Behind the Scenes: Finding one elusive bird – Population and Community Ecology (PACE) Lab

UBAP Ornithologist Asya Rahlin is conducting research on cryptic wetland birds utilizing eDNA. Join her as she recounts a hot, sticky day collecting samples at Volo Bog.

Read her Behind the Scenes

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INHS PACE Lab

5 hours ago

UBAP Pollinator Ecologist KC Carter caught over 2000 individuals of 9 bee species along the I-355 Illinois Tollway this summer. While holding the bees in a container for identification (like the Bombus fervidus below), they collected pollen from each bee. The samples can be analyzed to determine what plant species the bee had visited. Each of these tubes contains the sample taken from an individual bee and is labeled with bee species, date, location, and the plant species. With so much data, KC will be determining which plants bees are using for forage throughout the season.As the project progresses, we’ll be updating our websiteubap.inhs.illinois.edu/research/insects/ #pollen #pollinators #research #conservation #bees #savethebees ... See MoreSee Less

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INHS PACE Lab

2 days ago

Who knows what these are?#WhatIsItWednesday ... See MoreSee Less

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INHS PACE Lab

1 week ago

This week's #WhatIsItWednesday was an old Trachemys scripta, (Pond Slider).Some turtle species, including Pond Sliders (Illinois' subspecies is the Red-eared Slider) will often darken as they age, becoming melanistic. Our colleague, John Tucker, classified three stages of melanism: Stage 0 (non-melanistic) – Carapace greenish with yellow bars, head and legs with bright yellow stripes, bright red stripe behind the eye Stage 1 (pre-melanistic) – Some darkening, carapace brown, tan, black borders developing on edges of scutes, stripes on head may be obscured and red stripe darkening but still distinct, front legs still have yellow stripesStage 2 (melanistic) – carapace is brown, tan, or yellow brown, black borders along edges of scutes, stripes on head and legs are obscured by brown colorationThere have been several hypothesis about a selective advantage to this occurrence in some individuals, but so far it seems to just be related to aging. Maybe it's like our gray hair and liver spots...#turtles #melanism #research #redearedslider #reptiles #herpetology ... See MoreSee Less

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