Grant - an easy kind of data to collect, which would be good to
document, is the phenology of some of the local plants (or
animals). E.g., when are the plants flowering or fruiting? When are
animals breeding/nesting? You could get an idea of the kinds of data
to record by looking at the USA National Phenology Network's Web
page. http://www.usanpn.org/. Those data are of interest to
pollination biologists for example (when are different flowers
available for pollinators?), and a year of data would provide a
baseline for future comparisons in the context of climate change (is
the timing of flowering, breeding, etc. changing?). I do
phenological research in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, visit my 2x2m
plots every other day all summer, to count every flower in them, but
even weekly counts would be useful.
David Inouye
Dr. David W. Inouye, Professor
Associate Chair, Director of Graduate Studies
Dept. of Biology
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742-4415
Rocky Mtn. Biological Laboratory
PO Box 519
Crested Butte, CO 81224
[email protected]
301-405-6946
