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PlantWatch
PlantWatch Call for Volunteers Climate Change Saskatchewan and Nature Saskatchewan have teamed up to bring you the opportunity of participating in PlantWatch! Do you want to be a part of documenting climate change? Just by volunteering a bit of your time to record the blooming of common Saskatchewan plants, you will be part of an international monitoring effort to document biological responses to climate change! How can watching plants help us learn more about climate change? All of the plants that PlantWatch tracks tend to flower as they accumulate heat (or warm up to a certain point). This means that following warmer winters and springs they flower earlier than they would otherwise. Current climate change models predict that annual temperatures will increase in Western and Northern Canada while actually cooling in parts of Eastern Canada. By comparing current records with past records, researchers have observed that some plants in Western Canada are flowering nearly a month earlier than they did a century ago! By participating in PlantWatch you will help us better understand how common plants are responding to climate change as well as where and at what rate our climate is changing. Saskatchewan PlantWatch is a joint venture between Nature Saskatchewan, Environment Canada's Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network, and Nature Canada; most Canadian provinces either have a Plant Watch program in place or are in the process of establising one. This program is growing all the time and is looking for volunteers to help record bloom times of selected plant species, including common native ones such as the dandelion and prairie crocus. It is an easy and fun way to volunteer. All ages are welcome and no special skills are required. To Get Involved in the PlantWatch Program:
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