Pre-lab for Session 1

Pre-lab for Session 1

This "pre-lab" takes about 10-15 minutes.

Read the text and watch the short videos below. Use a piece of scratch paper to jot down a few words and phrases that are important to you or spark your curiosity. Bring those notes to Session 1 for small-group discussions.

Ideas that are introduced below will be explained in more depth during Session 1.

Pesky Plant Trackers is a science project and volunteer opportunity focused on seasonal change in plants. What is "seasonal change"? Examples include leaves unfolding, flowers opening, and seeds ripening. These events are cyclical and happen in relationship to weather and climate. Phenology is the study of the timing of annual life cycle events in plants and animals.

Please watch video

This video invites you to join Nature's Notebook and USA-National Phenology Network. You can do so by volunteering with Pesky Plant Trackers, which is a partnership between USA-National Phenology Network, the University of Minnesota, and other organizations.

Phenology affects all plants and animals and happens year-round. Pesky Plant Trackers are active outdoors from ~March through ~October and focus on just two plants: wild parsnip and Japanese knotweed. Volunteers contribute to a larger research project, described in this video. In fact, volunteers and research staff do many of the same steps: staff observe plants at field experiment sites (seen in the video), whereas volunteers observe plants where they're already growing, at parks, trails, roadsides, and other convenient places.

Please watch video

This video mentions weather data, which are important but are not the responsibility of volunteers. Volunteers report where they observe plants, and this allows research staff to gather weather data from other sources.

Enjoy the outdoors without spreading invasive species. As a Pesky Plant Tracker volunteer, one step you can take is to clean your gear before and after outdoor activities. This stops seeds, mud, and other materials from hitching a ride from one place to another.

Please watch video

Pesky Plant Tracker volunteers are encouraged to take the PlayCleanGo pledge.

You're done. Thank you!

Please bring your notes to Session 1.

Your notes do not need to be organized, detailed or neat. The goal is to capture some words and phrases that are important to you or spark your curiosity.

Have questions? That's okay! Please bring questions to Session 1!

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