Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund 2012-2013 Request for Proposals (RFP) 091-E2 ENRTF ID: Project Title: Understanding Minnesota’s Changing Seasons to Improve Resource Management E2. NR Info Collection/Analysis Topic Area: Total Project Budget: $ 266,138 Proposed Project Time Period for the Funding Requested: 3 yrs, July 2013 - June 2016 Other Non-State Funds: $ 0 Summary: An online database of timing of biological events (e.g. leafing, migration) recorded by a network of citizen- observers will improve prediction and management of the effects of climate on natural resources. Name: Rebecca Montgomery Sponsoring Organization: U of MN Address: 1530 Cleveland Ave N St. Paul MN 55108 Telephone Number: (612) 624-7249 Email rebeccam@umn.edu Web Address http://ecophys.cfans.umn.edu/ Location Statewide Region: County Name: Statewide City / Township: _____ Funding Priorities _____ Multiple Benefits _____ Outcomes _____ Knowledge Base _____ Extent of Impact _____ Innovation _____ Scientific/Tech Basis _____ Urgency _____ Capacity Readiness _____ Leverage _____ Employment _______ TOTAL ______% 05/04/2012 Page 1 of 6
Environ nment and d Natural Resource es Trust Fu und (ENRT TF) 2012 ‐ 20 013 Main Proposal PROJECT TITLE: Under rstanding Min nnesota’s chan nging season ns to improve resource man nagement I. PROJEC T STATEMEN NT To everyt thing there is a season. Fro om deciding w when to spray mosquitoes, trim trees, pla ant corn or ap pply fertilizer t to deciding w where to go to fish for trout t, see spring w wildflowers or r fall colors – – timing is everything g. Phenology y, the timing o of seasonal bi iological even nts like leafin ng, blossom d dates, migratio on, insect eme ergence or fis sh spawning, is critical to u understanding g interactions s among speci ies (e.g. plant t- pollinator r, predator-pre ey); determin es growing se eason length f for plants; an nd affects hum man health (e. g. pollen, tic ck, mosquito s season). The timing of sea asonal biologi ical events is a critical ecol logical proces ss that ensur res the health, , productivity y and integrity y of our natura al resources. What hap pens if the tim ming of our se easons chang ges? This ques stion is becom ming increasin ngly relevant to anyone m making decisio ons related to Minnesota’s natural resou urces. Our ove erarching goa al is to better understan nd the timing o of seasonal bi iological activ vity and its re elation to clim mate. This new w knowledge will provide a critical scien ntific foundati on for manag gement of Min nnesota’s natu ural resource s now and in the future. Fo or example, fo orest manager rs seeking to i increase timb ber productivi ity may favor tree species shown to lengthen thei ir growing sea ason in warm m years. There is growing w worldwide evi idence of rece ent unprecede ented change in both plant and animal p phenology lik kely related to o changing cli imate. Change es in phenology y could jeopa ardize not only y the health a and productivi ity of our natu ural resource s but also the e economic c gains realize ed from activi ities as divers e as visiting a a park, harves sting a tree or r fishing. We ask: H How has the ti ming of seaso onal biologica al events (i.e. . phenology) c changed in M Minnesota? H How might ph enology chan nge in the futu ure? W What are the c onsequences for natural re esource manag gement? To answe r these questi ions we will e engage in the following act tivities: Examine histor E rical records of events suc h as leafing, f flowering and d bird migrati ion to ascerta ain whether the ph w henology of M Minnesota’s p lant and anim mal species ha as changed in the recent pa ast Create a netwo C ork of trained citizen-obser rvers to monit tor and record d phenology o of key specie es Current ef fforts to track k phenology a are often made e in personal written journ nals or on pap per calendars. When form mal data is co ollected, the s species and th he events reco orded vary gre eatly among o observers. Th hese approache es hinder the accessibility and usefulnes ss of the data for science a and managem ent. Statewid de monitorin ng and a stand dardized, acce essible databa ase will result t in the follow wing positive o outcomes: Id dentification o of key areas l ikely to be im mpacted by ph henological ch hange includi ing timber pr roductivity; p pollination ser rvices to fruit t and row crop ps; plant, wild dlife and hum man disease ri sk; pe est outbreaks and ecosyste em health Dramatic incre D ease in amoun nt and quality y of data colle ected P otential to do ocument other r phenomena such as invas sive species u using network k observers � Direct engagem D ment of citize ens with the la and that foste rs good stewa ardship � II. DESCRI IPTION OF PR ROJECT ACTIV VITIES � Activity 1 : Rescue hist toric phenolog ogy records an nd make publ licly availabl le Budget: $ 98,845 Following g the changing g of the seaso ons has alway ys been a part of Minnesota a’s heritage. Many nature centers an nd state parks have journal s that go back k decades: the e Eloise Butle er Wildflower r Garden has ~ 100 years of data. Thes se records are e a valuable an nd endangere ed Minnesota resource, yet t they are scattered, piece-meal a across the stat te and at risk. Historical da ata could be lo ost if it is not digitized, document ted and stored d in a perman ent database. Existing reco ords provide i important his storical contex xt for current ob bservations. F For example, a a record from m St. Paul, MN N (AC Hodso on 1941-1991 ) shows an average a spen leafing d date of April 30 with a 1.5 month range e in leafing fro om April 9, 1 1987 (earliest) ) to May 20, 1 1950 (latest). This year (20 012) leaves em merged on asp pens in St. Pa aul on March 19. At presen nt we know of a at least ten loc calities with d datasets longe er than 25 yea ars. These rep present daily t to weekly observatio ons on >50 sp pecies for a to otal of >500,0 000 individua al observation ns. We expect t that phenolo ogy datasets a awaiting disco overy in MN n number in the e 100s. We w will locate, dig gitize and ana lyze handwrit tten 1 05/04/2012 Page 2 of 6
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