USING THE PHENOLOGICAL CYCLES OF HARDWOODS IN NORTHEAST INDIANA AS A PROXY TO MEASURE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Climate change impacts a wide range of aspects of life on earth. This project investigates the potential impact climate change has on the phenological cycle of trees in northeast Indiana, with intention to serve as a longitudinal study. This is the first year of the project, which means data is quite limited and serves to provide baseline data for further investigations. In this study, several key observations were made. First, we noticed that all trees modeled a sinusoidal curve with their phenological cycle. We also noticed along with this curve, most trees quickly advanced in their autumn phenological rating in less than one week. Another interesting outcome of this project were patterns that seem to be related to specific species of trees, such as Prunus serotina (black cherry), which loses its leaves incredibly early in the season, and oaks which are some of the last species to lose their leaves.