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Natural History Survey

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  • More positive results for West Nile Virus in mosquitoes

    Aug 19, 2013 8:00 am

    Glencoe, Northbrook, Wilmette, Kenilworth have all had mosquitoes test positive for West Nile Virus in August. These results—obtained by the INHS Medical Entomology Lab—were reported by the Winnetka-Glencoe Patch, the Northbrook Star, and the Wilmette-Kenilworth Patch. For tips and information about protecting yourself and the community from West Nile Virus, visit the North Shore Mosquito Abatement District website.

  • Drought takes a toll on monarchs

    Aug 16, 2013 8:00 am

    INHS Entomologist Michael Jeffords was interviewed about the current state of monarch butterflies in Illinois. "Last year’s drought had a twofold effect. Fewer monarchs were produced in the Midwest, and those that were had a tough time migrating to Mexico as they had a thousand miles of virtually nectarless landscape to cross in Texas and northern Mexico," Jeffords said. For additional information on Monarchs, check out this INHS species spotlight.

  • Osprey being brought back to Illinois

    Jul 12, 2013 8:00 am

    INHS Ornithologist Tara Beveroth is assisting the Illinois Department of Natural Resources as they work to restore osprey populations in Illinois. Five nestling osprey were brought from Langley Airforce Base in Virginia to the Illinois Raptor Center in Decatur, where they were given health assessments, fed, measured, and banded. This it the first of a series of osprey translocations over the next ten years.

  • Positive tests for West Nile

    Jul 12, 2013 8:00 am

    Mosquito samples from Morton Grove tested positive for West Nile Virus at the INHS Medical Entomology Lab.

  • Fossil Insect Collaborative kicks off

    Jul 9, 2013 8:00 am

    INHS Entomologist Sam Heads is part of a collaborative effort to digitize fossil insect collections across the country. The Fossil Insect Collaborative is a joint venture between the Virginia Museum of Natural History (VMNH), the American Museum of Natural History, the Yale Peabody Museum, the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard, the University of Colorado, the University of Illinois, and the University of Kansas. The project officially kicked off the 1st of July, 2013.

  • Microbes in gut help western corn rootworm survive rotation

    Jun 26, 2013 8:00 am

    University of Illinois researchers, including INHS Behavioral Entomologist Dr. Joseph Spencer, found that differences in the microbial community in the gut of western corn rootworms (WCR) can change their ability to survive crop rotation.

  • End to live turtles in the Turtle Races

    Jun 19, 2013 8:00 am

    For the past 49 years, box turtles have been collected from the wild and brought to Danville for the annual Turtle Reunion and Races, a charity event. This has been a concern to herpetologists, including INHS Herpetologist Chris Phillips and U of I Wildlife Veterinarian Matt Allender (an INHS Affiliate), for several reasons including the possibility of spreading diseases. The two scientists have been collaborating on a long term study of the health of box turtles in Vermilion County. They have been testing for diseases including ranavirus, a contagious disease with high mortality that is also a threat to amphibians.

  • Spawning Bigmouth Buffalo found in local Champaign drainage ditch

    May 6, 2013 8:00 am

    INHS Fisheries Research Scientist Josh Sherwood was called out by WCIA to catch and identify some large fish found in a drainage ditch. The large fish were Bigmouth Buffalo (Ictiobus cyprinellus), usually found in large rivers, but spawn in tributaries. The flooding caused by the recent heavy spring rains likely allowed the adults to swim up to these ditches where they will lay their eggs before returning downstream.

  • Skunk cabbage—Illinois' earliest native flower

    Apr 8, 2013 8:00 am

    INHS Botanist John Taft and Outreach Coordinator Jen Mui were quoted in an article in the Chicago Tribune about skunk cabbage. Skunk cabbage, Illinois' earliest flowering native plant, gets its name from the foul odor produced as it generates heat. The heat and odor attract pollinators including flies, carrion beetles and honey bees. A link to a video about skunk cabbage pollination produced by the Outreach Department was also included in the article.

  • INHS scientists seek new sites for mussel relocation

    Apr 5, 2013 8:00 am

    INHS researcher Jeremy Tiemann is part of a team working to relocate endangered mussels from a bridge construction site in Pennsylvania to Illinois rivers. The first mussels (relocated in 2010) were given PIT (Passive Integrated Transponder) tags to allow monitoring and after a year and a half, approximately 80% of the relocated mussels had survived. An additional 1200 were transplanted in 2012, and now, new locations are being sought for additional transplants.

