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Extensive_description_of_the_dataset
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Changes in phenology induced by climate change are happening across the globe with important implications for ecosystem functioning, services, invasions, species performance and trophic interactions. A globally co-ordinated research effort is needed in order to understand the drivers and implications of such changes and to develop management strategies. Much of the work on phenology has been undertaken on woody plant species with very few studies investigating phenology of herbaceous species, which differ in many ways from trees and shrubs.
PhenObs aims to improve our knowledge of the phenological responses of herbaceous species to the biotic and abiotic environment, which will enable us to predict herbaceous phenology from species provenance, climatic requirements, phylogeny and plant traits.
PhenObs was established in 2017 by the botanical gardens of Jena, Halle, Berlin and Leipzig and is co-ordinated in Jena. We undertake coordinated, standardized phenological monitoring and measurements of plant functional traits. Because of their diverse collections of plants, botanical gardens represent ideal locations to carry out research across large numbers of species from diverse habitats.
For each species 16 vegetative and reproductive phenological stages covering the seasonal life cycle were monitored during the pilot phase 2017/18. For the flowering stages the intervals were fine scaled, including the onset of buds and the percentage of open flowers (first flower, <10 %, <50 %, >10 %, no flowers opened). Monitoring was done weekly and on a population level. For all stages, the date of onset was recorded as soon as observed on at least one plant. Date of observation is given in day of year (doy) format. Stages not applicable for specific species are indicated with "-9999". All csv files are encoded as: UTF-8. |
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