For 88 years (1931-present), the Mohonk Preserve's Daniel Smiley Research Center has been collecting data on occupancy and reproductive success of amphibian species, as well as associated water quality of 11 vernal pools each spring (February to May). Though sampling effort has varied over the dataset range, the size of the dataset is unprecedented within the field of amphibian ecology. With more than 2,480 individual species sampling dates and more than 151,701 recorded individual occurrences of the nine amphibian species, the described dataset represents the longest and largest time-series of herpetological sampling with paired water quality data. We describe the novel publication of a paired dataset of amphibian occurrence with environmental indicators spanning nearly 90 years of data collection. As of February 2020, the dataset includes 2,480 sampling dates across eleven vernal pools and 151,701 unique occurrences of egg masses or individuals recorded across nine species of amphibian. The dataset also includes environmental conditions associated with the species occurrences with complete coverage for air temperature and precipitation records and partial coverage for a variety of other weather and water quality measures. Data collection has included species, egg mass and tadpole counts; weather conditions including precipitation, sky and wind codes; water quality measurements including water temperature and pH; and vernal pool assessment including depth and surface vegetation coverage. Collection of data was sporadic from 1931–1991, but data have been collected consistently from 1991 to present. We also began monitoring dissolved oxygen, nitrate concentrations and conductivity of the vernal pools using a YSI Sonde Professional Plus Instrument and turbidity using a turbidity tube in February 2018. The dataset (and periodic updates), as well as metadata in the EML format, are available in the Environmental Data Initiative Repository under package edi.398.

Invasive plants in the riparian zone can negatively affect the characteristics and quality of a watershed. To support the development of a watershed management plan and foster public appreciation of the value of the riparian zone, Mohonk Preserve established a volunteer monitoring program surveying sites for invasive species. Between 2017 and 2019, citizen scientists repeatedly surveyed 20 sites in the Hudson River Valley in New York for ten invasive plant species: purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria), common reed (Phragmites australis), multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora), garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata), dame’s rocket (Hesperis matronalis), Japanese knotweed (Reynoutria japonica), wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius), barberry (Berberis sp.), Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum) and Asiatic bittersweet (oriental bittersweet, Celastrus orbiculatus). We found that the number of target species detected was higher on sites closer to paved roads and with increasing drainage area size, while lower with higher percentages of forested land in the basin. Our analysis results highlight variation in the presence of target invasive species across the Hudson River Valley region, highlighting sites and areas to monitor for future introductions and take action to prevent species invasions. Our results highlight differences in the most relevant abiotic for hydrophytes and non-hydrophyte species, underscoring the importance of considering species life-history traits prior to the development of management plans for invasive plant species in the riparian zone. Our case study of community-collected data in the Hudson Valley region using a relatively simple monitoring protocol can provide a roadmap to other regions fostering volunteer engagement with invasive plants.

As anthropogenic climate change alters species' phenology, phenological shifts may cascade to disrupt species interactions to impact ecosystem functioning. We present a 108-year phenology dataset of 8,840 event dates for 251 phenophases for seven amphibian species, 58 birds, 14 insects, and 163 plant species, including 52 species introduced to New York. The dataset was collected at a single location in the Northeastern United States, providing continuity in monitoring since the early 1900s. We show that linear phenology analyses can underestimate the magnitude of phenological shift relative to circular methods, particularly for species experiencing extreme advancements. However, species phenologies are generally advancing, with faster advancements of insects and amphibians compared to birds and plants. Additionally, in our dataset, species with event dates later in the year are advancing more rapidly than species earlier in the year, and this relationship is stronger for animals than for plants. We present a novel, network-based approach for visualizing community and ecosystem-scale phenological synchrony. Using this approach, we find a high degree of synchrony between the monitored species, and this approach reveals that plants are more central in the phenological network, as well as species with phenological events earlier in the year. While many synchronous species are shifting at relatively similar rates and display similar temperature sensitivities, we highlight two species interactions potentially vulnerable to changing climate: Eastern Tent Caterpillars and Monarchs. Our results illustrate the utility of long-term ecological monitoring for investigating ecosystem responses to climate change and identifying potentially vulnerable phenological networks.

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