The Population and Community Ecology (PACE) Lab is overseen by Dr. Michael J. Dreslik. The two main programs of the lab are the Urban Biotic Assessment Program (UBAP), which provides environmental expertise to the Illinois Tollway, and the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (ARC) program.
Champaign, IL – Protecting and restoring habitats are the most important steps that can be undertaken to protect turtle populations into the future according to a pair of recent papers analyzing 3 decades of data. The Spotted Turtle, Clemmys guttata, is a small semi-aquatic turtle that inhabits sedge meadow, cattail marsh, wet-mesic prairie, and dolomite …
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PACE Lab head Michael Dreslik and herpetologist Jason Ross presented at the 2019 Spotted, Blanding’s, and Wood turtle conservation symposium held in West Virginia this November. http://www.americanturtles.org/2019symposium.html Population Viability Analysis and the Role of Head-starting for a northern Illinois Blanding’s Turtle Population Rapid Demographic Assessments for Freshwater Turtles: Filling in Data Deficiencies
Environmental DNA (eDNA) is an emerging tool used to detect rare and difficult to detect species. A recent study by INHS PACE Lab herpetologists used radio telemetry to evaluate and improve the efficiency of this technique. As part of a species reintroduction program, hatchling Alligator Snapping Turtles reared in captivity were tracked using radio telemetry …
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