protocols, Photos of Buds, Related Teacher
Resources

Step By Step Phenology Activity.pdf

Lesson Plan for integrating timing of tree phenology with
other organisms in food web such as caterpillars and birds.

Sneak Preview of Budburst Activity

GLOBE program Lesson Plan for bringing branches inside to observe budburst in classroom prior to timing of buds opening outdoors in field site.
Involves sketching, observing, predicting...

The Our Changing Forests Schoolyard Ecology Project Is Growing

New Beginnings for the Our Changing Forests Project

With an expanded online database and project coach on board, a new group of teachers participated in a 2 day Our Changing Forests Schoolyard Ecology Summer Institute at Harvard Forest.

After spending 2 days at Harvard Forest learning from experts such as project ecologist, Joshua Rapp and author, Tom Wessels, teachers are beginning to bring students out to monitor their study plots in woodlands throughout Massachusetts.   Students in grades 6-12, from as far southeast as Middleborough and as far northwest as Charlemont  will be joining forces to paint a picture of our region's changing forests.

Ecologist, Joshua Rapp introduced the Our Changing Forests Protocol and driving scientific questions to teachers in the Fisher Museum

 A cow in this wooded pasture was a great window into how historic land use has impacted the New England landscape we see today.

Ecologist Josh Rapp showed examples of Wildlife sign such as these woodpecker holes that can be reported on the site survey data included on the Harvard Forest online database.

The group looked at an example of beech bark disease
 as an example of pathogens to be reported on the
 site survey.

Teachers practiced measuring 

diameter at breast height.

Teachers practiced aligning plot lines with cardinal directions using a compass. 

Tree diameter and Species I.D. are among the data students will be collecting in order to monitor species composition, density, carbon biomass storage, etc. of their local woodlands.

        

 
Each teacher had an opportunity to participate in practicing setting up study plots in small groups,
with assistance from project staff.

What Teachers said about Day 1 of the Our Changing Forests 

Summer Institute:

•  I am very excited by all the aspects of this research with regards to my curriculum.

• Interacting with ecologists and colleagues interested in the same topics has given me suggestions for activities that I can implement in the classroom in addition to the Changing Forests program.

•  I appreciate that every opportunity was taken by the staff to give us the most pertinent information in order to get started.

• I am looking forward to using the many opportunities for students to experience real world science practice with all of its challenges and pleasures.

• I love that you already have identified the new MA ST/E standards that connect to this project

•  I think it is great that Carrie (Project coach) will be available as I think that having that help will be useful as we start off. 

• A much more finely honed sense of how to frame the project for my students, and how to integrate the Changing Forests project into my curriculum, and how to flex my curriculum to be inspired by the project!

• The ability to set up a plot and the confidence to have my students identify and track the trees in the area. I feel confident that I understand what is asked of the program and that my students will enjoy the process of being out in the field.

• The ability to set up a plot for a field study and the tools necessary to accomplish that.

• All 3 parts were valuable, the background knowledge, practicing the protocol and looking at the database.

• Participation in a LTER (Long Term Ecological Research site).

Reading the Forested Landscape with Tom Wessels

Day 2 of the Summer Institute for Teachers was spent immersed in interpreting the Forest with author and Professor Emeritus, Tom Wessels

Teachers were busy writing notes at each of the 

many stops in the forest.  

Teachers told us what they appreciated about their time with Tom Wessels

All participating teachers rated their time with Tom Wessels as "Extremely Useful".

• Exploring forests gives you an infinite subject for study. I love the idea of land-use history as a mystery that we can solve, in this case using Forest Forensics

• Hints on what to key in to when determining previous use of the land.

• EVERYTHING!!! I learned so much in that session!

• The talk of land use over time and how the species all interact, no species lives independent of others

• Better able to identify trees and more knowledgeable about their characteristics. Understanding land design and history. 

• The skills, equipment and access to knowledge and support to create a meaningful field research experience for my students.

• Split the plot into 4's. Use Oliver for land use through time. Changing Forests protocol may be discrete, localized data collection, but the opportunities to branch out (changing climate, land-use planning, biodiversity, etc.) are infinite!

• I appreciated the emphasis on observation skills and the intelligence of the trees which we can use to build upon the data collection and analysis

• Confidence that I can teach children about our changing forests.

 

Teachers are now set to begin marking study plots and  engaging their students in collecting forest data tracking change over time in their local woodlands. Project Coach, Carey Lang, is visiting school based field sites this fall to help teachers get started.  We look forward to supporting these citizen scientists throughout this school-year and hope that  we will be working with these schools for years to come.

The expansion of our outreach capacity for this project is made possible with support from the Highstead Foundation in addition to ongoing support from the National Science Foundation's Long Term Ecological Research program and other private funders.  

Learn More about the Our Changing Forests Schoolyard Ecology Project:

• Northshore Magazine Article featuring this project:  :http://www.nshoremag.com/September-2016/student-scientists
• Project Protocols and Resources: Our Changing Forests Webpages
• Online database: Harvard Forest Schoolyard Database

What did Spring Look Like for Harvard Forest Ecologists?

Two Harvard Forest Scientists share with us what spring looked like through the lense of their data.

From Ecologist Joshua Rapp:  

Joshua Rapp is a plant ecologist interested in how life history influences the interactions of plants with their environments, and ecosystem processes.  He is currently a Bullard Fellow at Harvard Forest, and will serve as the project Ecologist for the Our Changing Forests project Summer Institute for Teachers on August 25th.  

