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Recent research on the study of the seasonal cycles of plants and animals will be presented during an Oct. 2 symposium that is free and open to the public.

Recent research on phenology will be presented at the third annual Phenology Research and Observations of Southwest Ecosystems symposium. 

The symposium, also known as PROSE, will be held at the University of Arizona Oct. 2, beginning at 8 a.m. in the Coyote Room of UA's Park Student Union, which is located just off the main campus at 615 N. Park Ave.

Walk-in registration begins at 8 a.m. on the day of the symposium, which is free and open to the public. Advance registration is available at the American Society for Photogrammetry & Remote Sensing Web site.

The society and the USA-National Phenology Network jointly organized the symposium. Additional details are available on the network's Web page. 

Abe Miller-Rushing of the USA-National Phenology Network will give the keynote address, "Henry David Thoreau's Contribution to Climate Change Science: How Climate Change is Restructuring Ecological Communities."

Thoreau kept meticulous records of flowering and other phenological events. Miller-Rushing will describe how he and his colleagues have used Thoreau's records to provide novel insights into rapid, climate-driven changes in plant and animal populations.

Phenology, the study of the seasonal cycles of plants and animals, involves investigating the timing of biological events, including plants sprouting, flowering and fruiting, and animals reproducing, migrating and hibernating. 

The PROSE symposium will include a discussion of how members of the public can become involved in the nation-wide effort to track nature's seasonal cycles. The event's program is available via the USA-National Phenology Network's Web site. The network, a multi-agency collaboration, is housed on the UA campus. 

The symposium will include presentations of phenological research conducted at locations including the Santa Catalina Mountains, Tumamoc Hill, along the US-Mexico border, the California coastal grasslands and also Turkmenistan, located in Central Asia.

"The most exciting thing for the public this year is that the Southwest Regional Phenology Network (SW-RPN), a network of volunteers, is basically ready for prime time," meeting co-organizer Cynthia Wallace, a research geographer for the U.S. Geological Survey wrote in an e-mail.

"The SW-RPN is ready for citizen scientists to observe and collect data on plants and animals in our area and input this information online," said Wallace, also the vice president of the Southwest U.S. region of the American Society for Photogrammetry & Remote Sensing. 

Wallace also noted that opportunities for involvement among community members will be presented during an afternoon talk with research specialist Theresa Crimmins, and also during a final update session.

Co-organizer Kathryn Thomas said the USA-NPN has a list of specific southwestern plant species that the network needs people to observe. The list of more than 200 species includes common plants such as saguaros, ocotillos and palo verdes.

Having more and better records of the timing of events such as the flowering of plants helps scientists understand more about the links between different parts of ecosystems. Changes in the timing of biological events can be indicators of environmental changes such as climate change.

The network includes all sorts of participants, from people who walk their dogs on the same route every day and can observe an individual plant to trained ecologists, said Thomas, also an ecologist with the USGS and the USA-NPN plant phenology program coordinator.

She said anyone can "adopt a plant and become a phenologist."