From steved@ncatark.uark.edu Wed Jan 19 20:17:20 2000 Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 14:18:20 -0600 From: Steve Diver To: sanet-mg@ces.ncsu.edu Subject: New ATTRA pub: Phenology web links, Sequence of Bloom Here's a new resource list from ATTRA: Phenology Web Links: Sequence of Bloom, Floral Calendars, What's in Bloom http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/phenology.html I am particularly happy to add this resource list to the sustainable ag and ecological studies resource base. As web links, it is essentially just a compilation of work that quite a few other organizations, scientists, and educators are doing around the world. For a moment in time, as you stroll through the web links and think about the seasons of the year and when plants bloom and birds appear, you can enjoy the natural world and contemplate patterns and connections in Nature. Perhaps you take on the persona of an Aldo Leopold or a Diane Fossey, slipping on a sweater and jotting down observations in your field studies notebook. But, phenology also serves as a useful indicator for a number of important farming and related activities. Uses of Phenology *Correlation with insect emergence and pest control *Correlation with crop planting dates *Farmscaping with insect refugia (cover crops, hedgerows, strip crops) to attract beneficial insects and enhance natural biological control *Designing orchards for pollination and ripening sequence *Designing bee forage plantings *Designing perennial flower beds and wildflower plantings *Prediction of global warming trends At ATTRA, we have systematically created publications in a series that are complementary to one another in much the same way a farmer would group things or learn about a topic. In this sense, the phenology resource list dovetails with the ATTRA publication on Farmscaping. In farmscaping, you are designing insect refugia by planting certain cover crops, hedgerows, and field-grown annual and perennial flowers to attract beneficial insects. Flowering plants offer nectar, pollen, honeydew (from aphids feeding on plants), and herbivorous insects and mites as food to sustain natural enemies of crop pests. Knowing "when" these plants flower can be important since you may be trying to match senescence of cover crops or flowers with migration of beneficials to the adjoining crop at the same time biological control of crop pests is needed. This first edition includes web links only. But for those who are interested in this topic there are quite a few good books and articles that provide useful information and data. Compiling the print material into a resource list is another day's work. Steve Diver ATTRA http://www.attra.org To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command "unsubscribe sanet-mg". If you receive the digest format, use the command "unsubscribe sanet-mg-digest". To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command "subscribe sanet-mg-digest". All messages to sanet-mg are archived at: http://www.sare.org/san/htdocs/hypermail