  • Research on diving ducks continues

    Apr 5, 2013 8:00 am

    Researchers at the INHS Forbes Biological Station have banded lesser scaup over the past two seasons to examine their use of restored habitats. Director Heath Hagy hopes to have funding to continue taking blood samples to look at metabolites and contaminants in the birds. “There are a lot of scaup here,” Hagy said. “We are catching 200-400 per day and we are only getting 10-20 recaptures, so there are a ton of birds out there."

  • Illinois town provides a historical foundation for today's bee research

    Mar 1, 2013 9:00 am

  • White Nose Syndrome confirmed in Illinois

    Feb 28, 2013 8:00 am

    INHS researchers and their collaborators have confirmed the presence of White Nose Syndrome (WNS)—a disease fatal to several of our bat species—in Illinois. Read more about WNS and the work INHS researchers are doing to understand the disease on the INHS website.

  • Rare shrimp found in Des Plaines River

    Feb 5, 2013 8:00 am

    INHS Astracologist Christopher Taylor and INHS Ichthyologist Emeritus Larry Page were interviewed about an unusual animal found during aquatic surveys in Lake County in NE Illinois. Lake County Forest Preserve staff turned up a "Palaemonetes kadiakensis," glass shrimp or Mississippi grass shrimp, whose range is typically further south. Taylor said that there are only five species of freshwater shrimp in North America and this particular species has adapted to live further north than the others. Page added that this species is usually found in cleaner streams, so this could be a good sign for the health of Des Plaines River.

  • Danville, crow capital of the world

    Feb 1, 2013 8:00 am

    INHS Ornithologist Steve Bailey told the Chicago Tribune that Danville has "the largest winter roost of crows that we know about in the U.S. and Canada." Christmas Bird Counts found 121,500 crows, whereas a year ago, the count was 238,000. INHS Affiliate Mike Ward added that the drought caused a resurgence of West Nile virus, to which crows are particularly vulnerable. Crows rebound well, which might be bad news for the residents of Danville who have unsuccessfully tried many things including trucks with a "cannon" booming to scare the birds.

  • Waterfowl counts higher than average

    Nov 16, 2012 8:00 am

    INHS Waterfowl Ecologist Aaron Yetter conducts weekly aerial surveys and on Nov 13 found more waterfowl than average for this time of year. Yetter counted 305,310 ducks along the Illinois River compared to the10-year average of 234,434 birds for this same week and 356,735 ducks on the Upper Mississippi River compared to the 10-year average of 226,801 birds. "It looks like we got a big push of new mallards. We also have well above average numbers of pintails, gadwalls, lesser scaup and other species," Yetter said.

  • Rare salamander sparks excitement in INHS herpetologists

    Nov 9, 2012 8:00 am

    INHS Herpetologist Chris Phillips was interviewed for a recent installment of Environmental Almanac. Phillips was contacted by a photographer who captured an image of an elusive, fully aquatic amphibian known as a siren, being eaten by a Great Blue Heron in Vermilion County. Sirens are known from southern Illinois but have never been detected by the extensive INHS herpetological surveys of Vermilion County over the past 20 years. Phillips said, "It goes to show you there are still some surprises out there for a herpetologist in the Midwest."

  • Public symposium to coincide with Catalogue of Life global team meeting

    Nov 2, 2012 9:00 am

  • INHS scientists continue fish monitoring begun over a century ago

    Nov 1, 2012 8:00 am

    INHS fisheries biologist Josh Sherwood was featured in a recent Environmental Almanac about the Fishes of Champaign County surveys. Sherwood is conducting the fifth iteration of the surveys that began in 1885. The original Fishes of Champaign County survey was conducted by Stephen A. Forbes between 1885 and 1901 and found 65 species of fishes. A second version of the Fishes of Champaign County was conducted by Forbes and Robert E. Richardson, and added 14 species to the list. R. Weldon Larimore and Phillip W. Smith conducted the third survey in the 1950s and added 9 more species to the list. Larimore and Peter Bayley conducted the fourth survey in 1987 and brought the species list to 94 species of fishes.

  • Remnant prairies protected by railroads

    Oct 8, 2012 10:00 am

    INHS Plant Ecologist Bill Handel has been surveying railroad prairies for the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) for years. The data Handel and his colleagues at INHS gather are used by IDOT and other state agencies to protect native habitats when planning construction projects, mowing along roadways, and applying pesticides. 

  • INHS Scientists survey for Invasive Species

    Oct 3, 2012 8:00 am

    The Illinois Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey (CAPS) program is a joint effort between several state and federal agencies to safeguard our nations food and environmental security from invasive pests that threaten our production and ecological systems. This program focuses on state surveys of harmful or economically significant exotic plant pests, diseases, and weeds that have eluded first-line of defense inspections.Illinois CAPS coordinator Kelly Estes discusses the current and upcoming surveys, including new techniques for monitoring.

