Lamb or Lion? What is in store for trees, salamanders and us in this unusual season?

Will this "early spring" weather last through the season???  

  

Red Maple Buds from Hollis High School, New Hampshire.  Photo by Maryanne Rotelli

Schoolyard Ecology teacher, Maryanne Rotelli, commented,

Got the kids out before the nor'easter forecasted for Monday. Here are a couple of pictures of one of our red maples with flower buds. The other two red maples in our study are smaller and a little more sheltered and though they show signs of bud formation they aren't as far along as this tree. 

Harvard Forest Researcher, John O'Keefe is predicting "it should be quite an early spring but we'll see. We might have a 1/4 foot of snow on the ground early next week and we'll see what happens". Overall though he  expects that tree buds will "burst" early this year.  

Come to the Spring Workshop for Teachers at Harvard Forest on March 31st  to learn more about tracking this "early spring".  Email Pamela Snow at:  psnow@fas.harvard.edu to register.  

How do  you and your students think this cold weather will impact our trees?  

Speaking of Maples,  Harvard Forest Bullard Fellow Josh Rapp has been all over the news for his sugar maple research.  

Photos of Maple Syrup collection bags (left) and Maple Researcher, Joshua Rapp (right) are from the Worcester Telegram  and Gazette.



Up until now this has been a story about a remarkably early Maple Sugaring season. It might be worthwhile to share the following  great articles and videos with your students to get them thinking about erratic nature of our climate as evidenced in this crazy early spring we've been having.

While most of us think of March as the beginning of Maple Season in Massachusetts, this year, Joshua Rapp began collecting sap at Harvard Forest on Feb. 1st.  This is about a month and a half earlier than last year, which was a relatively late sugaring season.

Recent weather has been warm enough to stop the sap flow. Maple sap flows best when night time temperatures go below freezing and day time temps are above freezing.  Researcher  Rapp expects temperatures to fall back to more spring-like levels, allowing the flow to start again. Stay tuned to see if he's right!


Access the recent  article and video in the Worcester Telegram  news clips (Chicago Tribune, NY times, etc.)  as well as Dr. Rapp's website and photo gallery in the HF homepage highlight put together by Clarisse Hart. in the link below.

HF homepage highlight

Lots of salamanders, spring peepers and wood frogs have been on the move according to the Vernal Pool Listserv reports flooding my email inbox since early March.   

So far Salamander migration this year has looked like this....

Will some late migrants be having travel across this? 

Photos from The Vernal Pool Association

To get a sense of how the amphibian migration is playing out across New England, here are some excerpts I have compiled:

Female Wood Frog with Eggs

Migration begins in  Southeastern Massachusetts and Connecticut  on February 24th!!

Last night, my open-window olfactory survey was ineffective, as the high winds, heavy rains, and volume of freshly crushed tree limbs disguised the road surface and the masked the smell of the carnage.  This morning, after the sun rose while the roads were still wet, some of that carnage remained and it’s apparent that Spotted Salamanders and Wood Frogs moved in large numbers, last night in Moosup, CT.

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February 24:  Saw two spotted salamanders and three wood frogs in S. Easton, MA, tonight. We might see a big push if it rains in the next couple of weeks!

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March 9th:  

hi folks!  Just reporting a cacophony of wood frogs vocalizing in Wheaton's vernal pools this afternoon

From the north shore of Boston:

I checked a vernal pool in Lynn Woods on 3/11/16 and saw LOTS of spotted salamander spermatophores. I heard one lonely wood frog calling but no chorus or eggs yet. I imagine it's happened since all the rain we had this week, but haven't been back up to check yet. 

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There were some peepers calling in Reading today. Pools were really low here, and I'm seeing that condition across a lot of NE Mass. Expecting some action tonight north of Boston.

