Louisiana Plant Phenology Project (LAPPP)

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View more observations from Louisiana Native Plant Phenology Project on iNaturalist.org ยป

Help track the seasons with us!

CANPS is currently working on documenting plant phenology and distribution in our state for a number of reasons. Some of the key goals of this effort are to:
  • Track flowering times for the purposes of field trips, seed collection and monitoring
  • Provide a tool for CANPS members and affiliates to manage their personal data, such as life lists and trip locations
  • Build an online forum where Louisiana plant enthusiasts can share photographs, information and identification help
  • Provide valuable, public data that is available to scientists locally as well as worldwide for the purposes of studying plant distributions, biodiversity, plant phenology and climate change
  • Build capacity for future integrative technologies for plant monitoring and atlasing. Cyberflora Louisiana is already beginning this process. See examples of these new technologies in Calflora.org, plantatlas.org. Visit our Herbaria Page to learn more about the amazing contribution of herbaria to our knowledge of plant distributions in the state.

Please consider contributing to this project. The benefits for you and many others are wide and far reaching.


CLICK HERE
to visit our iNaturalist project page.

How to Get Started with LAPPP

iNaturalist is a powerful tool but may take some time to learn how to use. Please take advantage of the help page, online video tutorials below and the iNaturalist discussion forum for help. You are also encouraged to contact CANPS with any questions.you may have. We are happy to help you! The following is a basic rundown of the contribution process.
  1. Create an account with iNaturalist.org or sign in using your Facebook, Google, Flickr or Twitter account.
  2. If you have a smartphone, download the iNaturalist app for quick and easy georeferenced photographing of plants and uploading to your iNaturalist account.
  3. Take photos of wild plants. If you are using the app, the coordinates, date and time will be automatically recorded with the picture. If using a digital camera, make sure your time and date has been correctly set on your camera and make note of the general location. Observations do not need to be in the exact location. The name of the park, management area or nearby town is fine.. iNaturalist can "grab" the date of the observation from your images later during the upload process. Read Baskauf and Kirchoff's "Digital Plant Images as Specimens: Toward Standards for Photographing Living Plants" to learn how you can take the research grade photographs of plants for  identification. These are the standards which the future photo plant atlas in Louisiana will most likely  follow.
  4. If using the app, sync your observations via wifi or mobile data once you have finished making all your observations. If using a digital camera, you will need to upload photos and attach names and places to them manually. This can be done in large batches, and so is not as painful as it sounds. Watch the videos below for more help.  If you more need help learning how to do this, please contact us! Once you understand how iNaturalist works, it is very easy to use.
  5. Add your observations to the Louisiana Plant Phenology Project.

What is Phenology?

Phenology is the study of when important things happen in the life cycle of plants and animals. It's nature's almanac. When flowers begin to bloom, when seeds set, when leaves turn colors and fall, when birds begin to feed on the Black Cherries — all these are important events that give us a wealth of information about our local ecosystems.

New technology as well as concerns about climate change and its effects on plant and animal populations has spurred a vast movement of citizen science projects across the globe capable of monitoring phenological activities. Endeavors like Project BudBurst, Natures Notebook, MonarchWatch, iNaturalist and eBird are just a few of the many tools people are using today to map their observations of plants and animals.     

Visit the USA National Phenology Network's website here.

Citizen Science

As a citizen science project, LAPPP takes advantage of the contributions of everyday people, as well as amateur and non-professional scientists and naturalists around the country and globe to expand the scale and educational engagement of the scientific process. The following links are provided to help you learn more about the amazing power of citizen science to transform our world for the better.
In August  2012 the Ecological Society of America published a special ssue of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment on the topic of citizen science. In the spirit of the openness and data-sharing that is the hallmark of citizen science, they posted the entire issue online to read for free.

The History of Public Participation in Ecological Research

Click HERE to read an article by Abraham Miller-Rushing, Richard Primack, and Rick Bonney in ESA's August 2012 issue of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. Click the image below to read this article.