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Nature's Calendar - phenological observations made by Citizen Scientists

SND-ID: 2022-86

This study is part of the collection Phenology observations and studies

Overview
Data and documentation

Creator/Principal investigator(s)

Ola Langvall - Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Unit for Field-based Forest Research

Åslög Dahl - University of Gothenburg, Department of Biological & Environmental Sciences

Jacob Johansson - Lund University, Department of Biology

Kjell Bolmgren - Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Unit for Field-based Forest Research

Swedish Botanical Association

Description

Nature's Calendar (www.naturenskalender.se, in Swedish only) is run by the Swedish National Phenology Network, a consortium of Swedish universities, governmental agencies and NGO:s. The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences hosts the network. The main task for the Nature's calendar is to collect observations of different spring and autumn signs appearing during the vegetation season.

Data about the nature's calendar is collected in two ways, the long-term environmental monitoring through "Calendars", where phenological observations are reported all through the year, and through "Checks", where phenology observations are reported during short-time campaigns, giving a snapshot of the phenological status at a certain time of the year.

Calendars
The long-term environmental monitoring is performed by citizen scientists and professional observers at research stations and like. Three calendars have been launched in the Nature's Calendar; the Plant's Calendar (from 2008), the Bird's Calendar (from 2016) and the Beekeeper's Calendar (between 2015 and 2018).

Checks
Starting in 2015, a campaign called "Vårkollen" (i.e. "Spring Check") has been run during two (April 30 - May 1) or three (April 29 - May 1) days every year. The campaign, where the phenology of only 6 species (also available in the historical phenology dataset) gives a snapshot of how spring has proceeded all over the country at this time.

Aims
Phenological changes in nature gives the most obvious signs of the biological effect of climate change. Spring signs, autumn signs, the start, end and length of the growing season, and many other signs in nature are basic properties of ecosystems. Also, the interaction between different organisms, e.g. flowering plants and pollinators, are affected if the nature's calendar changes. Observations reported to the Nature's Calendar can be compared to similar observations collected for more than 100 years ago (see Swedish Historical Phenology Dataset, published in another place at this platform), to detect evidence of phenological shifts over time that can be connected to climate change.

The aim of the Nature's Calendar is to collect phenological data from the first spring sign to the last autumn sign, to be able to offer nation-wide data to everyone interested, to facilitate research, environmental assessments, the evaluation of environmental goals, etc, to be better prepared to meet the effects of climate change. For example, the data collected in Nature's Calendar is continuously used to evaluate the Swedish environmental objective Reduced Climate through the indicator called ”Growing Season” (www.slu.se/vaxternasvaxtsasong).

Three datasets are made available in this publication: the Plant's Calendar, the Beekeeper's Calendar and the Spring Check datasets. They all originate from the same database in the Nature's Calendar, while the Bird's Calendar observations are published through the Swedish Species Observation System Portal (www.artportalen.se). Show less..

Language

English

Swedish

Research principal, contributors, and funding

Research principal

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Responsible department/unit

Unit for Field-based Forest Research

Other research principals

Lund University

Stockholm University

University of Gothenburg

Funding

Funding agency: SLU's Environmental monitoring and assessment programme

Protection and ethical review

Data contains personal data

Method and time period

Time period(s) investigated

2008-01-01 – ongoing

Geographic coverage

Geographic spread

Geographic location: Sweden

Geographic description: Data covers all of Sweden.

Topic and keywords

Research area

Climate Research, Environmental Sciences, Ecology (The Swedish standard of fields of research 2011)
Biota (INSPIRE topic categories)

Keywords

plant phenology, bee, species distribution, citizen science, spring sign, phenology

Publications

Dataset 1

Nature´s Calendar - Plant's Calendar

Download data

metadata_plants_calendar_2008-2021.pdf (201.02 KB)

plants_calendar_phaselist_2008-2021.csv (3.9 KB)

plants_calendar_specieslist_2008-2021.csv (192.3 KB)

vaxtkalendern_fenologimanual_2021.pdf (883.86 KB)

plants_calendar_2008-2021.csv (16.17 MB)

Associated documentation

vaxtkalendern_fenologimanual_2021.pdf

Description

In the Plant's Calendar, Citizen Scientist's have reported observations of how
- budburst and leaf development (broadleaves)
- budburst and shoot elongation (conifers)
- flowering
- ripening of fruits and berries
- seed dispersal
- autumn colors
- leaf shedding
develop during the growing season.

The aim with the data collection is to obtain nationwide data that can provide information to understand, track changes and predict effects of climate change on natural plants in Sweden.

The dataset includes one file with observation data (plants_calendar_2008-2021.csv), one file with the full species list used by the observers (plants_calendar_specieslist_2008-2021.csv), one file with the full list of phenological phases and sub-phases that observers can report (plants_calendar_phaselist_2008-2021.csv), one PDF file (metadata_plants_calendar_2008-2021.pdf) with metadata that describes how the above mentioned CSV files are related and how the included parameters should be interpreted, and one PDF file (vaxtkalendern_fenologimanual_2021.pdf) which describes the protocol used by those included in the phenology observer programme, i.e. the observations indicated as high quality (in Swedish, only). The observation data file includes totally 148 481 observations.