From Metro-West of Boston:  

From Lexington, MA on March 11th :   

(A) BIG NIGHT at Minuteman Tech in Lexington MA !!  4 or more spotted salamander congresses at at one of Minuteman's upper twin pools, maybe 80-100 total.  Already spermatophores, but we did find some active "parties." Saw fairy shrimp in the other upper pool, but only one salamander.  Usually there are more.  Lower pond near power station had around 20 salamanders that seemed to just gathering for a congress with a few newly deposited spermatophores.   Also wood frogs breeding (plus saw some green frogs and bullfrogs and heard peepers).  Water level is unusually low.  This is one of the 3 earliest "Big Nights" in the 27 years I've been going out (Other years = March 9, 1998, 2001)  Happy Spring!!  Fran Ludwig

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From our HF Schoolyard Vernal Pool project leader, in Lincoln, Ma., Sally Farrow on March 12, 2016:  

At Drumlin Farm in Lincoln MA yellow spotted salamanders were seen in Ice pond and the Old Deer pen vernal pool. Wood Frogs were found in 4 ponds. We have fairy shrimp in 3 vernal pools. No egg masses or migrating salamanders were seen. We will keep checking. Our ponds are lower this year and we continue to follow the hydrology of our 8 ponds as part of the Harvard Forest Schoolyard LTER program.

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From Maynard, Mass.on March 11:  

In a little survey this weekend of vernal pools I found 7 in Maynard dry to almost no water. One location that has 5 together within 200 yards two of the pools I have never in 26 years seen dry till this year.  In Stow two Vp I checked one was 70 percent smaller and only 4 inches of water. The other had typical amount of water about the same as last year. This pool had spermataphores but both had no calling wood frogs or peepers. In Littleton one pool was mostly a puddle and another had a couple feet of water albeit 4 feet lower than last year.

From  Concord Area of New Hampshire: 

 March 12: 

Heard wood frogs chorus today for the first time this year in Jefferson 

(01522), at the pool across the road. Some at least must have crossed 

Thursday or early Friday, since fresh frog corpses on the road today. 

The pool is at least 12"lower than usual, and greatly contracted. Eggs 

next week?

From Central Massachusetts:

Montague and Amherst Ma. on March 11:

Light rain in the 50s this evening (3/11). Enormous wood frog numbers and two Jefferson-type salamanders crossing road in Montague, MA around 8:30pm, with peepers and wood frogs chorusing. Around 11, there were 6 more jeffs at that site, one spotted there and a couple spotteds elsewhere in Montague. In Amherst around 9, there was a slow but steady flow of male and female spotted salamanders to the Henry street site, a few peepers and wood frogs and lots more people.

From Western Massachusetts:

Whately, Franklin County on March 17:   

Arrived home from work about 9pm through hard rain, and found lots of Spotted Salamanders, Wood Frogs, and peepers on the roads--many more than were evident during 3/10 rains last week.  Lots of calling peepers and Wood Frogs in the pools, too, though that has been the case all this past week.  We headed over to our Williamsburg site and found one Jefferson salamander in the pool, along with one Painted Turtle suspended in the water column--our first reptile of the year--and many, many Fairy Shrimp, leeches, and Red-spotted Newts.  Every Spotted Salamander we picked up, whether at the house, in Williamsburg, or in between, was a male.

I"ve noticed some themes in the entries above:  

1.  Most folks seeing early migration of amphibians to vernal pools.

2. Many folks noticing lower than normal water levels in pools.

When have you and your students found evidence of amphibian migration near you this season??? 

To see a brief video produced this Month in Smithfield, RI. as part of a series by Jonathan Twining called, Vernal Pool Chronicles , go to YouTube page (youtube.com/vernalpoolchronicles).  

Jonathan suggests, If you are looking for tools to capture good underwater video of amphibians in vernal pools, I highly recommend using GoPro cameras with LumeCube lighting (lumecube.com).  The Lume Cubes are waterproof and can be used for both video lights and flashes for photography.  They work very well.

In case you want to get MANY more updates on vernal pools throughout the region you can sign up for this free listserv described below, or look for the Vernal Pool Association's website and Facebook page.  

The Vernal Pool Listserv provides a forum to discuss topics relating to vernal pools and vernal pool ecology. This group is unmoderated, but is monitored by Vernal Pool Association (www.vernalpool.org). Discussion is encouraged about scientific research, on-going vernal pool education projects at the elementary through graduate school levels, and about the first spotted salamander sightings of spring, among other things.

http://www.vernalpool.org/listserv.html

What does your Spring look like????

Please send us photos of your field site before and/or after the predicted cold spell to help us tell how this story plays out! 

A Peek at Student Learning; Graphs,and Notes from Schoolyard Students

What do Students Understand from Schoolyard Ecology?

A Collection of Samples of Student Work related to Harvard Forest Schoolyard Ecology studies

This illustrated poem was excerpted from  a  final report from a High School student in Jana Matthei's Notre Dame Academy Environmental Studies class in Hingham, MA.    

