Prof. David Inouye and collaborators have been collecting data on the abundance and timing of flowers that fall within permanent plots at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL), in Gothic, Colorado, USA, from 1973 to present. During the growing season, flowers of each species are counted approximately every other day, though in some years the start and/or end of flowering were missed, and data were not collected in 1978 and 1990. A core set of 23 2 x 2 m plots have been followed 1974-present (excluding 1978 and 1990), and additional plots have been added through the years (two in 1985, three in 1998, two in 2004, and four in 2017). Data are now collected in a total of 34 plots and up to 140 plant species have been recorded in the plots. A companion dataset on the long-term abundance and phenology of bees at the RMBL is also available on the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/kmxyn).
The flowering phenology and abundance data is available for research or teaching use if you request it. Go to the "Data use" component for details of our data use policy.