  • Citizen scientist mussel survey finds 14 species

    Oct 1, 2012 8:00 am

    INHS Field Biologist Sarah Bales accompanied a group to survey mussels at Lake of the Woods. The group of citizen scientists found 314 individual mussels of 14 native and one introduced species. According to Bales, only one species that was previously found there was not found by this group, and that species is rare. She also said that the range of sizes found indicates the mussels are reproducing and that the habitat had not been degraded significantly.

  • Soybean Aphids have lowest impact in years

    Sep 25, 2012 8:00 am

    INHS Entomologist David Voegtlin reported that this year's soybean aphid population had its lowest recorded impact, starting early but then disappearing. The low trap numbers so far this fall indicate that there may be lower numbers of eggs overwintering and a smaller flight of aphids in the spring.

  • Endangered mussels released in Illinois streams

    Sep 10, 2012 8:00 am

    Endangered riffleshell and clubshell mussels collected in Pennsylvania earlier this summer have begun being relocated into Illinois Rivers. The mussels were placed, one by one into the gravel of their new stream. Each mussel has a rice sized transponder attached to its shell to identify it, enabling scientists to non-invasively monitor their progress in their new environment.

  • The convergent evolution of bird lice

    Sep 3, 2012 8:00 am

    Recent research by INHS Ornithologist and Parasitologist Kevin Johnson has found that bird lice have undergone convergent evolution, evolving different body shapes dependent on where they live on the bird. Despite the morphological similarities between lice from the wings of different bird groups, the species are more closely related to other lice species on the same bird group. The same pattern holds true for lice from the head and body. Learn more about Kevin Johnson's research through this video by the U of I News Bureau.

  • Multi-state team relocates endangered mussels ahead of construction project

    Aug 27, 2012 8:00 am

    Illinois scientists worked with others from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commision, the US Fish and WIldlife Service, and state agencies from Ohio and West Virginia to relocate federally endangered mussels from the Alleghany River in Forest County Pennsylvania. Approximately 3,900 federally endangered riffleshell and clubshell mussels were gathered from the Alleghany River to be relocated to sites in Illinois and Ohio in advance of the removal and reconstruction of the Hunter Station Bridge.  According to INHS malacologist Kevin Cummings, more than 70% of the 300 species of North American mussels are endangered or threatened with the greatest threat being loss of habitat. "Of the 300 species of mussels living in North America, 98 percent of them live in free-flowing rivers. And if you look at a map of large rivers in the United States, there are very few free-flowing rivers left.  [Mussels] are a great indicator species and, when they start to wink out, you know you have an (environmental) issue."

  • Study of bird lice shows how evolution sometimes repeats itself

    Aug 16, 2012 9:00 am

  • Some wildlife greatly affected by drought

    Aug 8, 2012 8:00 am

    Hot, dry temperatures have been a devastating problem for some species. INHS Avian Ecologist Jeff Hoover was interviewed for an article about the impact of this year's drought on songbirds. According to Hoover, caterpillar populations have been impacted by the drought, which means less food for the nestlings and more time spent foraging by adults. Their monitoring has shown a failure of 37% of nests this year, compared to 22% in 2010.

  • INHS scientists help reconstruct prairie on U of I campus

    Aug 8, 2012 8:00 am

    INHS Botanists have been involved in prairie reconstructions on the U of I campus. Currently, the area along Florida Ave and Orchard is being reconstructed, after having been designated a "No-Mow-Zone." According to Botanist Jamie Ellis, their approach to ecological restoration "is evolving and emerging" as they adapt to new challenges. One of the big challenges is that it's a large area that was lawn grass for a long time. Additionally, prairie plants can be slow to take hold in a new area.

  • Engineering students help INHS researchers

    Aug 6, 2012 8:00 am

    INHS researchers tapped into the innovative nature of engineering students to design systems that would help address questions about North American River Otters. As part of their senior design projects, 4 groups of students set out to tackle different problems. One device, the Otter Print Shooter, is a pressure and motion sensitive camera encased in clear box, under ground. When an otter steps on the box, the print shooter takes a photo of the paw. Otter paw prints are believed to have unique patterns, similar to fingerprints. The Otter Stalker System wirelessly connects multiple trail cameras, thereby increasing the field of view, allowing the researchers to capture more of the behavior of river otters.