At Harvard Forest, we are very interested in getting a sense of the learning outcomes for students engaged in our Schoolyard Ecology projects.   One of the most direct ways to do this is to look at student work related to project themes.   Last year's blog of student samples related to the Vernal Pool project. This year, we have some samples related to the ever popular, Buds, Leaves and Global Warming project.  

Sample introduction, graphs, and conclusion from students at Notre Dame Academy:  

Harvard Forest Introduction:

Over a period of five weeks, my group and I observed two branches on our Red Maple tree. The common name is Red Maple, while the scientific name is Acer rubrum. The Red Maple normally begins budding during late winter-early spring. It buds earlier than most other trees during the springtime and it is one of the first to change color during the fall. Because the leaves on the Red Maple bud earlier than other trees, I predict that senescence will occur earlier than other trees. The Red Maple is one of the most widespread trees found in North America and can grow between 60-75 feet tall. The Red Maple is considered a deciduous tree and is best grown in wet areas. We examined the color change of the leaves and when they fell off of the trees, which marks the end of the growing period. My group and I were nicknamed, “The Tree Huggers” and on both branches we observed six different leaves. We calculated the percentage of leaves that were not green on Branch A and Branch B. Each week, my group and I recorded our outdoor observations about the weather, temperature, and how much of the leaves were eaten by insects. Our Honors Environmental science class is learning about phenology, which is the effect that climate is having on the trees, study of the life cycles, and how the leaves are changing due to climate.

Sample Graph from Student Report

Students formed conclusions about what their  tree phenology data were saying:  

Conclusion:

After reviewing the results of the other trees in my Honors Environmental Science class, I came to the realization that the Red Maple tree does not have the longest growing period. Based on the results in the table, I concluded that one of the Black Oak trees, one of the Black Birch trees and one of the Black Cherry trees began their growing period on the same day as the Red Maple tree.  The tree with the longest growing period is the Black Oak tree, while the tree with the shortest growing period is the Black Birch. The Shagbark Hickory has the earliest beginning of the growing period. Although the Red Maple tree is one of the trees that flowers earlier than most trees, it does not have the longest growing season. I predict that the Red Maple tree’s growing period varies depending on the climate in the fall and in the winter. I think that if there is a rainy spring, the leaves will begin to bud earlier verses when there is a dry spring. There are some modifications that I would make to the project. I think that students should upload information onto a class discussion board on the portal.  Everyone would be able to share information with one another about various tree growths, leaf fall, weather notes and observations. Next year, I think that students should find a way to use the excel document on the iPads because there were many technological difficulties with the computers.  

Another Sample Student Graph from Notre Dame Academy

See two complete student Phenology study reports at: 

Student Phenology Report Sample 1.pdf

and 

Student Phenology Report Sample 2.pdf

Samples of data analysis work done at Holyoke Catholic High School: 

Students in Lise Letellier's Holyoke Catholic High School freshman Environmental Science class first input field data onto an Excel worksheet including growing season calculations

Students then entered the growing season length  from larger table on this individual table in order to develop bar graph to the right.

After producing a variety of graphs, students formed a conclusion about what the data for their project was indicating.  

A student with severe learning challenges, formed the following conclusion from their study:

Conclusion


The purpose of this observational study is to determine if there are any patterns in the lengths 
of growing season of different types of trees and the different years of each tree. We are also trying to determine if the growing season length of the trees is getting shorter, longer, or staying the same over the years. At first it seemed that the data of this tree was very random and had no pattern but after comparing it to the data of other trees of the same species I can tell that the trees growing seasons are very slowly getting shorter and shorter every year and may continue to get shorter as the years go on. The average growing season of the tree is about 180 days long but shortens about 5 to 10 days every year. I think this will continue until the tree either stops producing leaves or will eventually die. The earliest growing season started for this tree was in 2012 where the leaves started to bud at around April 13th. The latest growing season it had ended was in 2013 where 100 percent of the leaves had fallen by November 2nd. The latest growing season had started was in 2014 starting at around April 28th and the earliest a growing season had ended was in 2015 ending at around October 25th. So far this information makes me assume that the older the tree gets, the growing seasons may be getting shorter and shorter every year.

