According to Wikipedia1, “phenology is the study of periodic plant and animal life cycle events and how these are influenced by seasonal and inter-annual variations in climate.” The discipline of phenology is often attributed to the great naturalist and author Aldo Leopold. In fact, phenology is an ancient science that human beings have studied and applied for millennia.
Phenological phenomenon are expressed in the annual cycles of nature: a bear emerging from hibernation, a spring ephemeral blooming in the forest, or a grass seedling germinating and establishing itself with the assistance of summer rains. Phenology is proving a critical science in studying the effects and pace of climate change around the globe. Understanding phenology, moreover, is a critical part of land management, and grazing planning is no exception.
To date, attempts at phenological grazing planning have been subtle or poorly documented. It is imperative that we improve our existing planning tools; this can be achieved by monitoring ecosystem phenology, and by incorporating phenological data into the grazing planning process.
Monitoring is the first critical element of phenological grazing planning. Phenology is highly place specific, factors like elevation, latitude, seasonal variation, and species composition will affect annual ecosystem cycles. Many groups have felt the need to develop a landscape-scale, collaborative phenological monitoring protocol and database.
This need has led to the USA National Phenology Network. They have developed data collection sheets, documentation on collecting field data, and a collaborative web-based interface to enter and retrieve data from across North America.
Learning how to use and expand upon these kinds of tools will be critical for the continued development and refinement of planned grazing. In 2011, HMI will be looking to build a stronger relationships between our community and organizations like the USA National Phenology Network. We will encourage the use of these monitoring tools via outreach and education, and also explore ways to integrate these tools within the framework of holistic planned grazing.
In my next post, I will explore some of the possibilities that phenological grazing planning offers to the land manager.
1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenology