ClimateWatch | SPOTTERON

The ClimateWatch program is the collaborative brainchild of Earthwatch Australia, the Bureau of Meteorology, and the University of Melbourne to understand how changes in temperature and rainfall are affecting the seasonal behavior of Australia's plants and animals. The first continental phenology project in the Southern Hemisphere, ClimateWatch enables every Australian to be involved in collecting and recording data that will help shape our country’s scientific response to climate change.

What is phenology? Phenology is the study of periodic plant and animal life cycle events and how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate. Examples include bird nesting, insect hatching, plant flowering, and fruit ripening. Many studies have already provided insight into the relationship between climate variables, such as temperature and rainfall, to the timing of these phenophases. Monitoring phenology is important as changes can impact entire biological communities, our food sources, and our environment. Unfortunately few significant datasets have been collected and researched in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere.

We need your help capturing the impact climate change is having on our plants and wildlife. With our free ClimateWatch app, you can gather information in your own backyard, on the way to school, in your school ground, or at a local park. The information you collect will help us develop adaptation strategies for species’ survival into the future.

We acknowledge our funders, QBE Insurance and Helen Macpherson Smith Trust, without whom this superb upgrade to the ClimateWatch app would not have been possible. Thanks to Parks Victoria for supporting the ‘ClimateWatch in Parks’ program, connecting communities and enabling them to take action on climate change. The ClimateWatch App is running on the SPOTTERON Citizen Science platform.