An honors student formed this summary from their analysis of project data:   

Summary:
The purpose of these observations is to answer the questions of when the growing season starts and ends. It also answers how long the growing season is and if the length of the growing season is changing. In order to answer these questions data was collected on leaf growth and budburst in the spring and on the percent of leaves fallen and the tree color in the fall. This is the data collected for Tree 17. Tree 17 is a crabapple tree on Springfield Street.
Tree 17’s growing season started the earliest in 2012. The leaves started growing the earliest and were the longest this year. The buds were 100% open before the observations started. In 2013, the leaves started growing later and took longer to reach their maximum length. In 2014, the leaves took the longest to start growing and reached 100% budburst the latest. This shows that the growing season has been starting later for Tree 17 over the years.
In 2012, the leaves started falling the earliest. In 2013, the leaves started to fall the latest, but 100% of the leaves were fallen the soonest. Also in 2013, the tree took the longest to start changing color and took the longest to reach 100% not green. In 2014, the tree color started changing the earliest and reached 100% not green the earliest. In 2015, the leaves took the longest to all fall off. As years have progressed, it has taken longer for all of the leaves to fall off, except for 2012, which was in between 2014 and 2015.

There was only enough data to calculate a definite growing season for 2013 and 2014. For 2012, only the minimum growing season could be calculated. There was no data for spring 2015 so no growing season could be calculated for that year. The growing season for 2012 is equal or greater to 228 days. This is the longest of the calculated growing seasons. The growing season for 2013 is 208 days, and the growing season for 2014 was 205 days. 2014 had the shorted growing season of the calculated years. The growing season of Tree 17 decreased over time. There was a large decrease between 2012 and 2013 and a smaller decrease between 2013 and 2014.
Tree 17’s spring and fall data was compared to that of Tree 24. Both trees are crabapple trees. Both trees had their earliest budburst in 2012. In addition, for both trees, the year in which they took the longest to drop all of their leaves was 2015. Unlike Tree 17, Tree 24 started to lose its leaves earliest in 2013.
Tree 17’s data was also compared to that of Tree 12. Tree 12 is an exotic cherry. In all years, the leaves on Tree 24 started falling earlier and reached 100% fallen sooner than the leaves on Tree 17. In 2012, the budburst for Tree 17 started earlier than the budburst for Tree 24. Both trees had very rapid budburst in 2013 and 2014. In 2013, the budburst for both trees started and ended on the same dates and in 2014 the budburst started on the same date for both trees.

Overall, Tree 17’s data shows that the growing season has been starting later, ending later and that the overall growing season has been becoming shorter over time.

A "regular" level student make the following analysis:

Questions:
1. Yes, I can determine how long my tree’s growing season is. In 2012 the growing season started around April 23 and ended around October 28. In 2013, the growing season started around April 26 and ended around October 29. In 2014, the growing season began around May 8 and ended around October 31. In 2015, the growing season began around May 6 and ended on November 9. The growing season was about six months in 2012. In 2013, the growing season was about six months also. In 2014, the growing season was about a little less than six months. In 2015, the growing season was about six months also.
2. The leaves burst out first in 2013 around April 23. The leaves fell off first around in 2012. The leaves burst out last in 2014 around May 8. The leaves fell off last in 2015 around November 9.
3. In comparison to my data, Tree #4, which is a Hawthorn also, in 2012 had the same growing season. In 2013, they again have similar growing seasons. In 2014, there is no data for the start of the growing season, but they end around the same date. In 2015, tree #4’s growing season starts within a week of each other but there is no data of tree #4’s growing season ending.
4. In comparison to my data, Tree #1, which is an Eastern Hornbeam, the growing season in 2012 and 2013 started around the middle of April and ended around the middle of November. In 2014 and 2015 the growing season started around the end of April and the beginning of May and ended around the end of November. Their growing season is longer because it starts around the same time but ends later.

5. The tree’s growing season in the last four years have all been around six months, but each year the leaves burst later each year except for in 2013, and the leaves fell off later each year.


Results Statement:
The growing seasons of the trees on our campus were observed. The growing season of Tree 3 – Hawthorn in 2012 was about 190 days, in 2013 was about 180 days, in 2014 was about 180 days also, and for 2015, we were unable to calculate the data because we did not have the data entered for when the leaves were 50% fallen. Tree 20 – Red Maple’s growing season was about 185 days in 2012, 2013, and 2014. We were unable to determine the growing season for 2015 because the data was not entered for when the leaves reached 50% fallen.
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In order to compare the trends discussed in the  student work above, here is a graph by John O'Keefe of his own data recorded at Harvard Forest over 26 years, up through 2015:

We'd love to hear what teachers, educators, ecologists and other students have to say about what we are learning from this work, and what remains confusing or unknown.

