Plant Phenology Protocols
The NE-RPN has been working with the USA-NPN to develop a set of recommended protocols for consistent monitoring of phenology across the region and the nation.
Please visit the USA-NPN website to participate in the
2009 Plant Monitoring Program
Included here is the beta-version of USA-NPN plant phenology protocols for ground observation for the 2008 season. Please realize these protocols are no longer current and are not the recommended version. They are only included here for reference by those who used them in 2008.
- Read the sampling and observation protocols to guide your choice of site and individual plants, and to learn how to make and record observations.
- Refer to the species protocols for the specific phenophase events to observe for each of your plants.
- Woody plants
- Acer negundo (boxelder)
- Acer pensylvanicum (striped maple)
- Acer rubrum (red maple) NPN Calibration species
- Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
- Alnus incana (grey alder)
- Amelanchier canadensis (shadbush)
- Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch)
- Betula lenta (black birch)
- Betula papyrifera (paper birch)
- Carya glabra (pignut hickory)
- Carya ovata (shagbark hickory)
- Cercis canadensis (eastern redbud)
- Cornus canadensis (bunchberry)
- Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)
- Cornus sericea (red-osier dogwood)
- Corylus americana (American hazelnut)
- Corylus cornuta (beaked hazelnut)
- Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
- Fraxinus americana (white ash)
- Juniperus virginiana (redcedar)
- Hamamelis virginiana (witchhazel)
- Liriodendron tulipifera (tuliptree)
- Malus pumila (apple) NPN Calibration species
- Pinus strobus (white pine)
- Prunus virginiana (chokecherry) NPN Calibration species
- Quercus alba (white oak)
- Quercus rubra (red oak)
- Rhamnus cathartica (common buckthorn)
- Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust)
- Sambucus nigra (elderberry)
- Sorbus americana (mountain ash)
- Tilia americana (basswood)
- Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)
- Viburnum lantanoides (hobblebush)
- Make your observations and record your data using the field monitoring forms. Use a separate sheet for each individual plant, and make a record for every day you observe your plant, not just on the days a phenophase was reached (see 'What to record' in the sampling protocol document for further explanation).