NPN Planning Workshop

August 22-26, 2005

Canada Plantwatch

Elisabeth Beaubien

Plantwatch National Coordinator

BioScience Department

University of Alberta, Edmonton

1. Brief History

2. Coordination, Partners

3. Promotion

4. Observers

5. Plants Observed

6. Phenophases (growth stages)

7. Funding

8. Results

9. Challenges and Strengths of Canada Plantwatch

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Thermopsis

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Phenological Observation locations:Royal Society dataset 1893-1922

Canada Plantwatch

• 1987 – “Alberta Wildflower Survey”

• 1995 – Canada Plantwatch based at University of Alberta: 8 plants, international lilac data (www.devonian.ualberta.ca/pwatch)

• In 2000, expansion thanks to Environment Canada’s EMAN CO office, and Canadian Nature Federation (now ‘Nature Canada’)

•www.plantwatch.ca : observers see their data mapped immediately

Project Coordination: Partners

• 13 regional coordinators (one in every province and territory)

• national coordinator

• Environment Canada EMAN-CO

• Nature Canada

Ice as a National Indicator

Program Promotion

Booklets “Plantwatch: Canada in Bloom” , English and French

Webpage: www.plantwatch.ca , 2 languages

Via articles in media/ magazines and regional newsletters

OTHER PRODUCTS:

Teacher Guide (100 p) at www.devonian.ualberta.ca/pwatch

For Northern Canada: Plantwatch north booklet, poster, pins,

Webpage www.emannorth.ca/plantwatch/main.cfm

Observers

• Naturalists, gardeners, volunteer weather observers, ranchers, fire tower watchers, dog walkers

• Teachers and students

• Program of special interest to the retired (have time to do daily observations)

Data reporting

• Internet : to 2 sites– EMAN: 2900 observations since 2002, each

coordinator has access to data for their region– University of Alberta website

• By mail, email, fax: regional data sheets go to coordinators who enter and archive

Plants observed

• About 40 species across Canada

• Each region uses subset, ranges from only 7 plant species in Nunavut, to 21 in Alberta

• Includes trees, shrubs, herbs (wildflowers)

• Selection based on developed criteria

Program funding

• Federal government supports website, conference calls, some meetings

• Regional coordinators find own funding

• Coalitions such as PlantWatch North, national coordinator, EMAN N coordinator have been successful

Trends in Canadian data

• Spring is coming earlier in the west

• Prunus virginiana (Chokecherry): 5 days earlier over 65 years

• Populus tremuloides (Aspen poplar): 26 days earlier over 100 years

First bloom: Populus tremuloides,Edmonton, Alberta

r2 = 0.3461

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Program Challenges: include

finding ongoing $ to support:

• coordinator calls and meetings, to exchange ideas and develop proposals

• regional coordination: tasks of promotion, volunteer management and communication (newsletters etc), data entry and analysis

• recruiting, training and keeping quality observers

Program Strengths

13 regional coordinators with great ideas and energy, and strong cooperation among northern coordinators

• federal government keen on “citizen science” initiatives

• support from public as observers

• long history of phenology in some parts of Canada

Thanks to these partners !

Plantwatch coordinators in every province and territory

Environment Canada: EcoAction program Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network

Northern Ecosystems Initiative

Meteorological Service of Canada

University of Alberta: BioSciences DepartmentDevonian Botanic Garden

Nature Canada

Properly recorded and correctly interpreted, there is nothing perhaps to equal the records of the dates of periodical events in plants and animals as indices to the bioclimatic character of a place or local area,

because such events are in direct response, not to one or a few, but to all the complex elements and factors of the environment,

which no artificial instrument, or set of instruments, yet available, will record.

…..A.D. Hopkins, 1918