The Population and Community Ecology (PACE) Lab is overseen by Dr. Michael J. Dreslik. The four programs of the lab are the Urban Biotic Assessment Program (UBAP), which provides environmental expertise to the Illinois Tollway, the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (ARC) program, the Freshwater Mollusk Ecology and Conservation (FMEC) program, and the Environmental Education Program (EEP).
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When you're in the field for multiple days, you sometimes have to turn your hotel room into a lab. KC and Claire set up an insect sorting and pinning station while conducting moth surveys this week. ![]()
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#FieldworkFriday #insects #moths #papaipema #Conservation
Yesterday’s #WhatisitWednesday was pointing at the caruncle of a hatchling False Map Turtle, Graptemys pseudogeographica. Like the egg-tooth of snakes and lizards, the caruncle is used to break open the egg shell. The caruncle is not a true “tooth,” but is a horn-like appendage made of keratin that develops on the beak and breaks off soon after hatching.![]()
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This little turtle was named Frederick Ripcord by the Illinois Rip Chords A Capella group who noticed it in the grass at @JapanHouseUofI over the weekend. The PaCE Lab began monitoring turtle populations at Japan House this summer, but we don’t mark hatchlings, so Frederick was allowed to wander off unmarked. Hopefully we will encounter it again in the future, even though we won’t know for sure that it’s the same one. ![]()
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We now know that at least three species of turtles have bred at Japan House, Red-eared Slider, Common Snapping Turtle, and now, False Map Turtle.![]()
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Learn more about our work at pace.inhs.illinois.edu/turtles-of-the-arboretum/![]()
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#turtles #JapanHouseUofI #theripchords