UA-based Program to Monitor Seasonal Wildlife Changes

The Office of Arid Lands Studies will become home to the USA National Phenology Network.

A new wildlife program will enlist both professional scientists and citizens across the country to monitor and record seasonal wildlife events to help managers understand and respond to climatic and other environmental changes.

The program will be housed at the National Coordinating Office of the USA National Phenology Network, or USA-NPN, and based in the Office of Arid Lands Studies at The University of Arizona.

The Wildlife Society, or TWS, and USA-NPN, announced the program as the second phase in the USA-NPN's monitoring efforts that began in 2007 with the Plant Phenology Program.

Phenology is the study of the seasonal timing of plant and animal life-cycle events such as bird, fish and mammal migration, emergence from hibernation and the leafing, blooming and fruiting of plants. Changes in the timing of these events are among the most sensitive biological responses to climate change. Over much of the world, spring events are occurring earlier. Consequently, many time-sensitive relationships, such as those between animals and their prey or plants and their pollinators, are being disrupted.

The program is designed to help wildlife managers quickly and effectively adapt to climate change, according to Michael Hutchins, executive director of TWS. 

A tremendous amount of knowledge can be gained from monitoring phenology, said Jake Weltzin, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist and executive director of USA-NPN. He is based at Arid Lands Studies. 

"We will gather information that can be used to predict migration times, disease spread, and ecosystem and animal distribution changes. This nationwide network will help provide decision-makers with the solid information they need," Weltzin said.

The USA-NPN aims to monitor and understand the influence of seasonal cycles on the nation's biological resources. It is a partnership of nongovernmental organizations, academia, citizen volunteers, federal agencies and others established to raise the understanding of phenology and the impacts that recent national and global changes in timing are already having or will have on plants, animals and ecosystems.

Although the monitoring programs of the USA-NPN will include scientists and land managers, the success of the program relies on the involvement of citizen scientists – from kindergartners to master gardeners, and from birdwatchers, frogwatchers and people from all walks of life who are interested in the world around them.