Please provide feedback and questions about this blog entry directly or email Pamela at: psnow@fas.harvard.edu

Teacher Overview,  Directions and Rubric, along with more student work samples are available on our website. Search for these 9 documents under Buds, Leaves and Global Warming heading beginning with Letellier. 2016.http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/schoolyard/lesson-plans

To find these schools on our field site map and explore their data on our online database, go to: Schoolyard Buds and Leaves Field site Map

To see the field protocol and related materials for this Schoolyard Ecology study, go to:  http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/buds-leaves-global-warming

What Does Winter Look Like in Our Schoolyard Field Sites?

Winter Views of  the Vernal Pool Field Site at Parker Charter School, Devens, Ma. 

January 28, 2016

Photos by Judy Gibson

Teacher Judy Gibson noted the low water/ice level at the vernal pool this winter. In one spot,which receives the most sun, there was open water. Most unusual for January!  

The Francis Parker Charter School contributes to both the Vernal Pool and the Our Changing Forests Schoolyard Ecology studies.  

Photos by Sally Farrow

 

Students from Acton-Boxborough and Concord-Carlisle High Schools  serving as Eco Monitors for HF Schoolyard Field sites at Mass Audubon's Drumlin Farm in Lincoln, Ma.  

Drumlin Farm's Eco Monitors are contributing to the Buds, Leaves, and Global Warming and the Vernal Pool Schoolyard Ecology Studies at Ice Pond, Deer Pen pond, and Boyce Pond. 

What does your field site look like this winter? 

Please email photos to Pamela at: psnow@fas.harvard.edu  that can be shared on this blog. 

SAVE THE DATE- MARCH 31st-Spring Workshop

Harvard Forest Schoolyard Ecology Spring Workshop for Teachers  

MARCH 31, 2016 

 

Please schedule March 31st, 2016  for our Harvard Forest Schoolyard Ecology Spring Workshop for Teachers. 

Here's some basics on what to expect:   

TITLE OF COURSE: HARVARD FOREST SCHOOLYARD ECOLOGY SPRING WORKSHOP
 

Prerequisite:  Harvard Forest Summer Institute for Teachers

Professional Development Points (PDPs):  6 

Location, Date, Time:

HARVARD FOREST, PETERSHAM, MA;

March 31, 2016

8:30 A.M.-3:00 P.M.

Presenters:

JOHN O'KEEFE: Buds, Leaves, and Global Warming Project Ecologist

DAVID ORWIG: Woolly Bully and the Hemlock Trees Project  Ecologist

BETSY COLBURN:  Vernal Pools Project Ecologist

EMILY SILVER HUFF:  Our Changing Forests, Project Ecologist

5 SCHOOLYARD TEACHERS:  Presentations TBA-stay tuned for details.

Facilitator:

PAMELA SNOW, SCHOOLYARD COORDINATOR

Summary Description:

THE HARVARD FOREST offers a Schoolyard Ecology training workshop for teachers of grades 4-12 and environmental educators who have attended a summer institute and have collected fall data for the Forest Ecology Schoolyard studies.  Professional Forest Ecologists will prepare teachers to implement the spring field study protocols.  All teachers will participate in field walks with project ecologists.  Five experienced Schoolyard teachers will present related curriculum materials and student samples created throughout the school-year.

Goals:

• To provide further background knowledge of project related themes and processes, in order to enable educators to implement the spring project protocols with students.

• To encourage teacher networking and sharing of curriculum related to Schoolyard Ecology projects. 

Outcomes:

• Teachers will be prepared to lead students in implementing spring field protocols. 

• Teachers will be provided with peer developed curriculum insight, information, materials and/or student samples to aid in teaching project related themes.  

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Teacher Presenters Wanted:  

If you have developed some lesson plans, activities, or other educational resources that you would like to share with other Schoolyard teachers, we have 4 slots open for teacher presenters at our Spring Workshop on March 31st.  

Please contact Pamela Snow by email at:psnow@fas.harvard.edu for more information on what is involved in presenting.

Facing the Challenge of "Looking at Data" Together; Notes and Views from Schoolyard Ecology Data Workshop 2015

Photos by Greta VanScoy

I left the Looking at Data Workshop filled with inspiration and renewed optimism for this work we do together engaging children in schoolyard research.

