There is a season…
Earthwatch Australia have partnered with the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) and University of Melbourne to establish ‘Climate Watch’ the first large scale phenology network in Australia.
Phenology is the study of the timing of recurring natural events, such as the first flowering of a tree, the ripening of fruit and the first appearance of migratory birds, particularly in relation to climate.
In Europe there are examples of changes to insect activity resulting in poor chick survival rates – birds simply hatch too late to have enough insects to eat. Phenology can also have a direct link to our own lifestyles, providing indicators of change in the fields of agriculture and forestry.
In Britain this type of data is collected by a network of volunteers; 25,000 members of the public gather 600,000 records annually. The resulting data is used widely in climate change research and reporting.
Despite the existence of many volunteer organisations, no such network or data set to support climate change research exists in Australia. With funding from Land and Water Australia, Earthwatch and BOM will investigate establishing a network of ‘citizen scientists’ to collect this data in Australia.
The fi rst consultation workshop was held in September last year with participants from government, NGOs, IT specialists and scientists and regional trials are planned to begin later this year.
To see the Woodland Trust’s UK phenology network in action go to www.naturescalendar.org.uk and if you’d like to get involved in Climate Watch please call us on 03 9682 6828 or email earth@earthwatch.org.au