The objective of the Urban Biotic Assessment Program (UBAP) is to provide the Illinois Tollway with the ecological expertise needed to effectively and efficiently comply with state and federal environmental regulations, while also preserving habitats and species native to the Chicago Metropolitan Area.
INHS began its partnership with the Tollway in 2005, monitoring the endangered Blanding’s Turtle populations affected by the construction of the I355 extension.
This partnership has expanded and enables UBAP researchers to study the habitats and species of the Chicagoland area, and the challenges they face. Learn more about our research.
Download our report of activities from 2015-2020
The Sauga Squad has been hard at work searching for Massasaugas emerging from their burrows. This project began in 1999 and searches have occurred every spring except in 2020, interrupted by a global pandemic or something. Massasaugas are often difficult to spot given their cryptic coloring and tendency to remain motionless. Graduate student Matthew Parry shared this photo for you to test your eyes at spotting Massasaugas. #FindItFriday #massasauga #rattlesnakes #conservation #endangeredspecies #fieldworkfun
Congratulations to INHS PaCE Lab's Sarah Douglass, malacologist for UBAP and lead of the Freshwater Mollusk Ecology and Conservation Program who was awarded a 2024 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Chancellor's Staff Excellence Awards! This highly competitive honor was awarded to 16 individuals from across the campus. Way to go, Sarah!publish.illinois.edu/sadouglass/research/
Last week the March-April issue of Wildlife Biology came out, with one of Devin Edmonds' Ornate Box Turtles on the cover!www.wildlifebiology.org/content/marchapril-coverIn case you missed his paper back in Decemberpace.inhs.illinois.edu/2023/12/21/new-paper-analyzing-long-term-data-on-ornate-box-turtle-survival/#turtle #research #longtermdataset
Our newest graduate student, Chitra Basyal, will be studying the turtle community at the Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences at Illinois Arboretum ponds near Japan House at the University of Illinois. She and Dr. Dreslik set her first traps yesterday, but unfortunately this morning's check yielded only Bluegills, which were carefully released. Stay tuned for more updates as the weather warms up!See our website for more infopace.inhs.illinois.edu/turtles-of-the-arboretum/#turtles #research #conservation #students
Thanks to all of you for following my week at the Midwestern Native Bee ID Workshop! I hope you all will recognize some native bees in your local park or backyard garden this spring. With the help of Dr. Zach Portman, I have started putting together a reference collection of all the native bees you might find in Illinois! So if you ever find a bee and unsure of what it is, you can always schedule a time to use this reference collection. I also have many resources and keys if you are interested in identifying bees on your own. You are welcome to email me: carter96@illinois.edu for those or with questions!Keep an eye out for future posts about an iNaturalist project where I digitize all the native bees in the PaCE Lab reference collection and I hope to do some live videos of native bee ID!Happy bee watching 🐝, KC