As you will see from the graphs and comments from our exit survey, teachers seemed share in my optimism.   At the same time, I witnessed some folks who had frustrating moments and found this work to be challenging.  

I want to deeply honor everyone who had the courage to tackle the job of Looking at Data at our teacher workshop on Dec. 3rd at Harvard Forest. 

Teacher Feedback: 

I am just going to share 2 figures from our exit survey that perhaps give the most important feedback on the workshop and then share a range of teacher comments to show both the successes and challenges teachers experienced.  

As you can see above, most teachers went away from the workshop "extremely satisfied".  In thfigurebelow, you can see that while most of our participants felt they made significant progress 

towards their main goals, notice that one participant achieved significantly less progress than the 
others.

The teacher who expressed the least progress towards their goal stated:

• My goal was ambitious and I had fun getting sidetracked

More teacher comments reflecting the challenges of Looking at Data:

• The raw data from the field was very disorganized.
• This was a "wake up" call concerning my data. I was juggling so many other factors (losing trees, student access, safety) that it turns out I did not have as much data to determine growing season as I thought.
• I need to try and fail and fix, in order to translate the process for my students
• I wish I had entered the data ahead of time.
• I entered all of my data, which was a main goal for the day. I had difficulty making charts using Google Sheets because I was unfamiliar with the app. Having someone on hand who is familiar with Sheets would have been handy.

Teacher comments reflecting the successes of Looking at Data:

• "It was very helpful and it made me more confident in my understanding and usage of the data set. It also made me feel more confident in having my students use the data that they collected."
• I exceeded my goal and accomplished much more: calculating growing season, data entry of vp and phenology data, introducing Erin to HF and integrating her into the system, opportunity to share and collaborate with teachers and HF staff
• I have a better idea of the type of data that is available through the LTER database. I can identify reliable sources/complete data sources versus ones that have questionable reliability or ones that are incomplete.
• I learn more and more each time I come out... I always bring something back to my classroom that I can directly use.
• Graphs are wonderful and an important way to look at data. Betsy's presentation helped me to understand how to better look at graphs and how important it is to select the right graph for the data. For me graph reading can be challenging so any additional information and support I receive is so important. I suspect I am not the only person out there with graph reading challenges!

Many more  comments are available on the full survey. See link at bottom of this blog entry.

 

Challenges we experienced throughout the day that did not show up in the Survey:

• A first year teacher who had a high volume of data collected from her students found that there was not sufficient time to organize and submit all of the data in one session.  This is relatively common for first year teachers in the Buds, Leaves and Global Warming project.  While this project is by far our most popular, with very high success rates for data submittal, it is the most time consuming due to the sheer volume of data.  
• A long time contributor to the Buds and Leaves study was disappointed to find that her data was unable to tell the story of the changing length of the growing season due to a variety of issues with her field site shifts resulting from maintenance dept. tree cutting and snow removal, etc.  Another major obstacle in proved to be  insufficient data at the end of each growing season.
• Unclear protocol instructions related to showing the end of the growing season for beech and oak trees which often do not drop leaves in the fall was brought out in discussions with project staff. 
• A Changing Forests teacher found that the student data sheets were lacking important data points/information.  He did not have enough data to create a complete data set for this survey season.    
• Woolly Bully  teachers found that their one year of  data with zero adelgid yet found was not sufficient to create a meaningful graph. Cross site analysis was attempted but even there, graphing was not particularly worthwhile.  Project Ecologist, David Orwig, responded to these challenges by providing teachers with a broader data set to organize and graph,
• Technical difficulties on the part of HF staff in transferring and projecting documents from Mac users slowed the final presentation of teacher created graphs.

Teacher Followup:

• Now that they understand the process, Bud and Leaves new teachers will continue sorting, organizing, and submitting project data and emailing HF staff as questions arise.
• New Buds and Leaves teachers will have better sense of how to organize project data throughout the field season next time.
• Experienced Buds and Leaves teacher better understands the importance of sending students out to collect data at the end of the growing season and recording brown and crumpled beech and oak leaves as "fallen" in order to track the length of the growing season.
• Changing Forests Teacher will be aware of the need to double check student data sheets during field season in order to get a higher quality data set in the future.

