University of MontanaResearchers Help Spearhead Climate Change Project. You can participate

A new nationwide initiative enables volunteers to track climate change by observing the timing of flowers and foliage.

A new nationwide initiative enables volunteers to track climate change by observing the timing of flowers and foliage.

Project BudBurst, operated by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and a team of partners that includes The University of Montana, allows students, gardeners and other citizen scientists in every state to enter their observations into an online database at http://www.budburst.org, giving researchers a detailed picture of our warming climate.

The project, which started Feb. 18, will operate year-round so that early- and late-blooming species in different parts of the country can be monitored throughout their life cycles. Project BudBurst builds on a pilot program carried out last spring, when several thousand participants recorded the timing of the leafing and flowering of hundreds of plant species in 26 states.

Contact: Carol Brewer, UM biology professor, UM College of Arts and Sciences associate dean, 406-243-4458, [email protected] ; Paul Alaback, UM forestry professor, 406-243-2913, [email protected].

Full Story: http://news.umt.edu/mambo/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4526&Itemid=9