A classroom/laboratory activity to explore the possible role of climate-related environmental factors in the timing of leaf-out in plants (specifically, red maple leaf-out in New England).
In this activity, students will create graphs by using data for the timing of red maple leaf-out in New England. They will analyze these graphs and discuss the possible effect of changing spring temperatures on leaf-out.
Use this tool to help students find answers to:
- What is leaf-out?
- What are the climate-related factors that may affect leaf-out in plants?
- Which phenological events in plants could be affected by a change in the average spring temperature?
About the Tool
|Tool Name||The Timing of Red Maple Leaf-out|
|Topic(s) in Discipline||Phenology in Plants, Phenological Events in plants, Life-cycle Events in Plants, Leaf-out|
|Climate Topic||Climate and the Biosphere|
|Type of Tool||Classroom/Laboratory Activity|
|Grade Level||High school, Undergraduate|
|Location||New England, USA|
|Developed by||Elissa Koskela (University of Maine Cooperative Extension), Dr. Molly Schauffler (University of Maine Climate Change Institute and RiSE Center)|
|Hosted at||Signs of the Seasons: A New England Phenology Program, University of Maine Cooperative Extension|