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, carol.brewer@umontana.edu ; Paul Alaback, UM forestry professor, 406-243-2913, palaback@forestry.umt.edu.
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