  • INHS Scientists participate in BioBlitz

    Aug 6, 2012 8:00 am

    INHS scientists gathered with colleagues to document as many species as possible in a 24 hour period in a Bio-blitz at Salt Lick Point Soil and Water Reserve. A videographer documented the event for WSIU.

  • Team discovers how western corn rootworm resists crop rotation

    Jul 19, 2012 9:00 am

  • Effects of recent fish kill on waterfowl populations unknown

    Jul 2, 2012 8:00 am

    INHS Forbes Biological Field Station Director Heath Hagy was interviewed by an NBC affiliate about the effects of thousands of dead fish near Havana, IL. The water levels of the lake have been drawn down to improve habitats for migratory birds, resulting in thousands of fish carcasses. While some residents are concerned about the botulism impacting the waterfowl, Hagy states that is unknown because most of the waterfowl will not be back here for several months.

  • Bald Eagles nesting in NE Illinois

    Jun 20, 2012 8:00 am

    The recent discovery of a nesting pair of Bald Eagles in Lake County has been described as "a fairly big deal." According to INHS Ornithologist Steve Bailey, the Chicago area did not have breeding pairs of eagles until recently, and he knew of only one other nesting pair in Lake County. This discovery brings the total to 5 active Bald Eagle nests in the Chicago area this season.

  • Swarms of mayflies indicate good water quality

    Jun 18, 2012 8:00 am

    INHS Aquatic Entomologist Ed DeWalt told the Peoria Journal Star that the presence of large numbers of mayflies indicates the water quality is high enough to support this species that spends the majority of its life in water. Mayflies emerge from the water this time of year for to live out their short adult life stage—finding a mate and returning to the water to lay eggs. While some people see them as a nuisance, they don't bite and according to Ed DeWalt, "they will make a mess for a week and then they'll be gone."

  • INHS herpetologists and U of I veterinarians collaborate for turtle conservation

    Jun 15, 2012 9:00 am

    INHS Herpetologist Chris Phillips and U of I Wildlife Veterinarian Matt Allender are combining their efforts in an attempt to better understand the health of reptile populations in Illinois. Historically, conservation efforts have focused on habitat preservation and restoration, but in recent years, devastating diseases have been observed in wildlife populations. Through collaboration with INHS herpetologists, Allender has found a bacterial infection in box turtle populations and a fungal infection in Eastern Massasauga rattlesnake populations.

  • Boom of record breaking bass over?

    Jun 15, 2012 8:00 am

    INHS Conservation Geneticist Dave Philipp studied bass for 20 years, finding that genetics plays a role in which fish are caught. Fish that are more aggressive, thus more likely to bite a hook, pass that trait on to their offspring. As those aggressive fish are caught and removed from the population, the remaining fish are genetically harder to catch. This is one of the theories suggested to explain the mystery of why the Pennsylvania Largemouth Bass State Record has stood for nearly 30 years.

  • Asian Carp barrier catches turtle

    Jun 14, 2012 8:00 am

    A barrier designed to prevent Asian Carp from reaching Lake Michigan had the unintended consequence of catching a snapping turtle. This was the first known instance of an animal trapped in the mesh and the turtle was released unharmed. When first installed, migrating turtles were completely blocked by the carp barrier. Subsequent gates installed along the length of the barrier allow turtles to migrate through. The location of the gates was based on the multi-year radio telemetry study conducted by INHS herpetologists on the endangered Blandings' Turtle and other turtles in the area.

  • Western corn rootworm beetles likely to emerge soon

    Jun 4, 2012 8:00 am

    INHS Insect Behaviorist Joe Spencer has observed corn rootwork larvae in their second instar, which indicates the adults can be expected to emerge in about 2 weeks. This is earlier than previous years, but not unexpected given the warm spring.

  • Smallmouth Bass released in DuPage River will help evaluate habitat restoration success

    May 31, 2012 8:00 am

    Approximately 100 smallmouth bass were released into the DuPage River yesterday. The fish, which spent the first 7 years of their lives in the Jake Wolf Fish Hatchery, have been fitted with a plastic tag with an ID number and phone number for anglers to call if they catch one of these fish. The size and location data collected from this will help track their movement and give insight into the success of habitat restoration projects within the DuPage basin. This project is a collaboration between the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the Illinois Natural History Survey. For more information about the project, visit the I Fish Illinois Website.

  • New videos on InvertNet featuring INHS scientists at work

    May 31, 2012 8:00 am

    New videos about the InvertNet project, featuring Chris Dietrich, Chris Taylor, Andy Miller have been posted at the InvertNet Vimeo website. Learn about the collections and the field work that provides specimens to them at invertnet.org.