Harvard Forest Staff  Follow-up:  

• We will work on revising the branch to tree level worksheet for easier use by teachers. Look for this in upcoming email notices.
• We are working on revising protocol materials and email messages to make the protocol for tracking the end of the growing season for oak and beech more clear.
• We will work to develop some guidelines for Mac users who want to share their graphs/work at HF so that we can project this work without as many interruptions in the future.
• We will become more familiar with Google Sheets prior to our next Data Workshop in order to better guide teachers using that program.

To see the entire exit survey with many more graphs and comments go to: https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-FQC22VRJ/

Slides from Looking at Data Workshop are posted on our website at:

Intro to Data Visualization by Betsy Colburn

Level I Data Workshop Presentation by Emery Boose

Show me a Picture and Tell me a Story; Looking at Data Presentation  by Betsy Colburn 

Stay Tuned for a follow-up document,  Looking at Data; Teacher-Created Graphs and Tables of Harvard Forest Schoolyard Ecology project data.  Look for an update with this document next month. 

THANK YOU to the Harvard Forest Staff  members who contributed to this workshop:  Betsy Colburn, Emery Boose, John O'Keefe, David Orwig, Greta VanScoy, Luca Morreale, Joshua Rapp, Clarisse Hart, Admin. crew, and Woods crew.

Kudos to Hubbard Brook Education representative, Jackie Wilson and NH Project Learning Tree Coordinator, Judy Silverberg for participating in this workshop.

Congratulations to teachers, Melanie McCracken, Louise Levy, Sally Farrow, Maryann Postans, Jana Matthai,  Mary Reed, Colleen Casey, Lori Primavera, Elisa Margarita, Warren Perdrizet, Jessica Farwell, Erin Pitkin, Meghan Lena, Sharon Desjarlais, Emilie Cushing, Thuy Bui, Sue Warburton, Mit Wanzer, and Maria Blewitt for taking your data skills to the next level!!! 

I Give Thanks For All You Contribute to Schoolyard Ecology work!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all the teachers, students, donors, and Harvard Forest scientists and staff who contribute to our Schoolyard Ecology studies and outreach.  I truly appreciate the manifold ways so many folks add to the larger effort.

Show us your fall colors!

What are the trees in your neck of the Woods looking like today? Let's take a look at Fall color changing in New England this season

Red Maple in mid October at Harvard Forest

Leaf Color Change From New York to New Hampshire

The Phenocam Network offers us a way of leaf peeping over time and across vast geographical ranges.  

I have put together some images from across the Harvard Forest Schoolyard Ecology region to show you how foliage color varied between September 28th and Oct. 30th, which was when most of the color change occurred in these sites. 

From the Southwestern end of our Region:  

From the Southeast:  

From the Northeast: 

From North Central Massachusetts:

A Bit Further North Central: 

• 
  

Northern-most View at High Elevation: 

Where does your site fit into this?  Show us your color!  If you have taken any photos of your field site this fall, please email me your photo with the date taken so I can post it here.

Thanks to Maryanne Rotelli from Hollis-Brookline High School for sending these 2 photos:

 Study Branch, 10-06-15

Hollis-Brookline High School Field Site in Southern New Hampshire 10-26-15

More about Fall Foliage:

• Photos of tree canopies throughout US and Canada.  Phenocam Network run by Harvard Ecologist, Andrew Richardson.  See: http://phenocam.sr.unh.edu/webcam/

• News Article: Dry summer delays peak foliage as trees prep from winter.  Oct. 2015 article from the Worcester Telegram and Gazette including quotes from Harvard Forest Schoolyard Ecologist, John O'Keefe: http://www.telegram article-fall foliage

• News Article: Fall Foliage; Leaves Could Change Color and Drop Later, Scientists Say. Nov. 2015 article from the Huffington Post refers to John O'Keefe's Fall phenology data at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/06/fall-leaves-color-change-leaf-drop_n_997981.htm

• Phenocam Lesson Plans for using  images and data with your students written by HF Schoolyard Teacher, Kate Bennett:  Phenocam Lesson Plans Part 1-Bennett-2012.pdf and Phenocam Lesson plans part 2-Bennett-2012.pdf

• Fall Foliage lesson plans by Schoolyard Teacher, Joann Mossman pages 2-6 of: http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/sites/harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/files/Mossman.%202014.%20Intro%20Lessons%20to%20Buds%2C%20Leaves%20Presentation.pdf

• Fall Color practice sheets for Buds and Leaves field study. Pages 7,10-14 at: http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/sites/harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/files/data/k12/sy001/Phenology%20Robichaud%202007.pdf