Maple Syrup Season

From the maple tapper’s perspective it was an early spring. You can see a graph comparing the past few years at HF and my comments on the maple sugaring season here:

Some excerpts from Joshua's website related to the maple syrup research give a summary of what Spring looked like in the world of Maple Syrup.  

I tapped the trees on February 1, the earliest I’ve tapped by more than 2 weeks, and collected sap throughout the first week of February.

March 30, 2016. The tapping season is officially over – cold nights and warm days of late have not resulted in dripping taps. This is not because the sap isn’t flowing in the trees; instead, the taps have become clogged with bacteria, which also clouds the little sap that does manage to drip from the taps. A warm spell 3 weeks ago caused the end of big flows, although sap continued to dribble out for a while, at least in the sugar maples. Overall, the early season was good for sap flow -second largest in the past 5 years, but only an average year for syrup since the sugar content of the sap was on the low side – second lowest in the past 5 years. I collected sap 25 times, the most I’ve done in a year. Most of the sap flows were low to moderate, but a few were quite high, including the 2 biggest one-day flows I’ve seen.

Maple and Oak Flowering: 

Joshua Rapp's research is looking to see connections between maple tree's production of sugar and masting.  Masting is a term that means synchronous production of seeds over large geographic areas. Think acorns or samaras.  Flowering is the precursor of fruit production so that is looked as as well.  It is thought that there is a tradeoff in energy the tree spends on sugar production vs. flower and seed production but it is not well studied. 

Re: Flowering this spring:  It was a slightly early and low-moderate flowering year for sugar maple. In the attached figure (below), a couple of sugar maples on the right side of the road are flowering, but the ones on the left side are not.

From what I observed, it was a very high flowering year for red oak, and the trees had many small 2nd year acorns. Red oaks take two years to mature acorns, so last year’s pollinated female flowers are small acorns this spring and will be full size by fall. This year’s fertilized ovules will become mature acorns next fall. It will be interesting to see if this results in two red oak mast years in a row (this year and next). 

 

Canopy View of Oak Flowering at Harvard Forest by Joshua Rapp

To see more about Joshua Rapp's Masting and Maple Syrup research go to his website at: 

http://joshuamrapp.com/2016/02/early-tapping-at-harvard-forest/

 To see recent articles and radio stories about Joshua's research this winter and spring, see:  

 The Post-Tribune, Chicago Tonight, and Indiana Public Radio each did articles about Josh's newest sample site at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. 

The Worcester Telegram ran a story. Climate Central also published a piece. Also see:  MassLive, WWLP-22News, the Westfield News and The Recorder. 

To see more about the Our Changing Forests Schoolyard Ecology project, go to:

http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/Our_Changing_Forests

To begin the Our Changing Forests Schoolyard Ecology project for students in grades 7-12, see the flyer and registration form at:

http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/sites/harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/files/Changing%20Forests%20flyer%20and%20form-2016.pdf

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From Buds, Leaves and Global Warming Project Ecologist, John O'Keefe: 

John O'Keefe has been studying tree phenology at Harvard Forest for 26 years.  He monitors when leaves emerge in the spring (bud break) and when the leaves drop in the fall (leaf fall) in order to determine whether the growing season is getting longer as a result of global climate change.  In summarizing his spring 2016  tree phenology research, John O'Keefe  had this to say: 

I  just finished entering this spring’s data and calculating the bud break dates.  As I suspected, despite the record warm winter and early spring, the cool, cloudy April really slowed things down and we wound up with quite a late spring.  Once the leaves emerged the weather warmed up and they developed fairly rapidly, so the 75% leaf development date wasn’t especially late.  This points out that it is really the weather during April and early May that determines when leaf emergence will occur.  

See graphs below from John O'Keefe: 

 Note that 2016 was one of the 5 latest 50 percent Budburst date from this 26 year study.  

Note that this graph shows the mean 75%  leaf development over 26 years.  This year seems to be later than average but not among the top 5 latest as was bud break.  

This is a complex figure showing the Mean 50%  budbreak, 75% leaf development and 50% leaf fall for 4 tree species all on one graph.  

Notes to help interpret the key:   Species ACRUBB stands for Acer Rubrum (Red Maple) bud break.  The BEALBB is a birch species bud break. QURUBB is Red Oak, QUALBB is White oak budbreak...ACRU 75 is the 75%Leaf development for Red Maple,  etc.  The ACRUL50 depicts the leaf drop date for Red Maple, and so on.    

It is helpful to see the overall trends all together here to see overall patterns.  The bottom set of lines shows Spring data over time while the top set of lines shows the fall data over time.  

To see more about John O'Keefe's own long term research go to:

http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu:8080/exist/xquery/data.xq?id=hf003

To see more about the Buds, Leaves and Global Warming Schoolyard Ecology project for students in grades 4-12, go to:

http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/buds-leaves-global-warming

To begin the the Buds, Leaves and Global Warming study, see our flyer and registration form for the Summer Institute for Teachers at:

http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/workshops

_________________________________________________________________________________

Late Sap Flow-Maple Syrup Phenology

According to Harvard Forest researcher, Joshua Rapp, Maple "sap is flowing, but we are way behind this time the last couple of years at this point. This figure shows just how slow the things are going this year."  See his figures below: