Exploring Fall Phenology

This project was completed in lieu of a final assessment for the Landscape Ecology course in Fall of 2022, during the first year of my graduate program at USU. Divided into teams of 3, students were asked to pursue a research question of interest with planning implications. Intrigued by precedent studies happening across the east coast, where ecotourism for leaf senescence is an impactful industry, we decided to pursue a similar study locally. This being the first attempt to study the effects of climate change on fall phenology in the west we had a number of setbacks. 

Restricted by data availability and quality we were unable to study the precipitation variable of leaf senescence. Focusing on seasonal temperature changes, or the changing 'length of fall' defined as the time between the Autumnal Equinox and first freeze of the year, and connecting that with historic NDVI vegetation indices showing greenness we found noteable changes in leaf color especially in invasive species.  While there were a number of complications with this project, and muddled results, we are proud of our work and happy we were able to spearhead this study in the west.