Phenology, or changes in the timing of plant or animal behaviors or characteristics, is an integrative and sensitive indicator of ecosystem health and function that responds to meteorology, water and nutrient availability, disturbance, and environmental change. Phenology includes the timing of germination, leaf, seed, fruit set, and senescence in plants, and the timing of biotic activities, such as migration, mating, and the rearing of young in animals. Understanding phenological responses to environmental change across spatial and temporal scales is critical for forecasting shifts in land surface energy balance, species activity, and associated changes in biogeochemical cycling, landscape dynamics, and ecological processes. This session features recent advances in characterizing the spatio-temporal patterns in vegetation and animal phenology using a variety of methods (e.g., satellite, drones, PhenoCam, in-situ measurements, Earth system models); determining underlying mechanisms; developing models of phenology; and investigating ecological processes and their effects and impacts on human society. 

• GC - Global Environmental Change