Early development of the plants

The development of many plants this year is significantly earlier than average, but not as extreme as last year. GeoSphere Austria's free ‘Nature Calendar’ app shows all current observations of nature in Austria and also offers the option of uploading your own reports to support national and international research projects. New: Since this year, the ‘Nature Calendar’ app has included a new section for pollen-allergenic plants.

The development of the plants was significantly accelerated in March, which was for the most part very mild, and slowed down somewhat by the cold weather of the last few days. Flowering and leaf emergence are currently around one week ahead of a typical spring in the period 1991 to 2020 and around two weeks ahead of a typical spring in the period 1961 to 1990.

‘This year, for example, the Sal willow, also known as the catkins, began flowering on 7 March on average across all observations in Austria. That was five days earlier than the average for the period 1991 to 2020 and 14 days earlier than the average for the period 1961 to 1990,’ says Thomas Hübner from GeoSphere Austria. ‘However, it is not as extreme as last year, when the start of flowering of the Sal willow was on 23 February on average across Austria or on 20 February as in 2008.’

Apple and horse chestnut blossom will soon begin in the lowlands of Austria. ‘This is a good opportunity for anyone interested to record current observations in the free ‘Nature Calendar’ app. This allows you to compare the development of nature in your own region over the years and the data is also used to support national and international research projects,’ explains Thomas Hübner, ’this data is very valuable in the field of climate research, for example, but also for questions about the susceptibility of certain plants to frost.’

The ‘Nature Calendar’ app is constantly being expanded and, as of this year, also offers the option of looking up the location and flowering of the most common sources of pollen allergies and documenting them yourself as a citizen scientist. The addition of plants such as alder, hazel and tree of heaven was realised together with the Vienna Pollen Service of MedUni Vienna.

Phenology is one of three areas in which GeoSphere Austria receives important information from the public online:

• Report observations of plants: Changes in climate and environment are evident in the seasonal development of plants throughout the year.
• Report weather: Weather reports from the population help to record the effects of weather and storms in real time and support forecasting and warnings.
• Report earthquakes: Reports from the population provide important information on the effects of earthquakes. They supplement the data from the earthquake monitoring network and, in the long term, also provide information on earthquake hazards and building standards.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)