We’re hiring a Pollinator Ecologist!

Pollinator Ecologist

Photo by Jason Robinson

We are seeking a Senior Scientific Specialist, Pollinator Ecologist to conduct basic and applied research assisting with ongoing surveys for pollinator Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN), focusing on bumblebees and butterflies. This position will be located in Champaign, Illinois. BS required – MS preferred

To Apply: Please complete your candidate profile at http://jobs.illinois.edu and upload a cover letter, CV/resume, and the contact information for three professional references by March 8, 2022.

 

 

 

Five year, $6 million contract awarded to UBAP team

The Urban Biotic Assessment Program was awarded $6,226,400 to continue providing technical assistance to the Illinois Tollway Environmental team.

This is the third intergovernmental agreement between the INHS and the Illinois Tollway and will allow the continuation of this mutually beneficial partnership that began in 2005.

The partnership has grown from monitoring Blanding’s Turtles in the Des Plaines River Valley to a multi-disciplinary program. While the key function is to provide the ecological knowledge necessary to comply with state and federal regulations, both organizations share a goal of studying the natural resources of the region to protect them into the future.

Research projects in this new agreement include biotic surveys of each of the Tollway corridors, continuation of longterm monitoring of the Kishwaukee River mussel population, using eDNA to detect cryptic species, Rusty Patched Bumble Bee surveys, and identifying bat roost trees.

Download our report of activities from 2015-2020

White Cedar project presented at Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands Symposium

Sara Johnson, of the Molano-Flores lab at the Illinois Natural History Survey, presented a poster and lightning talk about Illinois Tollway funded research on the Effects of Soluble Salt on the Germination of Thuja occidentalis at the Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands Symposium in Maumee Bay, Ohio last week. This conference was the first symposium hosted by Audubon Great Lakes in partnership with the Great Lakes Coastal Assembly and Great Lakes Commission. Sara is a student representative for the North Central Chapter of the Society of Wetland Scientists and acts as Treasurer for the Student Chapter of the society at UIUC.

Iowa Darter might not be as rare as believed

netting in ditchUBAP Ichthyologist Andrew Stites wrote a field account for the Illinois News Bureau’s Behind the Scenes to accompany a recent paper by Josh Sherwood, Andrew Stites, Michael Dreslik, and Jeremy Tiemann.

The paper, “Predicting the range of a regionally threatened, benthic fish using species distribution models and field surveys” developed a species distribution model for the state endangered Iowa Darter, after finding it in several new locations. This work was sponsored by the Illinois Tollway.

Read the Behind the Scenes: Finding darters where no one thought to look

Read the paper in The Journal of Fish Biology