Do More than Just Leaf Peep

Photo: USGS

Leaf-peeping season is getting underway, as fall color takes hold in U.S. forests. It's a great time to take a local hike and teach your kids why leaves change color.

It's also a chance to get involved in a citizen science project organized by the Foliage Network. "Foliage spotters" across the country report their observations, and those observations are used by researchers, tourism agencies and local news outlets to define the "peak" of the fall foliage season and to better understand how fall color responds to changes in the weather and climate.

Broadly, this is an example of phenology, the study of the timing of natural phenomena. As the climate changes, phenology is becoming an increasingly important area of research. Will pollinating insects that emerge each spring find the same flowers that bloom for short periods of time as the climate changes? Will migrating birds find the right seeds? Will inn-keepers see the same influx of tourists for leaf-peeping season, and will maple syrup makers see a robust flow of sap from their trees? These are the types of questions that phenology asks, and that citizen scientists can help to answer.

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