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The Phenological Network of Catalonia is a citizen science organization formed by 60 observers who constantly monitor 25 plants (wild and cultivated species), 14 birds and 6 butterflies. The first event of the phenophases related to plant species is submitted annually to the Pan-European Phenological Database, PEP725.Since we were unaware of most of the varieties observed, we launched a project to improve the information on the varieties of cultivated plant species and improve the quality of the data sent to PEP725. Besides, this genetic analysis of fruit trees would help us to discriminate those early blooming varieties from the late ones; knowing if a fruit tree variety is early or late allows us to discriminate the phenological behavior due to environmental answer from the genetic predisposition to an early or late bloom.The Meteorological Service of Catalonia has a collaboration agreement with the Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (IRTA), which is related to the Center for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG). We have developed a project to know the varieties of the 135 fruit and cereal samples of cultivated species observed in the Fenocat network through genetic analyzes conducted by the CRAG.To carry out this project, we designed a system so that the observer himself could take the vegetal sample from the observed vegetal individual and send it directly to the CRAG laboratory in the shortest possible time in order to avoid sample damage due to the delay.The CRAG laboratory analyzed the DNA of each sample and studied the genetic markers. With this, it has been possible to establish the similarity matrix of the samples analyzed with those of the IRTA database.We have been able to find out the variety of the cultivated plant samples in some cases, while in other ones no identical result to any known variety has been found -only the degree of similarity to a specific variety has been determined-.

A new data set of quality-controlled and homogenized daily maximum (TX) and minimum (TN) temperature and precipitation (PPT) for Catalonia is presented. For temperature, the dataset includes 26 TX and TN long-term series, covering most of the period 1950–2021, while a subset of 7 additional series is also included as a support, but covering a shorter period. For precipitation, a set of 71 daily PPT series is considered, covering the period 1950-2021. Although the number of series is important enough for a geographical area such as Catalonia (32,000 square kilometres), the Pyrenean region is underrepresented. For this reason, the database incorporates two Andorran series.First of all, a description of the quality control protocol implemented for the detection of erroneous daily observations is shown. It is based on a combination of both, semiautomatic filters and visual data inspection, and special attention is paid for correction of data displacement error.Secondly, a short description of the methodology for creating long blended series is shown, based on completeness, continuity and location (both altitude and distance) criteria. Then, time series homogeneity is addressed by means of ACMANTv5, one of the best relative homogenization methods, and firstly used on a climate dataset in this work.Finally, a description of the results of annual and seasonal trends for the whole dataset is provided. Trends are compared with the previous dataset used in Catalonia, that was homogenized using a combination of two approaches: HOMER (monthly time series) and Vincent (transfer of monthly adjustments to daily values). In addition, some climate extreme indicators based on daily time series are also calculated for Catalonia, as part of the Yearly Bulletin of Climate Indicators released by the Meteorological Service of Catalonia (SMC). The homogenized series will be regularly updated and are already available throughout the webpage of the SMC.

The Phenological network of Catalonia (Fenocat) was established by the Meteorological Service of Catalonia (SMC) in 2013, due to the lack of phenological records in Catalonia and with the aim to preserve the former phenological information available to study the impact of climate change on natural ecosystems.Based on citizen science, today the network consists of 60 volunteers around Catalonia that observe 25 different spices of wild and crop plants, 14 birds and 6 butterflies. The observation is done two or three times per week in order to record both the onset and the duration of the different phenophases. BBCH code is used for vegetal species, and the data is sent regularly to PEP725 database. Until 2021, observers submitted their observations by email on a monthly base, which had to be manually inserted into the database. This slowed down the quality control and exploitation of the database, which could never be done in real time. Since January 2022, an object-relational database is created with the open-source system PostgreSQL, permitting the storage and management of all the information from the Fenocat network, and conducting real-time inquiries to generate, visualize and download reports. In addition, observers are able to enter the information directly into the database via a web application. Fenocat web application makes data entry more flexible -the data can be introduced in situ at the same moment that is observed by any device with internet connection (mobile phone, tablet or PC computer)- and allows the observer to compare their observations with those produced by other observers.Both, the new database and the web application, mean a significant step forward in the management of the Phenological Network of Catalonia, strengthening our relationship with the observers, enhancing the data analysis and opening the door to a network expansion.

The Pan European Phenology (PEP) project is a European infrastructure to promote and facilitate phenological research, education, and environmental monitoring. The main objective is to maintain and develop a Pan European Phenological database (PEP725) with an open, unrestricted data access for science and education. PEP725 is the successor of the database developed through the COST action 725 “Establishing a European phenological data platform for climatological applications” working as a single access point for European-wide plant phenological data. So far, 32 European meteorological services and project partners from across Europe have joined and supplied data collected by volunteers from 1868 to the present for the PEP725 database. Most of the partners actively provide data on a regular basis. The database presently holds almost 12 million records, about 46 growing stages and 265 plant species (including cultivars), and can be accessed via http://www.pep725.eu/ . Users of the PEP725 database have studied a diversity of topics ranging from climate change impact, plant physiological question, phenological modeling, and remote sensing of vegetation to ecosystem productivity.