“We now know that eDNA is going to be a really worthwhile tool – at least for aquatic species in difficult-to-access habitats,” Niemiller said. “You could go to a spring outflow, take a water sample, and see what you might detect there with a limited outlay of labor, time and money.”
Read the complete article at the Illinois News Bureau
Dreslik said the biggest challenge Blanding’s turtle conservation will have in the Chicago area is the landscape.
“It’s highly fragmented by roads, by industrial areas, by urbanization,” he said.
That’s one reason Chicago Wilderness is partnering with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to create a statewide Blanding’s turtle recovery plan, he said.
“We’ve done radio telemetry, tracking turtles at a very large site at Goose Lake Prairie (in Grundy County),” Dreslik said. “Those turtles were capable of moving many kilometers between wetlands. “
Biology of the Rattlesnakes II, edited by UBAP staff member Michael Dreslik, is now available from ECO Herpetological Publishing.
M. J. Dreslik, W. K. Hayes, S. J. Beaupre, and S. P. Mackessy (eds), The Biology of the Rattlesnakes II. ECO Herpetological Publishing and Distribution, Rodeo, New Mexico is now available.
UBAP Malacologist Sarah Douglass was featured as a Woman in Science.
Read the article from the Prairie Research Institute
A new species or “form” of Asian clam was discovered in the Illinois River by Jeremy Tiemann and Sarah Douglass.
The discovery, confirmed by genetics, means a new invasive clam has made its official debut in North America, joining the countless other aquatic invasive species now found in our waters.
Read the Illinois News Bureau story
Following the discovery last year of a nesting Blanding’s Turtle in a suburban backyard, INHS herpetologists have been awarded a contract to survey for the endangered Blanding’s Turtles in Will County Forest Preserves.
INHS scientists are collaborating to understand Snake Fungal Disease and its impacts on endangered snakes in Illinois.
“We’re trying to protect an endangered species,” said INHS herpetologist and postdoctoral researcher Sarah Baker, a collaborator with Allender on several studies. “A lot of pit viper populations are declining – not only in Illinois, but nationwide. Snake fungal disease is just one more threat that they have to contend with, and anything we can do – to find effective treatments, for example, or disinfectants that stop people from spreading the disease from place to place – could make a difference for their long-term survival.”
Read complete article at the Illinois News Bureau
In a three-year study, aquatic ecologist Jeremy Tiemann and colleagues at the Illinois Natural History Survey, a division of PRI, relocated 100 mussels upriver during a reconstruction project on the Interstate 90 bridge over the Kishwaukee River in northern Illinois. “Our data suggest that short-distance relocation is a viable tool for mussel conservation,” Tiemann said.
Read complete news release from Prairie Research Institute
Read the paper published in Freshwater Mollusk Biology and Conservation.
UBAP herpetologist Jonathan Warner accepted the position of Alligator Program Leader with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. An Illinois native, Jon conducted his Master’s research on Gaboon Vipers and his PhD on Nile crocodiles at the School of Animal, Plant, and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa before joining the UBAP team. We wish him well and look forward to continued collaboration.
