Track a Tree

Track a Tree, a new citizen science project to record spring in the UK's woodlands, has just launched its new website

Track a Tree is asking for volunteers to become citizen ecologists who will record the progress of spring in woodlands across the UK. We're looking for people to record the spring phenology, or seasonal timing, of individual woodland trees and the flowering plants that grow beneath them.
By observing UK woodland communities we can find out how spring timing varies across some of our most important habitats, and discover how changes in climate could affect our woods.

On the Track a Tree website you can find out more about the project, register to become a recorder and start making observations. Keep in touch on Twitter @TrackATree, and on the Facebook page where there will be regular updates:

Track a Tree extends the seasonal observations of Nature’s Calendar, and participants will collect important new information on the phenology of woodland trees and flowering plants. These records will become part of a national network monitoring our woodlands over this and future springs.

 

Four key features of Track a Tree make the project unique:

 

  • It follows individual trees. This means we can find out how much trees are able to adjust their phenology from year to year as climate conditions vary. Scientists call this flexibility phenotypic plasticity.
  • It follows randomly selected trees in woodland. This provide a range of dates when different species reach budburst or come into leaf, rather than just the very first events that happen in woodlands. Knowing how these dates vary within a location is important for understanding interactions between species.
  • It follows interacting species. By observing the flowering of plants beneath individual trees, we can see whether these ground flora species are able to shift their phenology to keep up with changes in the timing of shading under climate change.
  • It follows woodland communities. Through recording the phenology of UK woodland communities, we can find out how seasonal timing varies across some of our most important habitats.

Track a Tree will provide insights into the seasonal timing of woodland species, and how future changes in climate may affect the interactions between trees and flowering plants.

 

Track a Tree has been developed by Christine Tansey as part of her PhD research at the University of Edinburgh. 

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