Rising temperatures could benefit the Common Snapping Turtle. CHAMPAIGN, ILL. — A recently published study of snapping turtle nests at Gimlet Lake in Garden County Nebraska from 1990 – 2015 found that warmer fall temperatures positively correlate to larger eggs and larger numbers of eggs, while warmer spring temperatures are negatively correlated with egg size… Continue reading Rising temperatures could benefit the Snapping Turtle.
Author: JMM
Midwest Fish and Wildlife Meeting
UBAP herpetologist Sarah Baker co-organized a symposium “Advances and Challenges in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation and Management” and presented “Impact of Snake Fungal Disease on Population Viability” at the 78th Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference in Milwaukee, WI. Jan 28-31. Student Kelsey Low presented a poster on “Ranavirus Effects on Body Condition and Growth of… Continue reading Midwest Fish and Wildlife Meeting
Team finds first wild alligator snapping turtle in Illinois since 1984
UBAP staff are part of the team that found a wild alligator snapping turtle in Illinois, the first one seen since 1984. Currently working as part of a reintroduction program, Chris Phillips found the turtle while trying to locate a radio-tagged individual they had released in the area. Read the complete story at: Illinois News… Continue reading Team finds first wild alligator snapping turtle in Illinois since 1984
Monitoring the mussels of the Kishwaukee River
Mussels are often referred to as “the livers of the rivers” because they filter materials from their environment. Freshwater mussels are also among the most imperiled groups of organisms in the world. The Kishwaukee River basin in northern Illinois remains one of the most mussel-rich resources in the state. In 2012, the Urban Biotic Assessment… Continue reading Monitoring the mussels of the Kishwaukee River
UBAP staff presents at Ecological Society of America
UBAP Ornithologist Anastasia Rahlin presented a poster at the Ecological Society of America conference held in Portland, Oregon from August 6th-11th. The poster reported on the environmental DNA research being conducted in collaboration with Mark Davis and Matthew Niemiller to collect presence-absence data on cryptic rails in Northern Illinois. The project is testing environmental DNA… Continue reading UBAP staff presents at Ecological Society of America
UBAP staff present at Biology of the Snakes Conference
Members of the Urban Biotic Assessment Program, Michael J. Dreslik and Sarah J. Baker, recently attended and presented at the Biology of the Snakes 2017 Conference in Rodeo New Mexico. They gave two oral and two poster presentations. Oral Presentations Dreslik, M. J., C. E. Petersen, S. M. Goetz, J. D. Kleopfer, and A. H.… Continue reading UBAP staff present at Biology of the Snakes Conference
Funding received to survey the Alligator Snapping Turtle
UBAP staff Ethan J. Kessler and Michael J. Dreslik received funding from The Nature Conservancy, Indiana to conduct surveying for the Alligator Snapping Turtle (Macrochelys teminckii). The surveys will be a combined effort of trapping and eDNA sampling in the Patoka and White River watersheds. The project also includes some proof-of-concept work for eDNA work at the… Continue reading Funding received to survey the Alligator Snapping Turtle
UBAP staff mentor intern from the National Great Rivers Research & Education Center (NGRREC) 2017 Intern Program
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… Continue reading UBAP staff mentor intern from the National Great Rivers Research & Education Center (NGRREC) 2017 Intern Program
UBAP staff present at Turtle Survival Alliance
UBAP staff Michael J. Dreslik and Jason P. Ross recently presented at the 2017 Symposium on the Conservation and Biology of Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles. The meeting was held in Charleston, South Carolina from August 6th – 9th and has international attendance. At the meeting, they presented a poster on the effectiveness of passage gates… Continue reading UBAP staff present at Turtle Survival Alliance
UBAP ecologist accepts position at University of Alabama, Huntsville
UBAP ecologist Matthew Niemiller accepted a faculty position at the University of Alabama, Huntsville where he will return to his research in cave biology. Matt received his M.S. in Biology from Middle Tennessee State University and a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville dissertation topic “Evolution, Speciation, and Conservation of… Continue reading UBAP ecologist accepts position at University of Alabama, Huntsville