PlantWatch - tracking Climate Change

BBEMA is proud to be the provincial coordinator for PEI PlantWatch - if your class is interested in joining this program please contact us and we will get you started.

PlantWatch is part of a national NatureWatch series of volunteer monitoring programs designed to help identify ecological changes that may be affecting our environment. A joint venture between the Canadian Nature Federation and Environment Canada's Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network Coordinating Office (EMANCO), PlantWatch partners include representatives from each province and territory. The goal is to encourage Canadians of all ages to get involved in helping scientists discover how, and more importantly why, our natural environment is changing.

The PlantWatch program enables "citizen scientists" to get involved by recording flowering times for selected plant species and reporting these dates to researchers through the Internet or by mail

The plants chosen for this guide bloom every spring, largely in response to rising temperatures. However, some species are flowering almost a month earlier than they were a century ago! Scientists believe climate change is affecting blooming times - a trend that is continuing. They predict that the greatest increases in temperature will be in Western and Northern Canada, while some parts of Eastern Canada actually may be cooling. By reporting on the PlantWatch species found in your community, you can help researchers discover how common plants are responding to climate change - and track where changes are taking place in Canada, and at what rate.

When you submit your data electronically, it's added instantly to Web maps showing bloom dates across Canada, so your observations make a difference right away!

There are 12 species monitored on PEI - Download the PEI PlantWatch Species Poster  

• Aspen Poplar
• Bear-berry
• Blue-bead Lily
• Bunch Berry
• Common Purple Lilac  
• Dandelion
• Labrador Tea
• Larch
• Red Maple
• Rhodora
• Starflower
• Wild Strawberry

Visit the National PlantWatch website at www.plantwatch.ca