While conducting surveys today in DuPage County, INHS entomologist Jason Robinson and his assistant Maria Repisak came across Rusty Patched Bumblebees at two sites! This species was recently added to the US Endangered Species List because of its drastic decline across its range.
For more information on the Rusty Patched Bumblebee, visit the USFWS website
Photo by Maria Repisak
Members of the Illinois Natural History Survey’s Urban Biotic Assessment Program hosted and advised an intern from the National Great Rivers Research & Education Center (NGRREC) 2017 Intern Program this summer. The intern worked on mapping the spread, determining geometric morphometrics, and genetics of a novel invasive species in the Corbicula genus. They attended the 2017 Annual NGRREC Intern Symposium from 31 July to 1 August 2017.
Presentations:
Reasor, E., S.A. Douglass, J.S. Tiemann, and M.A. Davis. Alien Invaders: Assessing the spread, genetics, and shape of a novel invasive clam.
Posters:
Reasor, E., S.A. Douglass, J.S. Tiemann, and M.A. Davis. Alien Invaders: Assessing the spread, genetics, and shape of a novel invasive clam.
UBAP staff Dr. Michael J. Dreslik and James R. Wiker received funding from the Forest Preserve District of Will County to survey for the State Threatened Eryngium Stem Borer (Papaipema eryngii). The survey focuses on the sand prairie forest preserves in western Will County. To date, surveys have documented the presence of the moth at two of the three sites surveyed.
On July 18th, an in the field training session on identification and survey methods for the larvae of the species. During the training session Will County staff were provided hands on training and instruction and readily found two individuals.
“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
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
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.
