Department of Natural Science
Edgewood College
Madison, Wisconsin
Phenology: Seasons and Life
Do you notice the first robin in spring, the geese migrating, the lakes freezing and thawing, the first tulips blooming? These are all examples of phenology: the study of the response of living organisms to seasonal and climatic changes.
Phenologists (they're just folks like you!) track things like the dates of the first leaf, first flowers, first geese (flying north or south) as well as things like the date of the lake freezing over or thawing. If people from different areas of the country or world share their data, they can track things like goose migration and plants blooming.
Earth Alive!--a site where you can enter your phenological data! Coming soon!
Activities: Phenology Data Exchange on Journey North