Bridging the gap: how to adopt opportunistic plant observations for phenology monitoring

• DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1150956
• Publication Date: 2023-10-04T09:50:24Z
• Authors: Negin Katal; Michael Rzanny; Patrick Mäder; Christine Römermann; Hans Christian Wi...; David Boho; Talie Musavi; Jana Wäldchen
• Keywords: Herbaceous plant

Plant phenology plays a vital role in assessing climate change. To monitor this, individual plants are traditionally visited and observed by trained volunteers organized national or international networks - Germany, for example, the German Weather Service, DWD. However, their number of observers is continuously decreasing. In this study, we explore feasibility using opportunistically captured plant observations, collected via identification app Flora Incognita to determine onset flowering and, based on that, create interpolation maps comparable those Therefore, opportunistic observations 17 species 2020 2021 were assigned "Flora stations" location altitude order mimic network stations forming data basis conducted From distribution percentile representing date was calculated parametric bootstrapping approach then interpolated following same process as applied Our results show that frequently observed, herbaceous conspicuous species, patterns similar between both sources. We argue prominent stage crucial accurately determining from discuss additional factors, such distribution, bias societal events contributing differences among data. conclusion, our study demonstrates phenological monitoring certain can benefit incorporating observations. Furthermore, highlight potential expand taxonomic range monitored assessment through observation