Phenology

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phenology, the study of phenomena or happenings. It is applied to the recording and study of the dates of recurrent natural events (such as the flowering of a plant or the first or last appearance of a migrant bird) in relation to seasonal climatic changes. Phenology thus combines ecology with meteorology.

The weather factor that has the greatest influence on recurrent events in temperate climates is almost always temperature; in tropical areas it may be rainfall, humidity, or some other factor. The length of day, which fluctuates throughout the year but is always the same in a single locality on the same date in every year, often determines the average date of natural events but not their variation from year to year. With resident species, these local events are influenced by previous weather conditions in the area; with migrant animals, dates of arrival are affected more by conditions at the start of and during their migrations.

In addition to comparisons of the same event in different years in one locality, phenology is also concerned with studies of the times of the same event in different localities in the same year (when differences of geographic position, soil, slope, shelter, etc., are involved) and of the sequence of different events in one locality during the annual cycle of climatic and biological changes. Phenological observations are of importance to farmers and gardeners and to beekeepers who want to know when nectar-secreting flowers are at their peak production. The best date for spraying for insect pests, particularly of fruit trees in the spring, is determined by the state of development of the leaf and flower buds, which varies from year to year. The study and application of this is a branch of phenology. Phenological records also have medical applications: they are used to assess the flowering seasons of plants whose pollens cause hay fever, for example.

Although the word phenology (which should not be confused with phrenology, a pseudoscientific practice based on the belief that the shape of the human skull is indicative of behaviour) was first used about 1862, in England the study began as early as 1736, with Robert Marsham’s observations of the seasonally recurring events involving plants, insects, and birds in his village in Norfolk. The Marsham records were continued by Robert’s descendants until 1950 except for a break of 25 years. Before 1770 the naturalist Gilbert White recorded the dates of the first appearances of 20 species of migratory birds at Selbourne, Hampshire, England. In 1875 the Royal Meteorological Society of London began to organize observations of certain plants, birds, and insects, and it published an annual report through 1947. A brief history of phenology in the United Kingdom was given by J.E. Clark in 1936.

In the United States an early phenological study was Jacob Bigelow’s Facts Serving to Show the Comparative Forwardness of the Spring Season in Different Parts of the United States (1817). In 1918, A.D. Hopkins, in an article called Bioclimatic Laws, proposed a method for determining the range of date of occurrence of a seasonal event. His study of agricultural and forest conditions, particularly in the Midwestern United States, suggested that if the date of a spring event was known at one locality, then the probable date of its occurrence at other localities in the same year would be four days later for each degree of latitude to the north, for each five degrees longitude to the east, and for each 400 feet (122 m) rise in altitude. Autumnal events would be approximately the same intervals earlier. Hopkins used his laws (with some empirical corrections) to advise farmers on the best date for certain agricultural operations, in relation to known dates at a particular experimental station. For example, he suggested the best date to sow winter wheat, which would be attacked by fruit flies if planted too early and would suffer from frost if planted too late. His laws were of value in the comparatively simple weather conditions of the Midwest, where the spring isotherms move northeast at approximately the rates he indicated, but they do not hold for areas where climatic changes are much more complicated. For example, in the British Isles some spring events happen earlier in the north than in the south. This is due to the unusual climatic conditions, including the influence of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf Stream, which result in a mean January temperature in the north of Scotland and the west of Ireland as high as that in the south of France. In general, spring events in Britain are earlier in the west than in the east.