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VOLUME 19 TEACHING ISSUES AND EXPERIMENTS IN ECOLOGY
PRACTICE

Investigating effects of climate change on the phenology of subalpine wildflowers using a 45-year dataset

Examples of the many species of wildflowers and pollinators found at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory. Image by D.W. Inouye.

AUTHORS

David W. McNutt1,2, Nora Underwood2, and Brian D. Inouye2

1Division of Science and Mathematics, Tallahassee Community College, Tallahassee, FL 32304

2Department of Biological Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306

Corresponding author: David W. McNutt (David.McNutt@tcc.fl.edu)

THE ECOLOGICAL QUESTION

How have long term changes in climate affected the phenology of wildflowers growing in subalpine habitats?

FOUR DIMENSIONAL ECOLOGY EDUCATION (4DEE) FRAMEWORK

  • Core Ecological Concepts:
    • Organisms
      • Biotic and abiotic features of the environment
      • Resources and regulators
      • Phenology
      • Life history
    • Community
      • Mutualism (pollination)
    • Biosphere
      • Global climate change
  • Ecology Practices:
    • Quantitative reasoning and computational thinking
      • Data skills - data visualization
      • Computer skills - spreadsheets
      • Data analysis and interpretation
    • Designing and critiquing investigations
    • Working collaboratively
    • Communicating and applying ecology
  • Human-Environment Interactions:
    • Human accelerated environmental change
      • Global climate change
  • Cross-cutting Themes:
    • Spatial & Temporal
      • Scales
      • Stability and change

WHAT STUDENTS DO

This is a three-part project. In part I, students research the natural history of one subalpine plant species (e.g., Delphinium nuttallianum, Erigeron speciosus, Helianthella quinquenervis, Lupinus bakeri). In part II, they are given a data set consisting of > 45 years of climate data (1976-2022) from a location where flowering of these plants has been surveyed yearly over that same time period (Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, CO). The students use the data to graph and analyze trends in snow and temperature and develop hypotheses about how the phenology and fitness (e.g., interactions with pollinators) of their assigned plant species will respond to these changes. In part III, the students receive > 45 years of data on the flowering phenology of their plant species at the same site (1974-2020) and make graphs to test their hypotheses. The students communicate their findings with a written scientific report, conference-style poster, or oral presentation.

STUDENT-ACTIVE APPROACHES

Guided inquiry, collaborative learning, project-based learning, peer instruction

STUDENT ASSESSMENTS

  1. A worksheet where students report their research on basic life history features of their assigned plant species, including habitat, mode of reproduction, ecological interactions with other species (predators, prey, and mutualists), and how it is classified. The worksheet is to be completed individually, outside of class.
  2. A worksheet where students create and interpret graphs of climate data over time, as well as create and explain predictions about plant and pollinator phenological responses to climate change (to be completed in pairs or groups, in class)
  3. One of the following: a lab-report style scientific report, conference-style poster, or oral presentation explaining how the phenology of their assigned plant species has changed over 45 years, in response to climate change (to be completed either individually or in groups, at home or in class)

CLASS TIME

1 hour and 15 minutes for Part II; 1 hour and 15 minutes for Part III

COURSE CONTEXT

This lesson has been conducted in a second-semester introductory biology course for Freshman and Sophomore science majors at a community college. The class contains a maximum of 35 students each semester.

SOURCES

billy barr. 2023. Gothic Weather: https://www.gothicwx.org/ (data from the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory)

Prather, R.M., N. Underwood, R.M. Dalton, b. barr, and B.D. Inouye. 2023. Climate data from the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (1975-2022). Ecology 104:e4153. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4153

Underwood, N., B.D. Inouye, R.E. Irwin, A. Classen, and D.W. Inouye. 2023. RMBL Flowering Phenology Project. (data from the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, by request from https://rmblphenologyproject.weebly.com/data.html)

DOWNLOADS

Description of Resource Files:

  • RMBL climate data 1976-2022 for students [xlsx]
  • RMBL phenology summary data 1974-2020 for students [xlsx]
  • RMBL climate data 1976-2022 for faculty [xlsx]
  • RMBL phenology summary data 1974-2020 for faculty [xlsx]
  • Climate change and phenology lesson [pptx]

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank billy barr for providing long-term climate data, and the many people who have contributed to gathering and curating the flowering phenology data, particularly Dr. Rebecca Prather. Funding for the flowering phenology dataset was provided by NSF LTREB grants DEB-0922080, DEB-1354104, DEB-1912006, and DEB-2016749. Funding for the development of this lesson provided by an NSF ROA supplement to NSF LTREB grant DEB-2016749 supporting D. McNutt.

CITATION

David W. McNutt, Nora Underwood, and Brian D. Inouye. December 2023. Investigating effects of climate change on the phenology of subalpine wildflowers using a 45-year dataset. Teaching Issues and Experiments in Ecology, Vol. 19: Practice #14. https://tiee.esa.org/vol/v19/issues/data_sets/mcnutt/abstract.html

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