Hi Jackie - sounds like you need good maple seed phenology data, for the entire eastern seaboard of the US, in real-time, and on very short notice.
No problem. I'd suggest you use the USA National Phenology Network viz tool to find reports of leafing, flowering and seed production of A. rubrum along your proposed route... Check out the tool at http://www.usanpn.org/results/visualizations Click to access the tool, type in red maple under select species, click on red mapale (5572 observations since 2009), click add to list and then map. Follow this link I built for you for a shortcut: http://www.usanpn.org/files/viz/index.html#animation=true&speciesIDs=3&lat=42.871307252329416&lng=-84.87213134765597&zoom=4&type=Terrain&time=1293865200000&sy=2011&ey=2012&fps=8&mw=3&cliViz=false The legend shows the short names of phenophases that have slight variations over time (documented elsewhere on the site). I selected only the fruits/ripe fruits phenophase, and use the animation tool to to show reports of fruits/ripe fruits this spring (change start year to 2012). There are lots of reports, from GA to ME, already. You can zoom in or out, of course, or click on an individual station to get a detailed report (i.e., graphing the raw data) by species or by individual organism. Then, download the dataset as xml or csv, grab some energy drinks, and get driving! Jake ****** Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:07:01 -0400 From: Jacqueline Mohan <[email protected]> Subject: status of red maple (Acer rubrum) seeds in Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states? Hello, My lab and I will be driving this weekend from Athens, GA to Petersham, MA and returning end of next week. We are hoping to collect seeds from maternal red maple trees nested within populations up and down the east coast for an experiment examining importance of geographical genetic variation in response to changing environments. We can drive though the mountains of PA and NY into CT, or take a coastal route. Seeds in NC where ready several weeks back, so concentrating on the north. I would greatly appreciate any information as to the availability and potential viability of red maple seeds in your area. Generally, if seeds fall plentifully when tree branches are shaken, or if they are already falling naturally onto the ground, I assume they are likely viable. Please advice as to the status at your location, and thank you very much! We'll use this info to help plan our trips. Dr. Jackie Mohan ************ Ecologist, US Geological Survey Executive Director, USA National Phenology Network National Coordinating Office 1955 East 6th Street Tucson, AZ 85721 Phone: (520) 626-3821 Fax: (520) 621-7834 E-mail: [email protected] NPN homepage: http://www.usanpn.org/
