Illinois Natural History Survey to celebrate its 150th year as state’s “biological memory”

Illinois Natural History Survey to celebrate its 150th year as state’s “biological memory”

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Next week the Illinois Natural History Survey, which is based at the Research Park in Champaign and now officially part of the University of Illinois, will celebrate its 150th year of existence. It is one of the oldest, largest, and most successful state biological surveys in the country. That said, it may be better known among scientists around the world than it is among the citizens of the state it serves, even those of us who live close to its home.

The Illinois Natural History Survey calls itself “the guardian and recorder of the biological resources of Illinois---the state's biological memory.” Over the years its mission has been “to investigate the diversity, life histories, and ecology of the plants and animals of the state; to publish research results so that those resources can be managed wisely; and to provide information to the public in order to foster an understanding and appreciation of our natural heritage.”

Toward these ends, survey scientists collect and preserve massive numbers of specimens—presently some nine million in all. The oldest of these is a stonefly collected at Rock Island by then state entomologist Benjamin Walsh all the way back in 1860. Other specimens in Survey collections are as large as the full size bison mount you can see on display at Survey headquarters, and as small as microsproridea, single celled parasites stored in vials of liquid nitrogen. In between are all other manner of plants and animals, creatures preserved in jars, drawers crowded with insects, and shelf upon shelf neatly stacked with pressed flowers and leaves.

Survey collections help to document the occurrence and distribution of organisms around the state at specific points in time, so that we can understand how our landscapes are changing, whether for good or bad. Survey collections are also useful for answering more focused scientific questions. For example, scientists are currently assessing how levels of mercury in the environment have changed over time by studying fish specimens collected from the same site on Panther Creek in southeastern Illinois at intervals dating back to 1900.

When state transportation authorities in Illinois want to build new roads or expand old ones, scientists from the Illinois Natural History Survey assess the potential environmental impacts on areas that will be affected. They also help to develop and monitor wetlands that are created to offset wetlands destroyed by highway construction.

As someone who wants to learn everything he can about the ecology of our state, I value immensely the ways the people at the Illinois Natural History Survey make science available to citizens. They maintain a fantastic library, which is open to the public, and staffed by helpful experts. They publish a free quarterly newsletter, which provides accounts of current projects as well as informative features and useful activities for parents and teachers. They publish state specific field guides, nine of which are currently in print, including the newly released “Field Manual of Illinois Mammals.” And they conduct eye-opening educational programs for children and adults around the state.

You can learn more about the Illinois Natural History Survey and help celebrate its 150th birthday at events set to take place this week. On Friday, September 26th a day-long symposium will feature talks on “Conservation in the 21st Century: The View from Illinois.” On Saturday, September 27th, herpetologist and Animal Planet personality Mark O’ Shea will speak, and an afternoon expo at Survey headquarters on South Oak Street in Champaign will feature more than 40 displays and interactive exhibits.

Further details about the Illinois Natural History Survey and this week’s events are available at www.inhs.illinois.edu.

Appearance of New Zealand mud snail in Lake Michigan underscores need for ballast water legislation

Appearance of New Zealand mud snail in Lake Michigan underscores need for ballast water legislation

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This summer Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant announced that researchers at a field station of the Illinois Natural History Survey had discovered populations of an invasive species new to Lake Michigan, the New Zealand mud snail. If the name of this creature does not strike fear into your heart, the New Zealand mud snail’s appearance is unlikely to do that, either. In fact, you have to make an effort just to see individual New Zealand mud snails, since their shells average only about 1/5th of an inch in length.

What is scary about them is that you don’t ever see just one where they become established. In other parts of the Great Lakes, including Lake Ontario, where New Zealand mud snails were first found in 1991, they occur at densities of more that 5,000 per square meter. That’s thanks to the fact that female mud snails reproduce without need for a partner. In the course of her one-year life, each mud snail gives birth to approximately 230 young that are genetically identical to her.

As is often the case with invasive species, New Zealand mud snails thrive in a wide range of conditions, and disperse readily. They are able to pass through the digestive systems of fish and birds alive, they can float long distances on their own or in mats of algae, and they can even make significant progress moving along the bed of a lake or stream, albeit at a snail’s pace.