The data collection in the "Nature's Calendar - Plant's Calendar" started in 2008, but some observations made at a few locations at earlier dates have also been registered in the database, so this dataset includes a few records already from 1980 and forward.

Coordinates of the observation locations have been made diffuse, partly to make it impossible to trace back the observations to the observer (coordinates are rounded to 3 decimals), partly to make tracing back to the original location of protected species impossible (coordinates are rounded to 1.5 decimals = > 6 km diffusion), as to the rules for publicly handling of nationally protected species (see https://www.artdatabanken.se/var-verksamhet/fynddata/skyddsklassade-arter/). Show less..

Version 1

2022-06-03
https://doi.org/10.5878/ppqs-9h88

Citation

Ola Langvall, Åslög Dahl, Jacob Johansson, Kjell Bolmgren. Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (2022). Nature´s Calendar - Plant's Calendar. Swedish National Data Service. Version 1. https://doi.org/10.5878/ppqs-9h88

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Data format / data structure

Numeric

Text

Creator/Principal investigator(s)

Ola Langvall - Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Unit for Field-based Forest Research

Åslög Dahl - University of Gothenburg, Department of Biological & Environmental Sciences

Jacob Johansson - Lund University, Department of Biology

Kjell Bolmgren - Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Unit for Field-based Forest Research

Data collection

Mode of collection: Field observation
Description of the mode of collection: Field observations made by Citizen Scientists
Time period(s) for data collection: 2008–2021

Variables

Dataset 2

Nature's calendar - Spring Check

Download data

metadata_spring_check_2015-2021.pdf (163.74 KB)

varkollen_folder_2022.pdf (3.3 MB)

spring_check_2015-2021.csv (5.69 MB)

Associated documentation

vaxtkalendern_fenologimanual_2021.pdf

Description

In the Spring Check, Citizen Scientist's have reported observations of how far the development of
- flowering of Liverleaf, Colt's-foot, Wood Anemone, Goat Willow and Bird Cherry
- budburst of birch
have progressed until Valpurgis Day (some years between April 29 and May 1, some years between April 30 and May 1).

The aim with the data collection is to obtain nationwide data that can provide information to understand, track changes and predict effects of climate change on natural plants in Swe

Version 1

2022-06-03
https://doi.org/10.5878/6f3c-xn85

Citation

Ola Langvall, Kjell Bolmgren, Swedish Botanical Association. Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (2022). Nature's calendar - Spring Check. Swedish National Data Service. Version 1. https://doi.org/10.5878/6f3c-xn85

Download citation

Data format / data structure

Numeric

Text

Creator/Principal investigator(s)

Ola Langvall - Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Unit for Field-based Forest Research

Kjell Bolmgren - Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Unit for Field-based Forest Research

Swedish Botanical Association

Keywords

spring sign

Data collection

Mode of collection: Field observation
Description of the mode of collection: Field observations made by Citizen Scientists
Time period(s) for data collection: 2015–2021
Temporal resolution: 1 year

Variables

Dataset 3

Nature's calendar - Beekeeper's Calendar

Download data

metadata_beekeepers_calendar_2015-2021.pdf (193.62 KB)

beekeepers_calendar_2015-2021.csv (189.7 KB)

bikalendern_fenologimanual_2015.pdf (1.17 MB)

Associated documentation

vaxtkalendern_fenologimanual_2021.pdf

Description

In the Beekeeper's Calendar, Citizen Scientists have reported observations of how
- flowering of plants
- bees and bumblebees flights
- living status of the colony
- supplemental feeding
- angel ball status
- honey production
- tax box additions
- presence of varroa mite
have developed during the growing season.

The aim with the data collection is to obtain nationwide data that can provide information to understand, track changes and predict effects of climate change on beekeeping in Sweden.

T

Version 1

2022-06-03
https://doi.org/10.5878/fhe1-xq48

Citation

Ola Langvall, Åslög Dahl, Kjell Bolmgren, Swedish Beekeepers Association. Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (2022). Nature's calendar - Beekeeper's Calendar. Swedish National Data Service. Version 1. https://doi.org/10.5878/fhe1-xq48

Download citation

Data format / data structure

Numeric

Text

Creator/Principal investigator(s)

Ola Langvall - Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Unit for Field-based Forest Research

Åslög Dahl - University of Gothenburg, Department of Biological & Environmental Sciences

Kjell Bolmgren - Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Unit for Field-based Forest Research

Swedish Beekeepers Association

Keywords

bee

Data collection

Mode of collection: Field observation
Description of the mode of collection: Field observations made by Citizen Scientists
Time period(s) for data collection: 2015–2021

Variables

Published: 2022-06-03

Last updated: 2022-06-16

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