Hi EwA Friends! For those who don’t know me, it’s so nice to meet you! I’m Ashley, and I work on the EwA Virtual Library, our community’s curated digital collection of articles, books, reports, research papers, and more. The library has come such a long way since I joined EwA—and so have I, as a novice in the world of ecology and participatory science! As I’ve added, tagged, and organized new works, I’ve let the library lead me on learning journeys that I’m excited to share with you. I hope these periodic dispatches will encourage you to check out the EwA Library and embark on some learning adventures of your own.
This time around, I want to highlight our Phenology Collection, a well-rounded collection of works that dive into one of the cornerstones of EwA’s participatory fieldwork: the timing of seasonal cycles of fauna and flora. Phenology is a goldmine for learning about relationships within ecosystems, and how those relationships send signals of stability or change. It’s a great way to practice the basics of fieldwork year-round. For a beginner like me, it can be an incredibly rewarding entry-point into participatory science work; seasonal cycles are something we can familiarize ourselves with simply by living. The Phenology Collection is a great place to explore the intricacies of those seasonal cycles and to deepen field observation and identification skills—skills that really helped to boost my confidence when I joined the community!
The Phenology Collection has a great range of reading: On-the-go identification resources like Go Botany, by the Native Plant Trust Longer, in-depth botany primers like the USA National Phenology Network’s Phenophase Primers Reflective, personal story-driven reading like Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer Scientific journal articles like Fertakos and Clement’s work on the Pine Barrens and Freimuth et. al on synchronistic plant-pollinator cycles as predictive signals Phenological analysis and reporting by our very own community members, like Kate and Kathy’s research on climate change’s impact on oak seasonality, and Jennifer, Kathy, and Claire’s detailed yearly phenology digests And, if you’re interested in how this collection connects with EwA’s ongoing field work, you can access the EwA Pheno Lite project and its data on our partner platform Anecdata, together with the project’s survey methodology and a comprehensive in-field identification guide. You can also explore the data our teams contribute to the National Phenology Network.
As you explore this collection, I encourage you to share your favorites, your questions, or any budding new ideas with the community in the Earthwise Aware Discussion Group! And as always, if you read something you’d like to see in the library, add it to our EwA Library intake sheet, send an email to lib...@earthwiseaware.org, or reach out to me directly. |
