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View recordings, download slides, and view the Q&As from our previous webinars! Learn more about the specifics of monitoring using Nature's Notebook, previews of findings, how to visualize your own data, and more.
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Nature's Notebook Webinar Archive
View past webinars from 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017
2019 Nature's Notebook Webinars
Nature's Notebook Phenophase Questions, Answered!
Friday, March 1st, 2019, 10:00am PST, 11:00am MST (& AZ), 12:00pm CST, 1:00pm EST
Many people have questions about our Nature's Notebook protocols and phenophase definitions. We tackle our most frequently asked questions in the Phenophase Questions webinar.
2017 Nature's Notebook Webinars
Nature's Notebook Observation Deck Refresher Course
Friday, March 10th, 10:00am PST, 11:00am MST (& AZ), 12:00pm CST, 1:00pm EST
You may have forgotten some of the details of how to navigate your Nature’s Notebook Observation Deck over the winter break–never fear! In this webinar, we’ll re-orient you to all that you need to know, as well as demonstrate some of the new features you can enjoy this spring, such as campaigns you can participate in or how to join a group, or edit past observations. Have questions? Bring them with you to the webinar for our staff to answer live.
2016 Nature's Notebook Webinars
Shady Invaders Campaign Summary 2016 (Recorded Tuesday, November 29th, 2016)
Shady Invaders is a project created with researchers at Penn State University to explore the timing of leafing on invasive and native shrubs. Invasive shrubs are becoming increasingly common in eastern forests, and some have been found to break bud earlier and maintain leaves later than native shrubs. This can have benefits to the invasive shrubs (e.g. longer period of photosynthesis) and impacts to native flora and fauna (e.g. novel shading and competition early and late in the growing season).
In this webinar, Erynn Maynard, a researcher at Penn State University, explains why your observations of invasive and native shrubs are important, and tells you what we learned from observations of invasive and native shrubs this year.
Partner showcase: Learn how other groups are using Nature's Notebook (Recorded Tuesday, November 1st, 2016)
Get insight, tools and tricks from other groups who are using phenology programs to meet science, outreach, and education goals.
Lisa Parce, University of Arizona: Nature's Notebook & AED 150 Presentation
Stephan Carlson, University of Minnesota Cooperative Extension: Using Local Phenology to Understand Climate Variability
Nature's Notebook Open Office Hours (Recorded June 14, 2016)
Do you have questions about Nature's Notebook, making observations, entering data, how to use the program at your group site, or how to integrate it into your curriculum, or something else? We've opened up an hour for you to speak directly with our Web Designer, or listen in to other's questions to help give you ideas on how best to use Nature's Notebook!
Shady Invaders Campaign Kick-off (Recorded Thursday, March 17, 2016)
Shady Invaders is a project created by researchers at Penn State University to explore the timing of leaves on invasive and native shrubs. Invasive shrubs are becoming increasingly common in eastern forests. These shrubs are top competitors for native shrubs - they can break bud earlier in the spring and hold onto leaves longer in the fall. Erynn Maynard, researcher at Penn State University, will explain why your observations of invasive and native shrubs are important, and give you tips and tricks on identifying these species and their phenophases.
Education Coordinator Office Hours (Recorded Thursday March 10, 2016)
Do you have questions about Nature's Notebook, how to use the program at your site, or how to integrate it into your curriculum, or something else? We've opened up an hour for you to speak directly with our Education Coordinator, or listen in to other's questions to help give you ideas on how best to use Nature's Notebook!
Nature's Notebook Observation Deck Refresher Course (Recorded February 16, 2016)
You may have forgotten some of the details of how to navigate your Nature’s Notebook Observation Deck over the winter break–never fear! In this webinar, we’ll re-orient you to all that you need to know, as well as demonstrate some of the new features you can enjoy this spring, such as campaigns you can participate in or how to join a group.
2015 Nature’s Notebook Webinars
Climate Change in America's National Parks: The California Phenology Project (Recorded December 10, 2015)
The California Phenology Project (CPP) was established in 2010 with funding from the NPS Climate Change Response Program to track the effects of climate change on the California flora by recruiting, training, and engaging volunteers and national park staff in the monitoring of the phenological status of hundreds of plants in 30 species across the state. As of November 2015, more than 1,124,000 observations recorded by natural resource managers, park interns, and visitors trained by the CPP have been contributed to the USA-NPN Database. Analyses of the four best-monitored species (Baccharis pilularis, Quercus lobata, Sambucus nigra, and Eriogonum fasciculatum) reveal that species and phenophases differ with respect to their sensitivities to winter monthly minimum temperature, rainfall, and their interaction. Comparisons across sites and years enable preliminary forecasts regarding how different species will respond to climate change, although strong interactions between temperature and rainfall suggest that precise predictions will be elusive.
Webinar Video
Slides
Year-end summary: What happened in 2015? (Recorded October 5, 2015)
Learn what your 2015 observations reveal, and the ways scientists are using your observations. We cover results from the 2015 Campaigns, as well as a range of other results from observers across the country.
Partner showcase: Learn how other groups are using Nature’s Notebook (Recorded September 8, 2015)
Special for Local Phenology Leaders: Get insight, tools and tricks from other groups who are using phenology programs to meet science, outreach, and education goals.
Teachers: Nature’s Notebook in the classroom—what can phenology help me teach, and how do I get started? (Recorded August 20, 2015)
Are you a middle school, high school, or undergraduate level teacher or instructor? Interested in establishing a phenology monitoring program at your school to demonstrate to students the power of long-term observation and how it can be applicable to fields of inquiry? How about finding a way to collaborate with other teachers in your school or at schools across the US on a type of climate change education? Then this is a class for you. We will walk you through a program planning session and show you how to sign up for Nature's Notebook. We'll talk about how Nature's Notebook can be designed to be a long-term program at your school, for more than one year, and learn how to engage students in the process of scientific discovery.
Webinar Video
The new USA-NPN Visualization Tool (Recorded Jul 14, 2015)
Curious to see how your observations compare to those in your region? How about to previous years? Does the timing of phenological events in your region seem to be driven by temperature, precipitation, daylength, latitude, or elevation? You can explore all of these patterns and more in the new USA-NPN data visualization tool!
Webinar video
How are your data being used? (Recorded Jun 16, 2015)
The ways in which data collected through Nature’s Notebook are being used is growing nearly by the day. Join us as we walk through a range of real-world applications for these observations, including research, agriculture, resource management, and leaf-peeping.
Springcasting Part II - How did we do? What have we learned? And, what's next? (Recorded Jun 1, 2015)
Dr. Toby Ault, researcher at Cornell University and lead on the springcasting effort, summarized how spring of 2015 unfolded, and how well the springcasting effort performed.
How can I access the data my group collects, and once I get it, what do I do with it? Interactive online 2 hr class intended for Local Phenology Leaders (Recorded May 5, 2015 and May 19, 2015)
This interactive workshop is intended for group leaders that have interest in downloading and analyzing the phenology data that members of their groups collect. In this two-hour course, we will introduce three types of data analysis, using a sample dataset that will be provided ahead of the class: 1) summary stats, for example: how many records has my group submitted? On how many unique dates did we collect observations?; 2) participant retention stats, for example; what proportion of my participants from last year have we retained into this year?; and 3) comparisons and trends of the phenology of the plants and animals, for example: how much does the timing of leaf-out for my red maple trees this year vary from previous years?
Note: The data and processes followed in both these presentations are nearly identical to each other, we have posted both recordings for your convenience to view the one you may have attended, but we assure you watching either will get you the same result.
Webinar Video (5/5/15)
Webinar Video (5/19/15)
Data File Used
Slides
Pivot Table Instructions
Basic Botany and Tricky Phenophases (Recorded Apr 21, 2015)
How do I know when a leaf bud has broken? Do I count the number of seeds or seed heads? When is a fruit ripe? We provided answers to these common questions and more.
Nature's Notebook Programs at your site: Trust me, it's that easy! (Recorded April 9, 2015)
Are you a science, natural resources, or education leader at a park, Wildlife Refuge, nature center or other similar location? Maybe you are interested in using long-term phenology research and Nature's Notebook as part of your science or outreach programming but don't know how to get started? Join us for an interactive class on how to begin - from establishing goals for using phenology to creating a Nature's Notebook account for visitors at your site to enter data to using the data once you've collected it. Our Education Coordinator, LoriAnne Barnett, will walk you through how to do all of these things in a class designed for folks who are intimidated and overwhelmed by all that Nature's Notebook can do.
Nature's Notebook Observation Deck Refresher and Sneak Peek (Recorded March 17, 2015)
You may have forgotten some of the details of how to navigate your Nature’s Notebook Observation Deck over the winter break – never fear! In this webinar, we’ll re-orient you to all that you need to know, as well as demonstrate some of the new features that will roll out this spring.
