Phenological observations on reference stands in the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest in 1971

The phenology program was initiated with two objectives. The firstwas to examine the possible relationships between easily observedphenophases and those of more interest, which are observed with difficulty.The second was to provide additional data for the ordination ofcommunities. The phenological data were collected on reference standsthat had been established on the Andrews Experimental Forest torepresent modal communities of different types. The key to numbers usedfor reference stands is given in Table 1.
The observer became familiar with each reference stand noting thelocation of individuals, clones, or colonies of the species of interest.Stands were visited weekly during May and June, less frequentlythereafter. As the initial list of species to be observed containedsome unsuitable species, the observer began to record data on all themore common or conspicuous species.
Biologically meaningful phenophases such as initiation of vegetativeactivity and flowering were noted. Some of the species had growthpatterns that offered several clearly definable stages or phenophases.These phenophases were recorded with the hope that a correlation couldbe established with other more important phenophases. All observations
or estimates of degree of enlargement or elongation were ocular estimates.These were adjusted as the observer became more familiar with thevegetation.
Conspicuous correlations between phenophases of species were noted.When casual observation of a species indicated that it had clearlydefinable phenophases, the species was included in the list of thosemore carefully observed. This "shotgun" approach provided a data basefor preliminary comparisons of communities. It also permitted anexamination of the potential suitability for phenological analysis ofa wide range of species.