Democracy

Montserrat Busto, Jordi Cunillera and Xavier de Yzaguirre

Generalitat de Catalunya

Departament de Territori i Sostenibilitat

The Phenological network of Catalonia: a historical perspective

Area of Climatology, Meteorological Service of Catalonia (SMC, @meteocat )

mbusto@meteo.cat

Barcelona

Catalonia is located

NE of the Iberian

peninsula and NW

of the Mediterranean

basin.

Area = 32.000 km2 Population = 7.5 million

1920 2017 2010 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

Meteorological Service of Catalonia

(SMC)

1921-1939

Francoism

1939-1975

Meteorology in Catalonia is developed by the Spanish Meteorological Service

Meteorological Service

of Catalonia

1996 - present

Phenological

Network of

Catalonia 1932-1939

1977

1st democratic

elections

1975

The death of Franco

2004-2008

COST ACTION 725

1936-1939

Spanish civil war

“Republicans” (legal

government) against

“Nationals” (Francoists)

Bibliography De Cara García, J. A. (2006): Phenological observations at the Spanish Meteorological Service (INM): a brief history and present status (a chapter of Nekovar, J., Koch, E., Kubin, E., Nejedlik, P., Sparks, T., Wielgolaski, F. E. (2008): The history and current status of plant phenology in Europe. Brussels, COST, 182pp. ISBN: 9789514020919)

De Cara García, J. A., Mestre Barceló, A. (2006): La observación fenológica en agrometeorología y climatología. RAM, Revista del aficionado a la meteorología, Noviembre 2006.

Denny, E. G., Gerst, K. L., Miller-Rushing, A. J., Tierney, G. L., Crimmins, T. M., Enquist, C. A., ... & Weltzin, J. F. (2014). Standardized phenology monitoring methods to track plant and animal activity for science and resource management applications. International journal of biometeorology, 58(4), 591-601.

Fontserè, E., Capmany, M. (1936): Primers resutats de conjunt de les observacions fenològiques a Catalunya. Servei Meteorològic de Catalunya (1932-1935), Notes d’Estudi núm. 63.

Koch, E., Dittmann, E., Lipa, W., Menzel, A., Necovar, J., & Vanvli-eth, A. J. H. (2006): Establishing a European phenological data platform for climatological applications. 9. oesterreichischer Klimatag. Klima, Klimawandel und Auswirkungen, 16, 17-27.

Koch, E., Bruns, E., Chmielewski, F. M., Defila, C., Lipa, W., & Menzel, A. (2007): Guidelines for plant phenological observations. World Climate Data and Monitoring Programme.

Menzel, A., Sparks, T. H., Estrella, N., Koch, E., Aasa, A., Ahas, R., ... & Chmielewski, F. M. (2006). European phenological response to climate change matches the warming pattern. Global change biology, 12(10), 1969-1976.

Sparks, T. H., Menzel, A., Stenseth, N. C. (2009): European cooperation in plant phenology. Climate Research, 39(3), 175-177.

2008 - present

PEP 725 project

Spanish phenological net in 2002.

There were 10 observers in

Catalonia (De Cara et al. 2006).

1896

Agricultural Provincial

School in Barcelona

creates the 1st

phenological network in

Spain (1896-1906)

1906

. . .

Dr. Fontserè,

SMC director

1939

SMC shut down

Phenology study by SMC

(Fontserè et al. 1936).

Phenology is coordinated from Spain (1942-present) ····························································································································································

Phenological

Network of

Catalonia-Fenocat

2013 - present

The study First

results of the

phenological

observations in

Catalonia was

published in 1936

Spatial distribution of 53 FENOCAT current

observation points (April 2017).

Before 2013 Phenology coordinated from Spain

After 2013 Creation of Fenocat

Currently there are 53 observers monitoring

25 plants, 14 birds and 6 butterflies.

Current PEP725 stations

in the SW of Europe.

2- Uses BBCH international codification BBCH scale is used broadly in monitoring natural systems across Europe (Meier 2001; Koch et al. 2007), and

more recently in USA (Schwartz et al. 2013).

4- Forms part of Pan European Phenology Database (PEP725 project) This phenology network aims to be useful to science. Therefore, since the beginning, the net has sent their

recorded data to the Pan European Phenology Database (PEP725).

3- An example of citizen science

The observers choose the species and phenophases to observe and monitor them at least twice a week (in the

case of birds and butterflies, they pick a suitable location and observe the presence or absence of the species).

They carry out a periodic assessment of the “status” of the phenophase for an organism, rather than simply

recording the date of an “event” (Denny et al. 2014).

1- Records the onset and the duration of the phenophases

FENOCAT MAIN FEATURES

All the observers are volunteer citizens with very different backgrounds and interests, but all of them are

committed to phenology and meteorology.

The Meteorological Service of Catalonia

(SMC) began the systematic phenological

observations in 1932.

44 observers registered the phenophases of

45 plants, the first or last sighting of 6 birds

and the first sighting of one butterfly.

The SMC worked against the fascist military uprising

during the Spanish Civil War. Therefore, once the war

was finished, the SMC was quickly closed by the

Franco dictatorship.

The reintroduction of democracy and the

return of the Catalan self-government

structures (1977) allowed the re-

foundation of the SMC in 1996.

The Climatology Department needed phenological data to

complement the study of climatic indicators and realized the

fragile situation of phenology observations in Catalonia, with

few operational series.

There were 10 observers in 2002.

PEP725 stations in 2012. There were

two Catalonian series (Cardedeu and

Rocallaura), both abandoned in the

early 20th century.