Monitoring Phenology on Hurricane Island

Post by Chloe Tremper, Science Educator

View fullsize

Newly broken leaves on the Horse chestnut. Taken May 15, 2015 

Since arriving on Hurricane earlier this month, I have been focusing on the phenology, or what I like to call the FUNology, of Hurricane Island.  Phenology is the study of the timing of events in the growth and life cycles of plants and animals.  When we monitor phenology, we are observing and recording the seasonal changes that occur in the natural world. In this day and age, when climate change is at the forefront of the scientific community, it is becoming more and more important to regularly record changes because overtime those data can unveil larger trends like flowers blooming a day earlier each year or birds arriving weeks earlier than they did in the past.  While it may not sound like the most exciting thing to do, monitoring the phenological changes happening around us opens up an entire new world of discovery and brings awareness to how climate change is impacting our own backyards.

View fullsize

First blooms on the Horse chestnut, taken June 3, 2015

Last year, we established four phenology monitoring sites on the island.  One in the flywheel field, one near the Ice Pond, one at Gibbon’s Point, and one by the lab.  At each site we have designated plants that we go to regularly and record observations for.  The species we monitor include trees such as red spruce, balsam fir, apple, and quaking aspens; shrubs like red-berried elderberry, snowberry, lilac, and beach rose; and wildflowers including orange hawkweed, starflower, beach pea, and Canada mayflower.  Some of the key phenological changes we monitor in plants are when leaf buds break, when flowers bloom, when fruits are produced, and when leaves begin to fall off.

This year, we have made some tweaks to improve our phenology monitoring, and in order to have time to make more frequent observations at the other sites, I decided to eliminate the flywheel monitoring site.  In addition to adding a few new plants, we have also started monitoring the phenological changes of birds on the island.  As you probably know, many of the birds that call Hurricane home during the summer migrate south for the winter.  By going out every few days to each phenology site, identifying and counting birds heard or seen nearby, and recording behavioral observations we get a better idea of how bird populations fluctuate throughout the seasons – what species arrive when, when chicks begin to fledge, when species leave for the season, etc. 

By collecting the same data every year on the same individual plants and monitoring birds at the same spots, over time we will have a huge database of phenological information that we can use to monitor long term changes in the life cycles of plants and animals on Hurricane.

All of the phenology observations we collect are entered on Nature’s Notebook, an online database of phenological changes across the United States.   Data entered onto this website is also used by scientists around the globe for phenology research.  Nature's Notebook has a great app available for iPhones and Androids, as well as a website, where you can start your own phenology monitoring sites or trails.  So get out there and enjoy this beautiful world we live in while also collecting valuable data to help scientists!

Ahh-choo!

View fullsize

new needle growth, and immature female seed cones on a white spruce bough

View fullsize

Male pollen cones from a white spruce

View fullsize

Immature female seed cones on a white spruce

View fullsize

pollen sometimes blows out onto the ocean

While I was working in the lab on Hurricane this past week, I spied a beautiful little Northern Parula (Setophaga americana) foraging and darting in between the bough's of a nearby White Spruce (Picea glauca) tree. Every time the warbler emerged, it was followed by a cloud of yellow pollen. While many of the flowering plants (angiosperms) on Hurricane Island have yet to bloom, this is the season where conifers or evergreens (gymnosperms) are releasing pollen, and dusting everything in sight. 

Hurricane Island has three conifers that dominate the landscape: red spruce, white spruce, and balsam fir. At first glance, all of these evergreens might be hard to tell apart. I always remember the difference with the following mnemonic:  the "sharp, square, spruce" and the "flat, friendly, fir." Spruce tree needles are square and can be rolled across the palm of your hand, but fir needles have just two sides. Spruce needles are also shorter and tend to grow forward from the stem rather than perpendicular to the stem like balsam fir, which means that if you give a spruce tree a handshake it feels a lot more prickly or sharp. The other major difference between spruce and fir trees is that spruce cones grow up from the branches and fir cones grow down from the branches. 

But back to the pollen. For a very short period of time, the evergreens on Hurricane form a different cone in addition to the large, scaly, female seed cones that you are probably familiar with. Male pollen cones are much smaller (just about 1/2 inch long), and last for just a few days. Their purpose is to release pollen and fertilize the female seed cones before they fall off the tree. 

Along with releasing pollen, Hurricane's evergreens are also in the process of developing new needles which form on the tips of each branch and stay a lighter green color well into summer. After this flurry of activity in the spring, the conifers will not be changing much except for the newly fertilized female seed cones. These will continue to grow and develop for several years before releasing the seeds. 

