Florida Phenology Workshop Agenda
May 13, 2009
9:30 – 10:00
Check-in, coffee, networking [Tom Wichman and Alan Long (UF/IFAS)]
10:00 – 10:15
Introductions (Will Sheftall, UF/IFAS Extension, Moderator)
10:15 – 11:30
Overview of the Envisioned Phenology Monitoring Network [George Kish, U.S. Geological Survey
(USGS), Moderator]
10:15 – 10:55
Jake Weltzin (USGS, Executive Director, National Phenology Monitoring Network) 40-min PPT
– Overview of National Phenology Monitoring Network and Recent Developments in the Wildlife
Phenology Program BY TELEPHONE
10:55 – 11:15
George Kish (USGS, Coordinator, SE Regional Phenology Monitoring Network) 20-min PPT –
Overview of Florida citizens-in-science monitoring component
11:15 – 11:30
Questions and Answers with USGS presenters
11:30 – 12:30
Briefings on existing phenophase databases covering Florida (George Kish, Overall Moderator)
[Each participant should plan to provide an overview of data storage, data administrator,
retrieval options and protocols, QA by data set or series, observer certification required,
protocols for data input/observer reporting]
11:30 – 11:40
Overview of Bird Monitoring Programs in Florida (Adam Kent, FWC)
11:40 – 11:50
Florida Breeding Bird Survey (Michael Delany, FWC)
11:50 – 12:00
Frogwatch, National American Amphibian Monitoring Program (NAAMP), Herpetological
Education and Research Project (Anna Farmer, FWC, Moderator)
12:00 – 12:10
Mammal databases (Holly Ober, UF/IFAS, Moderator)
12:10 – 12:20
Florida Butterfly Monitoring Network (Jaret Daniels, Moderator)
12:20 – 12:30
Florida Native Plant Society (FNPS) database (George Kish, USGS, Moderator)
12:30 – 1:30
Lunch, presentation and discussion of web portal and training module ideas (Will Sheftall, UF/IFAS,
Moderator)
12:30 – 12:45
Lunch line (Tom Wichman, UF/IFAS, Coordinator)
12:45 – 1:00
Description plus outline or screen shots of example web portal designed for water data (Mike
Holmes, USGS) BY TELEPHONE
1:00 – 1:15
Ideas for web portal analog for phenology (Mike Holmes, USGS) BY TELEPHONE
1:15 – 1:30
Description plus outline of web tutorial/PPT of draft training module (George Kish, Tom
Wichman, Karen Blyler)
1:30 – 1:45
Discussion of conceptual training module
1:45 – 3:15
Identification of key taxa for monitoring in Florida [Alan Long, UF/IFAS, Moderator]
1:45 – 2:30
[Breakout group facilitators: plants and invasives (George Kish, USGS); birds and herps
(Anna Farmer, FWC); mammals (Holly Ober, UF/IFAS, Will Sheftall, UF/IFAS); butterflies
and insects (Jaret Daniels, UF)]
Ideas for breakout group consideration:
[key Florida taxa to be monitored, observational info needed, potential problems (by category:
plants, birds, herps, mammals, butterflies, invasive exotic species)]
[coordinates, species, life cycle event observed, habitat, political unit, observer ID, date]
[for habitat info, could use dichotomous key approach in drop-down menus: rural/urban, state
park/wildlife management area/water management district lands/state forest/national
forest/national wildlife refuge, big city/small town, residential neighborhood/golf course/citycounty park/county Extension campus, natural/planted & maintained landscape]
1:45 – 2:30
Breakout group on development of training and reference materials for youth group and K-12
school audiences (Karen Blyler, Moderator)
1:45 – 2:30
Breakout group on development of training and reference materials for citizen-in science volunteer
and master volunteer adult audiences (Tom Wichman, UF/IFAS, Moderator)
2:30 – 2:45
Afternoon break, prepare brief group reports
2:45 – 3:15
Group reports, 3 min each
3:15 – 4:00
Formation of Florida subcommittees, planning for OCT 2009 Launch via PolyCom (Tom Wichman,
UF/IFAS, George Kish, Moderators)
3:15 – 3:30
Formation of Florida subcommittees for finalizing Web portal, taxa lists, training module
3:30 – 3:50
Discussion and enlistment of volunteer Committee Chairs for OCT 2009 Launch: PolyCom site
host recruitment by Extension district, Florida Extension agent and volunteer recruitment by
Extension district:
[1 day during first 2 wks OCT 2009 – select date using a doodle approach with audience]
[host sites around FL at County Extension offices (all have videoconferencing capability)]
[basic overview will entail how to use the portal and training module, ID of key plant taxa,
recognizing plant phenophases, recording plant phenology data from multiple specimens, and
generating GIS data summary reports]
[overviews of wildlife phenophase monitoring, by taxa group, will follow the basic overview, and
will entail how to become certified to submit observational data on animals per the protocol for the
various databases that exist]
3:50 – 4:00
Wrap up and Next Steps (Tom Wichman, UF/IFAS, Moderator)
4:00
Adjourn