At home in New Zealand their numbers are limited by parasites and predation, but where they have been introduced around the world their populations grow unchecked. As their numbers increase they displace native mussels and snails, as well as other aquatic invertebrates, and thereby disrupt entire ecosystems. Scientists expect that the destabilizing impact of New Zealand mud snails on Lake Michigan will be magnified because the lake is already stressed by so many other factors.

Anglers and boaters can help slow the spread of New Zealand mud snails and other aquatic nuisance species by taking care not to transport any sort of plant or animal material from one body of water to another, and by decontaminating their gear between outings. But the sad fact is, there are no effective controls for such an organism once it becomes established.

You might wonder why we couldn’t just import a predator or parasite from New Zealand to limit mud snail populations here. Unfortunately, such fixes tend to create more ecological problems than they resolve, since predators and parasites may also run amok in new environments.

What we can do in the present is support federal policy designed to prevent the unintentional movement of plants and animals from one continent to another. Like many other aquatic invasives, including the well known zebra mussel, New Zealand mud snails came to the Great Lakes in ballast water discharged by oceangoing ships. At present the U.S. House has passed and the Senate is considering a bill that would require oceangoing ships to take measures to prevent the spread of nuisance species. Such legislation is the best means we have for promoting the ecological health of the Great Lakes by stemming the tide of invasive organisms.

UI student studies fox snakes at Allerton to inform management decisions about natural areas

UI student studies fox snakes at Allerton to inform management decisions about natural areas

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Most people who visit the U of I’s Robert Allerton Park near Monticello seeking to connect with nature go to enjoy the beauty of the woodland wildflowers in spring or the colors of the changing leaves in Fall. Others may enjoy opportunities for watching birds, or participate in the fall hunt to manage and study the deer herd.

Few people go to Allerton to look for snakes, though, or even care whether they are present there. That’s definitely not the case with John Griesbaum, a University of Illinois student who is working toward a Master’s degree in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences. Under the direction of Chris Phillips, a herpetologist with the Illinois Natural History Survey and U of I faculty affiliate, Griesbaum is studying how the management of natural areas at Allerton affects one species of snake that inhabits them, the western fox snake. The goal of his research is to provide information to managers of natural areas about how practices such as prescribed burning, mowing, and brush removal affect the well-being of individual snakes and the overall health of snake populations.

Why should anyone care about how well fox snakes are doing? Griesbaum provides two answers. One is simply that fox snakes are part of the natural heritage of Illinois, and ought to be conserved for all of the same reasons we ought to conserve other plants and animals. The other is that snakes constitute an important middle link in a grassland food chain, controlling the abundance of the small rodents on which they feed, and serving as a source of food for the larger mammals and birds of prey that feed on them.

Between April and July of this year Griesbaum captured 11 fox snakes that were large enough to be included in his study. [Photo: A fox snake with radio transmitter implanted is ready for release.] Each of these snakes had a tiny radio transmitter implanted under its skin, thanks to veterinarians with the University of Illinois Wildlife Medical Clinic. The snakes were then released back where they had been captured.

That’s when the real legwork for the researcher began.

Griesbaum’s study requires that he locate each snake every other day for one year after its release, which he does by means of a handheld antenna and radio receiver. This can be trickier than you would think if you’ve only seen it done on T.V. Fox snakes move through tallgrass prairie reconstructions and forest edges much more easily than people do, and they don’t simply slither across the ground. [Photo: Griesbaum tracks a snake from his study in the main tallgrass prairie reconstruction at Allerton.] On a day in late July when I accompanied Griesbaum in the field we searched long and hard for snake #5 even after the beeping receiver told us we were right on top of it; it had taken refuge in a burrow underground. That same day we located snake #11 well above the ground—six feet up in the hollow trunk of a small tree.

When Griesbaum catches up with a snake he records its location as a point on a map and then collects a suite of data about what it is doing and the habitat it is using, whether, for example, it is basking in the grass or on the move through the woods.

Ultimately he will use this data to describe the home range and habitat preferences of western fox snakes at Allerton, and characterize their patterns of movement. Such information will help land managers adapt their practices to better maintain the full character of natural areas, at Allerton and elsewhere.