Great Plant Hunt Week
Welcome to the Great Plant Hunt Week page
17th-22nd May 2010
Let's go plant hunting! Join thousands of primary school children across the UK taking part in our free mass observation study in May.
It's an ideal practical activity for all ages 5-11 that engages pupils with real science outside the classroom and helps deliver key skills from the science curriculum.
We need you to record the whereabouts of ten plant species in flower as part of a UK wide phenology study - see the list of plants below. Your data will help scientists at Kew examine the possible effects of climate change on our natural wildlife.
Taking Part Is Straightforward...
You will need:
- The Great Plant Hunt Week worksheet. This is a checklist of the ten species to take on your hunt and on which pupils record their findings.
- The plant Identikit is also useful as it provides more detailed information on the plants and will help recognise them,
- Clipboards, pens/pencils and camera/s
The fun part!
- Between 17th-22nd May try and find as many of the ten species in flower. As well as recording observations on the sheet, if possible, take photos of the flowering plants.
- Back in school you can upload your photos on this website, to do this you will need to register for your free school account if you haven't done so already. They will then be displayed on the Great Plant Hunt Week map, along with images from all the other schools taking part in the UK. There will be prizes for the best contributions!
By joining in Great Plant Hunt Week your young scientists will be able to take part in a real-life activity, publish their photos and data on the website and contribute to Kew's phenology research.
In 2010 we are celebrating the role of plants as part of International Year of Biodiversity and Great Plant Hunt Week ties in with International Biodiversity Day on 22 May.
What is phenology?
Phenology is the study of the seasonal life cycles of plants and animals. Because these events are sensitive to variations in climate (eg temperature) phenological records can be a useful measure of the effects of climate change.
It is important to know how various components of our ecosystem are changing, as they all interact. Plants are quite flexible in adjusting their timings to climatic changes but this is not always true of the animal life that depends on them. The flowering time of Garlic mustard (Aliaria petiolata) is getting earlier, but are the orange tip butterfly caterpillars that eat them? Scientists at Kew have been logging the flowering time of plants since the 1950's. This research shows that common spring plants such as daffodils and crocuses are flowering weeks earlier than they did thirty years ago. The results of the research help advance scientific knowledge and support conservation around the world.