Moriarty Science Seminar: Effects of Urbanization on Plant Phenology

Speaker: Daijiang Li, Louisiana State University.

This event will take place Monday, March 27 at Noon online via Zoom.

Abstract:With 57% of the human population now living in urban areas, urbanization is one of the most important drivers of global environmental change. Urbanization and its associated environmental consequences such as habitat fragmentation, urban heat island effects, pollution, and altered biogeochemical and hydrologic cycling are affecting all living individuals in urban areas, forming novel ecosystems. However, we know little about how and why urbanization affects species, limiting our ability to have better urban planning and management. Plant phenology – the timing of plant life-cycle events, such as leaf-out and flowering – can serve as a “canary in the coal mine” for impending system shifts because phenology shifts are often the most immediate and visible ecological response to environmental change. In this seminar, Dr. Daijiang Li will talk about the effects of urbanization on plant phenology across the United States and most of the Europe using both in situ observatory and remote sensing data. Dr. Li will also briefly talk about a current project to build a global plant phenology database — phenobase.

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