In a New Twist, Technology Encourages Participation in Outdoor Activity

Most of us don’t think of computers, digital cameras, and cell phones as tools that can give voice to the outdoor world. But Project BudBurst, an online citizen science field campaign that collects observations about plants across the country, is hoping they will be used for just that.

Spring is a critical time for observations on the timing of budburst – when flowers and foliage first open – and scientists are able to use data collected by Project BudBurst participants to better understand how that timing can be affected by changing climates. Participating in Project BudBurst only requires that one head outdoors, adopt a plant to watch, make simple observations as the plant grows through the seasons, and share findings with others online.

Project BudBurst is always looking for additional participants to contribute to its growing national community, particularly at the beginning of spring. The program recently moved to the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON). This move has allowed Project BudBurst to begin offering enhanced tools and resources to make contributions easier and more interactive for its users, which number in the thousands and include people from all 50 states. Such tools include an enhanced Web site and user-friendly mobile application that expected to be complete in late spring.

“Project BudBurst is committed to contributing to climate science research by making data collection and reporting more engaging and useful,” said Sandra Henderson, the program’s Executive Director. “The data being collected by Project BudBurst participants would not otherwise be available to scientists. We are really excited about the quality of data that is being submitted by people from all over the country.”

Project BudBurst has been collecting observations taken by citizen scientists since 2007. The data are being collected in a consistent manner across the country so that scientists can use the data to learn more about the responsiveness of individual plant species to changes in climate locally, regionally, and nationally.

NEON is a new continental-scale ecological observatory, and Project BudBurst will provide an established platform for NEON to learn about and prototype citizen science approaches. It will base out of the Education and Public Engagement Department at NEON and be co-managed by the Chicago Botanic Garden.

“The data from Project BudBurst are already proving to be quite useful,” said Dr. Kayri Havens, the program’s Lead Botanist and Director of Plant Science and Conservation at the Chicago Botanic Garden. “We are making comparisons between recent BudBurst data and historical phenology records and finding many species, particularly those that bloom in the spring, are blooming earlier. This corresponds with the warmer years we’ve been experiencing over the past decade or so, “she said.

For more information or to participate, go to BudBurst.org.

How the project works:
Each participant in Project BudBurst selects one or more plants to observe. The project website suggests more than 75 widely distributed trees and flowers, with information on each. Users can add their plants of their own choice. Participants begin checking their plants at least a week prior to the average date of budburst – the point when the buds have opened and leaves are visible. After budburst, participants continue to observe the tree or flower for later events, such as seed dispersal. When participants submit their records online, they can view maps of such data contributed by themselves and others across the United States.

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NEON, Inc. is an independent 501(c)(3) corporation created to enable understanding and forecasting of the impacts of climate change, land-use change, and invasive species on continental-scale ecology. The Observatory will be the first of its kind to collect ecological data at continental scales over multiple decades, which will be readily available to scientists, educators, students, decision makers and the public to use to understand and address ecological questions and issues. The NEON Observatory is a project sponsored by the National Science Foundation and managed under cooperative agreement by NEON, Inc. For more information, please visit www.neoninc.org.

The Chicago Botanic Garden is a 385-acre living plant museum featuring 24 distinct display gardens and four natural areas. The Chicago Botanic Garden is managed by the Chicago Horticultural Society. It opened to the public in 1972 and is home to the Joseph Regenstein, Jr. School of the Chicago Botanic Garden, offering a broad array of adult classes in plant science, landscape design and gardening arts. Nearly 200 Garden scientists work at the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Plant Conservation Center, on research and environmental initiatives that have local, regional and global impact. The Center for Teaching and Learning brings the wonder of nature and plants to children, teens and teachers with hundreds of summer camp, family and teacher training programs. The Garden's Horticultural Therapy and Community Gardening programs provide nationally recognized community outreach and service programs. The Garden is also breaking new ground in urban horticulture and jobs training through its Windy City Harvest program, which offers a certificate in Sustainable Horticulture and Urban Agriculture in cooperation with City Colleges of Chicago. For more information about the Chicago Botanic Garden, go to www.chicagobotanic.org.