Greetings!
Here in Tucson, the temperatures are finally starting to cool, the sun is dipping lower in the sky, and the activity of critters is starting to decline. Are you seeing signs of fall where you live?
The
Washington Post
recently released a beautiful set of graphics all about fall foliage - where to find it, which trees produce which colors, and how fall color spreads across the country at this time of year.
Happy fall observing!
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What your data are telling us
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Helping urban growers manage insects
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Urban growers need information about how best to manage pests, for example, knowing when to apply a pesticide to have the least likelihood of impacting a beneficial pollinator. Data resulting from citizen science programs like
Nature’s Notebook
, iNaturalist, and eButterfly can support urban growers’ efforts to increase the presence of pollinators and other beneficial insects and decrease insect pests. Growers can use these platforms to support insect identification, store their data in a standardized format, compare their data to those from other farms, and predict when pests will be most vulnerable to treatment.
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Signs of fall in Minnesota, illustrated
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MinnPost
analyzed data from the
Minnesota Phenology Network
to find the first average dates of fall phenology for some iconic Minnesota species. They have turned the data into a beautifully illustrated guide for when to expect your favorite natural occurrences this autumn.
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What's new at
Nature's Notebook
and USA-NPN
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Site comments now available in the app
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You asked and we delivered! Observers have long been requesting an easier way to enter comments about observation visits on the
Nature's Notebook
app.
Rather than entering separate comments for each plant or animal you observe, you can now make a site-level comment for your visit and record information such as weather conditions, disturbances, and more.
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10-year update on the USA-NPN
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In a special presentation for the USGS' public lecture series, USA-NPN founding director Jake Weltzin gave an overview of the last 10 years of the USA-NPN, highlighting how the Network has grown over the years and touching on our future directions.
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Nature's Notebook
help page
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Have you checked out our
Nature's Notebook
Help Page
? It has answers to common questions like "How can I edit my observations?" "I entered the wrong plant, how do I remove it?" and "Why aren't the changes I made on my computer showing up on my
Nature's Notebook
app?"
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Recent happenings in the field
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Citizen science can convince skeptics
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A recent blog post in
Scientific American
made a new argument for volunteer science - data collected by the public can increase transparency and decouple research from any one scientists' personal agenda. This might serve to convince skeptics of say, climate science, that the science is credible. Another reason to be proud of being a volunteer scientist!
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Authors of a study published in
Science
found that we have
lost 2.9 billion birds
(that's one in four) since 1970. A new tool from Audubon,
Survival by Degrees
, explores the species most under threat from climate changes. You can enter your location and see the birds most at-risk near you. Consider adding them to your
Nature's Notebook
list to document changes in their phenology.
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Broad-tailed hummingbird,
Photo: Tom Grey
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Nature's Notebook
Nuggets
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How to estimate colored leaves
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When it comes to reporting on colored leaves, any amount of color (regardless of the reason) means a 'yes'. If reporting on intensity, consider the percent of color in the canopy respective to the canopy at 100% potential fullness—and it might take a year to know what this looks like for your plant.
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More ways to get involved
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How much nature is enough?
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You may have heard of nature prescriptions - guidance from doctors to spend more time in nature in order to reduce stress levels, boost mental health and increase life expectancy. New research, as reported in the
New York Times
, quantifies this prescription with a recommendation of 120 cumulative minutes per week to reap the most benefits. Don't forget to bring your
Nature's Notebook
app with you!
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New Column: Ask a Naturalist
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A new column in the
Almanac Weekly
seeks to tap local experts to answer people's most pressing questions about nature in the Hudson Valley area of New York. In the inaugural column, experts from USA-NPN partners Mohonk Preserve and the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies answer "Which kinds of trees make which color leaves?"
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Aldo Leopold helps provide hope
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How can we stay hopeful despite the many threats to biodiversity across the globe? Conservation biologist Stanley Temple thinks we should look to the writings of Aldo Leopold and follow our "ecological
conscience.
" Leopold was an early phenologist, documenting the life cycle changes in plants and animals over many years. Temple helped Nina Leopold Bradley compare her phenology observations to those of her father, Aldo Leopold, to understand the impact of changes in climate.
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Aldo and Estella Leopold,
Credit: UW Madison Digital Archive
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Contact
Erin Posthumus
erin@usanpn.org
520-621-1670
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