It is projected that, Turkey, a country at a transition zone across the Mediterranean and mid-latitude climates, will experience in the 21rst Century a diversity of changes ranging from severe droughts to enhanced precipitation variability. Consequently, its diverse ecosystems (and biodiversity) will be subject to a higher frequency of extreme events. Therefore, it is of foremost importance to monitor and understand the phenological responses of living systems to these inter-annual to decadal fluctuations. Increasing public interest in climate change and biodiversity does provide opportunities for citizen (and NGO) involvements in these monitoring activities along with formal surface and space based observations.
Results/Conclusions
Establishing a ‘citizen scientist’-based phenology network (Phenology Network of Turkey, TRfeno.org) has been in preparation for some years, in close collaboration with the USA National Phenology Network (USA-NPN). Observation protocol was adopted for NPN, i.e. it is a ‘state-based’ protocol was preferred instead of an ‘event-based’ protocol used in many networks/countries. At the present, observations are confined to plants (an initial list of 60 species with wide ranges); in near future, some animal taxa will be included and already existing data for those taxa (especially birds and butterflies) will be assimilated into the TRfeno database. USA-NPN’s observation protocols have been implemented as a cross-platform (iOS and Android) smartphone application and supplemental support in provided through a web site. ‘Citizen scientists’ have been recruited through advertisements through middle and higher education institutions and environmental NGOs. At larger scales, forest stands are being monitored with time-lapse cameras deployed at National Forest Service fire watch towers and private properties. At the largest scales, MODIS imagery for the last decade has been analyzed to estimate greenness index time series, especially for deciduous forests across the country.