USA-NPN and the Emerging Climate Risk Lab of Cornell University Present, "Springcasting!" (Recorded March 3, 2015)
Using historical observations of the timing of leaf-out and bloom in cloned lilacs and honeysuckle and daily observations from nearby weather stations, scientists have been able to determine the weather conditions that precede spring leaf-out in these plants, as a composite for the “start of spring.”
New for 2015, researchers are using daily weather data to estimate this start of spring, or “springcast,” in near real-time at every location in the United States. This year, we’ll be sharing these springcasts with lilac observers, inviting them to help us determine whether these predictions are correct at their location.
Dr. Toby Ault, researcher at Cornell University and lead on the springcasting effort, will shed some light on what goes into a springcast, and explain their utility. Dr. Ault will describe how this work extends to many other species and has direct utility to many economic sectors.
2014 Nature’s Notebook Webinars
Nature’s Notebook: How tracking phenology can benefit your everyday life (Recorded February 11, 2014)
People have used phenology for thousands of years to guide their actions, from knowing when to hunt, plant, and harvest, to deciding when to watch for pests. These seasonal events can be equally useful to us in our everyday lives. Learn how phenology, the study of life cycle events in plants and animals, can benefit you in many ways - from helping you learn about the natural world to honing your observation skills.
PopClock: How do I get started? What good are my observations? (Recorded March 4, 2014)
Got a poplar in your yard? Consider tracking its phenology as a part of the PopClock project! Your observations will help scientists at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Studies to better understand how forest trees are responding to rapidly changing climatic conditions. University of Maryland scientists will lead this webinar, and present early results on the project. They will also cover the specifics of identifying the two target species of poplar for the project, and how to recognize the phenological events in these trees.
How a phenology program can help you meet science and outreach objectives Special for Local Phenology Leaders (recorded March 11th, 2014)
Learn the steps to create a phenology program at your site, from creating a science question, choosing plants and animals to monitor, to data entry and download.
Botany 101: Plant parts and tricky phenophases (recorded April 8, 2014)
How do I know when a leaf bud has broken? Do I count the number of seeds or seed heads? When is a fruit ripe? We will provide answers to these common questions and more.
Slides
Extra Slides
Q&A
Due to technical difficulties, we were unable to record this webinar.
A summary of spring: What have we learned from our campaigns so far? (recorded June 10, 2014)
Get the download on what we have learned from our Green Wave, PopClock, Cloned Plants, and Common Lilac Campaigns at the halfway point this year. We will show you trends, anomalies, and the cool things our observers see this spring.
Webinar Video
Slides
1-page webinar summary
What came first, the flower or the bee? Learn to explore patterns in space and time with our Visualization Tool (recorded July 8, 2014)
Our Visualization Tool allows you to see where people are observing, map species, animate their phenology, and overlay climate data, as well as graph and share your findings. Learn how to use it and then take the next step with downloading custom datasets.
Partner showcase: Learn how other groups are using Nature's Notebook Special for Local Phenology Leaders (recorded September 2nd, 2014)
Get insight, tools and tricks from other groups who are using phenology programs to meet science, outreach, and education goals.
Linking Nature's Notebook ground-based observations to satellite images (recorded September 9, 2014)
Satellite images provide critical information on the environmental health of our planet. For example, we can use them to study changes in plant phenology and distribution. Citizen scientists, like you, provide essential on-the-ground observations, which are compared to data from these high-flying instruments. Dr. Andrew Elmore—a scientist at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and a PopClock researcher— explained the importance of satellite images to address diverse environmental science questions. He also showed how observations from PopClock citizen scientists are linked satellite images and used to create phenology maps for two important poplar trees.
Gaining 100% confidence in intensity estimates (recorded September 23, 2014)
Get some tips on estimating the intensity of plant phenophases, from number of flowers to percent colored leaves. Plus, we also cover how to identity tricky fall phenophases.
Year-end summary: Your Nature’s Notebook 2014 results (recorded November 18, 2014)
Learn what your 2014 observations reveal, and the ways scientists are using your observations. We cover results from the 2014 Campaigns, as well as a range of other results from observers across the country.
California Phenology Project: Status, Results, & Next Steps (recorded November 20, 2014)
The purpose of this webinar is to bring all California Phenology Project (CPP) participants and affiliates (and any other interested parties) up to date on CPP monitoring activities and results across the state. Furthermore, we would like to discuss how to better organize efforts across the expanded network in sharing approaches, techniques, tools and results.