Developing a Historical Phenology Dataset through Community Involvement for Climate Change Research

Abstract

There has been an increased effort to utilize untapped sources of historical phenological data such as museum specimens, journals written by nature-minded citizens, and dated photographs through local phenology projects for climate change research. Local phenology projects have contributed greatly to our current understanding of phenological changes over time and have an important role in the public’s engagement with natural history, but there are also significant challenges in finding and analyzing historical data. The West Virginia Climate History Project collected historical phenology data (1890-2015) from citizens in West Virginia with scientific and cultural results. We discuss the development of the project, issues we overcame, recommendations for future projects, and the conservation value of local phenology projects. Local phenology projects lend value to climate change research and conservation education. Policy directed towards supporting humanities grants and museum collections, including herbariums, is crucial in the success of these projects.