Conclusions   


Our purpose for this study was to study phenology to see the cycle of plant growth and understand if the effect of environmental factors on the timing of budburst is different in two locations at the same latitudes, and if it is affected by moisture or temperature. Our hypothesis is that the tree buds in Washington, DC will burst before Indiana’s, because we thought there is more water in the air closer to the ocean, and that water controls the timing of budburst. Our data suggests that there was actually a little more humidity and also more precipitation in Indiana than Washington, DC, so that does not support our hypothesis. Both species of trees did have budburst a little earlier in Washington, DC than in Indiana, but probably not because of moisture difference.

From the observation of the trees, we have noticed that the trees are healthy from the rainfall, but we think budburst is controlled mostly by the temperature in the Crab Apple, but maybe not for the Silver Maple. We think the very cold temperatures in late January and February affected the Crab Apple and made budburst become delayed, but not for the Silver Maple.

We have learned that large bodies of water affect climate of an area by making temperatures change less. We now think our research shows that temperature is the most important factor controlling budburst. We think the Crab Apple trees in both Indiana and in Washington, DC were delayed by the cold temperatures in late January, 2007, but maybe the Silver Maple was not. In Indiana, the additional data from Grigsby seems to show that temperature delayed the Maple’s budburst this year as compared to 2004, but in Washington, DC, it did not have that influence. Some members of our team are suspicious that something else is influencing the trees, such as the number of hours of light. We think this is important, because if the climate changes then it might affect different trees in different ways. It might be hard to predict!

We wanted to see if our data would show any connection to global climate change but now we know we do not have enough data. We learned a lot from reading about a study in Headley, England, [Oak budburst 2007] where the scientists studied budburst in Oak trees for 14 years (1967-1981). In 14 years their data shows a lot of variation in the date of budburst, but overall there is a trend towards earlier budburst. This data shows that it is not possible to see a trend in just one or two years of data, so we realize we need more data for more years. We think our schools should keep monitoring budburst for many more years and maybe the students will see a trend toward earlier or later budburst dates, and that could mean climate changes are happening. Here is the Headley data, showing 14 years of budburst. The black line shows that the buds tend to burst earlier now than they used to.

                   

We have learned many things but we still have questions. We are curious about the Silver Maple and what controls its growth. We wonder if light is an influential factor. We would like to study more about photoperiod and the Silver Maple tree. We are also wondering how deep are the roots in the underground and how much water do they take in? Do different plants have different ways that can be impacted by factors in the environment that can be similar to warning signs or indicators to people of problems in the environment?

Our team talked about how we could improve our research study. Here are the suggestions we came up with.

   • We think we should add more trees within the experiment, and find trees in a more natural location.
   • We need to continue for 5 or 10 more years to compare. The more data we collect, the better.
   • We need a better snowboard to measure the snowfall, so the students will not bother it.
   • We’d like to measure the air pressure (barometer) in the air that may affect the plants.
   • We need a way to protect the trees so no one disturbs our marks on the buds. Maybe we could think of a better way to mark the          exact buds so we can find them but other people will not notice them.
   • We would like to add data for sunlight for both the Crab Apple and Silver Maple.