One part of the research that we do on Hurricane is to monitor the phenology, or timing, of life cycle events in the plants and birds on the island. We use Nature's Notebook to record data on when events like new needle growth and the presence of pollen cones happen to the conifers on the island so that we can compare the timing of these events to other parts of Maine or the US. Other scientists can also create scientific models from these data to predict the impacts of climate change on the timing of when these events happen, which can also help us understand other things like changes in Maine's growing season.

Take a look around you at your home! Notice any new things blooming or growing? Have the conifers already released their pollen? 

Visiting Seal Island, Maine

On Sunday, January 11, 2015 Sam Hallowell and I boarded Equinox, captained by John Morin and joined by a hearty crew of warmly dressed nature enthusiasts, to head out to Seal Island, a 65 acre treeless and desolate island 21 miles off the coast of Rockland. A layer of ice was on the stern, a stiff breeze kept everyone's hats and hoods tightly fastened, and snow coated the lines securing Equinox to the dock at Journey's End Marina. Despite the conditions, the mood was charged with energy and enthusiasm--we were on a mission to see the second largest gray seal pupping colony in the United States.

Around this time each year (starting in November), when most of us want to cozy up in front of a fire armed with hot tea and a book, gray seals (Halichoerus grypus) are gathering by the thousands to temporarily colonize offshore islands as their pupping grounds. Protected by a thick layer of blubber and hair, they are unfazed by the ice, windchill, and other inhospitable conditions, and lay out on exposed bedrock to give birth to snow white seal pups. After the pups are born, they consume a high fat milk concoction for nearly a month until they are left to fend for themselves, until they too return to the colony to mate and have pups of their own.

When we arrived and set anchor, the island was littered with pups laying near their mothers on the rocks. John clicked the engine off and a sustained eerie moaning sound emerged from the silence. At first it was hard to distinguish what we were looking at (is that a seal, a rock, or a seal slumped over a rock?), and where to look as eagles soared overhead scoping out vulnerable pups, and huge males lurked around us in the water, occasionally popping up their heads to look at us reproachfully. Male gray seals are hard to ignore: growing up to 10 feet long and upwards of 900 pounds, they also sport an unmistakable profile which influenced the origin of their latin name, which translates to "hook-nosed sea pig." 

Not much is known about gray seal life history and ecology because most of these major life events happen underwater or far offshore. This means that researchers can often only observe gray seals in the wild for a few days at a time. One instrument that has helped researchers have a more sustained look at these events is the "seal cam," which was installed on Seal Island in 2013.  Cameras can allow researchers to identify seals that have been seen or tagged elsewhere, and ask questions such as "how long do pups keep their white coats?" or "What are the interactions between mother and pup as the pup matures?" For the general public, the seal cam is a great way to enjoy gray seals from the comfort of our homes, although I will always treasure having the opportunity to see the pupping colony with my own eyes! Thank you so much to John Morin for making the trip possible.

Schoodic Institute Science Symposium

On October 1 , 2014, Schoodic Institute hosted the Acadia National Park Science Symposium that highlighted research being done in and around the National Park with a focus on "our understanding of rapid environmental change." Speakers included Esperanza Stancioff, an Extension Educator with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, Abe Miller-Rushing, Science Coordinator at Acadia National Park and a member of the National Park Service, Bob Page with the National Park Service's Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation, Jasmine Saros, a University of Maine Climate Change Institute researcher who has been monitoring Jordan Pond in Acadia, and Elizabeth Wolkovich, a researcher with Harvard University who focuses on phenology. Additional projects were highlighted during two poster sessions. 

Esperanza summarized the work of an interdisciplinary team and the town of Ellsworth to address storm water overflow and infrastructure vulnerability; an issue with ecological and economic ramifications if climate change predictions that Maine will experience more extreme rainfall events are realized. MPBN highlighted the project through a short documentary, "Culvert Operations."

Symposium attendees collecting phenology data.

During lunch, people were invited to collect phenology data for Acadia's monitoring program. The data are used to track changes in individual plants, but also to better understand how data collected by citizen scientists can be utilized. Park staff have also setup wildlife cameras at their phenology monitoring sites to capture footage of species interactions and couple bird behavior with plant phenology data. Shifts in the timing of different events like flowering or the production of fruit can have major implications for other species that might rely on that plant for a food source. For example, flowering and fruiting may be shifting earlier in the season due to warming temperatures, yet the timing of bird migration is not shifting at the same rate so migrating birds may miss a critical food source as they migrate to their seasonal nesting or wintering grounds. Elizabeth Wolkovich is researching how changes in temperature and phenology may give exotic species the competitive advantage of native plant species.

