Phenology Project – Pepperwood

Phenology is the study of natural changes that happen regularly in plants and animals. It examines how these changes relate to seasonal and climatic shifts. The term comes from Greek, where "phainein" means "to show," and "logos" means "word" or "knowledge." In 2013, Pepperwood became one of the first nine sentinel sites in the State to join the California Phenology Project, which is part of the USA National Phenology Network. This initiative complements existing National Park Service sites and UC Reserves in a growing effort to document how plant life cycles respond to climate change across the state.

Trained community scientists conduct the Pepperwood Phenology Project by visiting established transects at the preserve twice a week to record the status of individual plants, noting whether they are in bloom, fruiting, etc., and tracking how these cycles vary from year to year. We monitor up to 13 species of woody shrubs and trees.

As of April 2023, our community scientists have collected over 136,000 records of plant phenology at Pepperwood. Data from this project is publicly available through Nature's Notebook. A detailed description of each plant species involved in Pepperwood's Phenology Project can be found under the "more information" header on the right of this page.

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