  • Dogs find turtles that researchers can't

    May 24, 2012 8:00 am

    This past week INHS Herpetologist Chris Phillips enlisted the help of a team of 8 dogs to locate box turtles as part of a long term population study. The dogs, Boykin Spaniels, and their handler, John Rucker have helped researchers across the country locate box turtles. The study in Illinois is a collaborative effort between the INHS and the U of I College of Veterinary Medicine to monitor the health and ecology of the box turtle populations in an effort to conserve this species. Their small size, high energy, keen sense of smell and ability to fight through thorns enabled the dogs to out-turtle the humans 42 to 4 this week. They will return in June.

  • Mild winter leads to butterfly innundation

    May 14, 2012 8:00 am

    Environmental Almanac writer Rob Kanter consulted retired INHS Entomologist Mike Jeffords to find out why central Illinois has been inundated with red admiral butterflies. According to Jeffords, the red admirals we see in spring are migrants that overwintered to the south and the few that survived the winter here. This year the mild winter allowed greater survival and the subsequent swarms of red admirals. Jeffords, along with Susan Post (another retired INHS Entomologist) have found that other butterflies are active and numerous earlier than usual this spring. They reported seeing 22 species of Illinois butterflies before April, which is twice their usual number.

  • InvertNet conference merges systematics and technology

    May 14, 2012 8:00 am

    INHS Bioinformatician Matt Yoder was interviewed about the InvertNet Spring 2012 Conference held in April at University of Illinois.  Yoder said that the conference merged systematists with computer programers and engineers. InvertNet is funded by the National Science Foundations Advancing Digitization of Biological Collections (ADBC) program to provide unprecedented access to specimen images and data from invertebrate collections.

  • Emerald Ash Borer adults emerging

    May 8, 2012 8:30 am

    According to Illinois CAPS Coordinator Kelly Estes, "Recent reports indicate that emerald ash borer adults have begun emerging in several areas of the state. Over the past two weeks we have been notified of adults in central Illinois in the Bloomington-Normal area as well as recent reports from NE Illinois in the Chicago area." For more information and resources on Emerald Ash Borer Beetles, visit the Illinois CAPS Blog and the Illinois Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey Website.

  • Scouting for Black Cutworm Moth Larvae

    May 8, 2012 8:00 am

    Illinois Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey Coordinator Kelly Estes advises that corn growers should begin inspecting for damage from Black Cutworm Moth larvae. Based on adult moth captures in March and April, larvae should be nearing the leaf-cutting stage. For more information, check out this Cutworm Fact Sheet.

  • Emiquon producing massive crappie

    Apr 17, 2012 8:00 am

    INHS Fisheries Technicians Kenny Lookingbill (sunglasses at right) and Collin Hinz (left), reported that recent fish surveys at Emiquon turned up massive crappies, the largest weighing in at 3.4 pounds, 17 inches long. Emiquon is an approximately 3,000 acre restored natural area along the Illinois River and based on these surveys may become the best crappie fishery. INHS Illinois River Biologial Field Station and the INHS Forbes Biological Field Station study the waterfowl and fish populations in that area as a means of evaluating the success of the restoration and management.

  • Waterfowl study helps evaluate Illinois River habitat

    Apr 13, 2012 10:00 am

    INHS Waterfowl Biologists have been monitoring restored wetlands along the Illinois River to determine if restoration efforts have been successful for waterfowl populations. Chris Young of the State Journal Register went along and documented the diving duck surveys.

  • Local pros' scientific 'show and tell' wows Yankee Ridge students

    Apr 13, 2012 8:00 am

    INHS Biologist Samantha Carpenter participated in Yankee Ridge Elementary School's Junior Scientist Day, teaching students about Illinois Mammals. This was the 10th annual Junior Scientist Day, with scientists from University of Illinois, Illinois State Archaeological Survey, INHS and other local groups sharing their knowledge and enthusiasm with the students.

  • Morels in Illinois: first steps on the path to a new obsession

    Apr 13, 2012 8:00 am

    Hunting for morels is a popular spring pastime for many. INHS Mycologist Andy Miller was consulted by Rob Kanter for an Environmental Almanac piece and revealed that there are at least 26 separate species of black morels and 16 species of yellow morel. Not mentioning specific locations, Andy gave tips to would-be hunters on where to look, such as moist areas near dead elm trees or living ash trees. Borrowing Rob Kanter's words of warning: Deadly poisonous mushrooms occur along with nonpoisonous ones throughout Illinois. Neither this article nor the accompanying photo is intended to enable beginners to distinguish between them.