The science symposium was an inspiring event, and I am looking forward to collaborating with these speakers and researchers as we continue to grow and develop the field station's research agenda on Hurricane!

The Ferns of Hurricane Island

Post by Chloe Tremper, Science and Education Intern

If you find yourself hiking around Hurricane Island's trail system and come across a fern, take a closer look! Can you identify it? Here are different types of ferns we have found this summer. It may help to check out this helpful diagram showing fern anatomy before reading below.

Mountain Wood Fern Dryopteris campyloptera (Kunze) Clarkson.

Sori of the Mountain Wood Fern

Mountain Wood Fern

Mountain wood fern is one of, if not the most abundant fern species on Hurricane Island as it can be seen on nearly every part of the island. These ferns inhabit cool forests throughout New England, though typically are only found on higher elevations in more southern states, hence the name “mountain” wood fern.  Its thrice-pinnate leaf blade, pale green kidney-shaped sori (the little dots on the underside of the main fern blade), brown scales on the leaf stalk, and the veins, which do not reach the edge of the leaf blade, help easily identify this species. Fun Fern Fact: Native Americans used a tea of the leaves to treat stomachaches and used the rhizomes for food.

Rock Polypody Polypodium virginianum L.

Rock Polypody

Rock polypody is another common fern on Hurricane, however you have to know where to look.  Rock polypody often grows directly on rock or on thin soil over rocky cliffs and boulders. We’ve found it growing all over many of the granite rock outcrops within the shade of the spruces and firs here on the island. The blade of rock polypody is once-pinnate and lobed with large, circular sori that tend to be brown in color.  If you look closely at the blade of rock polypody, it almost looks like the pinna are all connected and smoothly zig-zagging back and forth. Fun Fern Fact: It was widely used by Native Americans as a medicinal herb to treat stomachaches, colds, coughs, and other ailments.  

Cinnamon Fern Osmundastrum cinnamomeum (L.) C. Presl

Cinnamon Fern

Cinnamon fern is abundant along trails mostly on the northern half of Hurricane Island, and these ferns are typically found along water edges and within forests.  Cinnamon fern is a large fern that grows in rounded clumps with fertile fronds emerging from the center.  Unlike mountain wood fern and rock polypody, which have spores on the undersides of their pinna, the spores of cinnamon fern are all found within modified leaflets on individual fertile fronds which look very different from the sterile fronds.  The sterile fronds of cinnamon fern are twice-pinnate and can grow to be over three feet in length and the fertile fronds are erect with cinnamon colored sporangia covering the top of the stalk. Fern Fun Fact: Cinnamon fern fiddleheads are mildly toxic and are often mistaken for ostrich fern fiddleheads, which are commonly collected for food in the spring. Careful what you harvest!

Sensitive Fern Onoclea sensibilis L.

Sensitive Fern

Sensitive fern is fairly abundant on Hurricane Island, especially in poorly drained areas open areas as sensitive ferns are indicators of wet sites and are one of a few ferns that are sun-tolerant.  The blade is once-pinnate with slightly lobed margins on the pinna and a light yellow-green color.  Like cinnamon fern, sensitive ferns have fertile fronds that look like rows of black capsules along the top of an erect stalk growing along with the sterile fronds. Fern Fun Fact:  Sensitive fern received its name because the sterile fronds are very susceptible, or sensitive, to frost damage.

Interrupted Fern Osmunda claytoniana L.

Interrupted Fern

Interrupted fern is a very common fern found throughout New England, however we have only found it one location on Hurricane Island so it’s a rare one for us.  They are generally found in forests and along water edges.  The leaf blade is twice-pinnate and many fronds have distinct interruptions at the center of the frond caused by fertile pinnae. The fertile pinnae are generally chestnut-brown to black in color and close to the stalk.  Fern Fun Fact: Interrupted fern has the oldest known fossil record of any living fern in the world, it's been around for 200 million years!

Royal Fern Osmunda regalis L.

Royal Fern

Royal fern is a species found commonly around the world, however we’ve only found it in one location on Hurricane so it gets treated like royalty here! Royal ferns are often found by water and within forests.  The leaf blades of the sterile fronds are twice pinnate with a gap between each pinna.  The fertile fronds rise above the sterile fronds and are somewhat crown shaped, thus the name royal fern. Fern Fun Fact: Royal fern is the largest fern found in North America and the young fiddleheads are edible.

Whew! That's all the ferns we've found for now, but stay tuned, and see if you can find any of these ferns growing around your own home or neighborhood! I recommend A Field Guide to Ferns and Their Related Families: Northeastern and Central North America (A Peterson field guide) if you are looking to become a fern expert :) Happy fern finding!