To give context to natural events in the present and gauge the future, we must know the past. In the Daily Bucket, we track seasonal changes in our regions by documenting first garden tomato of the summer, first sight of a seasonal bird, when a plant species leafs out or flowers, and other natural occurrences. Scientists look at herbarium and natural history specimens, historic journals, and other written records to note such events in the past. These observations comprise phenology, the study of plant and animal life cycles. Now, another cycle has been added to this — bicycles. Researchers from Belgium looked at archived videos of an annual bicycle race in Flanders to gauge if these records were useful in mapping out phenology over the four decades the race has been filmed (1981-2016).
The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge. We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns spinning around us.
We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below.
|
The race covers the same route at the same time of year, April, when life wakes up from winter dormancy. While the course stays the same, clothing worn by racers and spectators, and the natural surroundings have changed over the four decades. Researchers examined over 200 hours of video footage and saw bare leafless trees in the earlier years and the more recent videos show green vegetation.
[A team of scientists] decided to figure out a way to quantify this change. First, the researchers identified 46 individual trees and shrubs that made cameos in different races between 1981 and 2016. Then they came up with a scoring system. “We quantified the percentage of leaves and the percentage of flowers that were present on the tree at the time of the race,” says De Frenne.
“We then gave them a score between zero and four, with zero meaning no leaves visible, and four meaning all leaves visible.” They compared these scores over time, in order to pinpoint how much earlier each plant was getting in the game.
They found “surprisingly strong shifts,” says De Frenne. Although it depended somewhat on the species in question, plants were 67 percent more likely to have flowered before race-time in 2016 than in 1981, and 19 percent more likely to have leafed. Using weather data, the researchers were also able to connect higher winter temperatures with earlier flowering and leafout.
SPOTLIGHT ON GREEN NEWS & VIEWS
EVERY SATURDAY AT 3 P.M. PACIFIC TIME
DON’T FORGET TO VIEW METEOR BLADE’S COLLECTION OF LINKS AND EXCERPTS FROM ENVIRONMENTALLY ORIENTED POSTS PUBLISHED ON DAILY KOS DURING THE PREVIOUS WEEK
|
Nature isn’t kind or fair. T-2, whose recent visit to Wyoming was the topic of a previous Daily Bucket, had a sad ending to her journey.
From Condor Cliffs
It is with heavy hearts that we bring you news on the conclusion of young condor 832's journey. After a spectacular 500 mile flight through Utah and into Wyoming, 832 was found deceased by our biologist in the field. She was last seen by so many at Medicine Bow Peak before taking off to explore more of this beautiful country. Peregrine Fund biologist, Josh Young, was able to track down her location using radio telemetry, but by the time he reached her it was too late. The cause of death is currently under investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and we will update you as we know more information. But in the meantime, we urge you not to speculate about what may have contributed to her eventual passing until we have more information.
We will never be able to erase those breathtaking images from our mind of T2 majestically perched atop a mountain in Wyoming. Our sincere thanks to the citizen scientists who helped provide information of her whereabouts on her journey north. Also, thanks to all the lovers of condors out there who support the tireless work of those who have, and those who continue to dedicate their lives to bringing this species back from the brink.