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Harvard Forest REU Symposium Abstract 2011
- Title: Observing Phenological Events in Vegetation through Technological Methods
- Author: Lakeitha C Mitchell (Lincoln University (Missouri))
- Abstract:
Phenology is the study of periodic plant and animal life cycle events. Phenology has been shown to be a robust indicator of climate change, as plant phenology is driven by temperature and photoperiod. Consequently, life cycles are responsive to diverse environmental factors such as temperature and overall climate. In the past, many phenological studies have been in situ field observations. In general, these observations are time consuming, proven to be inconsistent amongst observers, and often limited in their spatial extent. Using near-surface remote sensing with webcams, most of these issues can be addressed as measurements that have a high temporal frequency, covering a large spatial extent, and are unbiased. Furthermore, the webcams provide a bridge between the spatial scales of ground observations and the scale of satellite remote sensing observations. The Phenocam Network is a national phenology observation network which gathers digital images from cameras installed at research forests and National Parks. The network consists of 24 core sites and 63 affiliated sites from around the country and a few outside the country. We used the digital images taken by the phenocams and visually determined when budburst, full canopy of deciduous vegetation, beginning of senescence, maximum coloration and dormancy occurred. In addition, similar dates were retrieved from the MODIS phenology product (MCD12Q2), and algorithmically determined based upon the image time series. Preliminary results comparing all these data suggest that each of these methods have consistent biases. The results improved the understanding of the mechanisms that determine observational differences at regional to continental scales using two data sources and three methods. These results will be used to develop models to predict ecosystem response to climate change in the future.
- Research Category: Biodiversity Studies
