Jake F. WeltzinUnited States Geological Survey
Mark D. SchwartzUniversity of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
www.usanpn.org
The RCN & the USA-NPN
Founding & Current Status
USA-NPN Development HistoryDate Event
1956-1961 Regional lilac networks founded across USA
1987 Schwartz takes charge of eastern lilac network
1994 Schwartz (1994) proposes national network concept
February 2002 Schwartz starts building USA-NPN infrastructure
November 2004 Betancourt and Schwartz begin discussion
December 2004 Prototype USA-NPN web page launched
August 2005 First USA-NPN Planning Workshop (Tucson, AZ)
March 2006 USA-NPN Implementation Team Meeting (Tucson)
August-September 2006 USGS and Univ. of Arizona approved Nat. Coord. Office plan
October 2006 Second USA-NPN Planning Workshop (Milwaukee, WI)
December 2006 RCN (Res. Coord. Network, $500K/5 years) funded by NSF
January 2007 USA-NPN Nat. Coord. Office opened and staffed in Tucson
August 2007 First USA-NPN RCN Annual Meeting (Milwaukee)
USA-NPN Development HistoryDate Event
August 2007 Executive Director Jake Weltzin assumes position
January 2008 Founding Board of Directors (BOD) meeting (Tucson)
May 2008 New web pages launched for initial testing
September 2008 Second USA-NPN RCN Annual Meeting (Milwaukee)
September 2008 USA-NPN Constitution approved by Founding BOD
January 2009 Constitutional Board of Directors take office
February 2009 Expanded USA-NPN Plant Phenology Program launched
March 2009 Data ingest module added to USA-NPN web pages
May 2009 Cloned lilacs available for direct sale to the public
July 2009 USA-NPN registered observers reach 2500 nationwide
October 2009 Third USA-NPN RCN Annual Meeting (Milwaukee)
February 2010 Planned launch of USA-NPN Animal Phenology Program
“Phenology…is perhaps the simplest process in which to track changes in the ecology of species
in response to climate change.” (IPCC 2007)
A new data resource—a national network of integrated phenological observations across
space and time
Key Goal
Understand how plants, animals and landscapes respond to environmental variation and climate change
• Create a scientifically based phenology network with broad participation
• Create and maintain a national phenology information management system
• Develop and promote standardized monitoring protocols
• Integrate observations of plants, animals & landscapes across space & time
• Create decision support tools for application of phenology data
Core functions
• National-scale science and monitoring initiative
• Agencies, NGOs, academia, the public
• Integrates with other science/monitoring networks
• Target: 100,000 observation locations
• Plants + animals; contemporary + legacy data
• Education & outreach
• Integration across spatial and temporal scales
• Business to Business + Business to Customer
NPN in a nutshell
Key sponsors and collaborators…
Native American
Tribes
Native American
Tribes
ScientistsScientistsSpecializedNetworks
SpecializedNetworks
PublicAgencies
PublicAgencies
NGOsNGOs
Educators
Educators
CitizenScientists
CitizenScientists National
Coordinating Office
Information ManagementMonitoring Programs
CommunicationsResource ManagersResource Managers
Services for stakeholders
• Beginning to advanced protocols
• Public, managers & scientists
• 215 specified species
• Status monitoring
• Sample intensity + absence data
Plant Phenology Monitoring System
• 158 species selected according to a priori criteria
• 120 expert reviewers
• Standardized monitoring protocols
• Independent review workshop
• 2010 as on-line beta
Animal Phenology Monitoring System
• Scaling of in-situ observations
• Validation of remote imagery
• Development of standards
• Information & data clearinghouse
• Research directions and priorities
Land-surface Phenology Program
2005 Start of Season (SOS)
• Create a National Phenology Information Management System
• Create a National Phenology Monitoring System
• Develop Partnerships
• Facilitate Outreach and Education
• Facilitate Research
• Facilitate Decision Support
Strategic Plan Elements
Information management
Decision- support
Research
Education
Search
Synthesis
Visualizations
Work platform
Datasets
Products
NCO Information Management SystemData
Contemp-orary
Legacy
Partners
Ancillary
Data curation
User interface
Databases
USA National Phenology Network
Metadata
Role of NCO @ RCN and NPA
• RCN meeting support• RCN web-page (www.usanpn.org/?q=rcn-2009)
• Agenda• Logistics• Products• Webinars
• Facilitate NPA• Information management• Tools• Communications
• Science expertise
• Programmatic planning/development (you talk, we listen)