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Natural History Survey

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  • copperhead snake photo by Chuck Smith

    Severe drought shuts down reproduction in copperhead snakes, study finds

    Oct 29, 2019 8:15 am

    A long-term study of copperhead snakes in a forest near Meriden, Connecticut, revealed that five consecutive years of drought effectively ended the snakes' reproductive output.

  • Digital Extended Specimens provide richer data, global access

    Aug 3, 2022 9:30 am

    In an article published in BioScience, a team of collaborators including Deborah Paul, biodiversity informatics community liaison with the Species File Group at the Illinois Natural History Survey, describes the Digital Extended Specimen, a network of information with biodiversity data at its core.

  • Learn to Hunt Program bases hunter recruitment on science

    Mar 26, 2020 8:45 am

    Today’s hunters are more diverse and more likely to hunt for the meat than for the camaraderie of fellow hunters than in generations past. Understanding these motivations and constraints with scientific data helps staff of the Illinois Natural History Survey’s (INHS) Learn to Hunt Program draw new hunters to the activity.

  • Forbes Biological Station in winter

    Forbes Biological Station celebrates 130th anniversary

    Apr 1, 2024 11:30 am

    The Illinois Natural History Survey at the Prairie Research Institute is home to the first inland field station in the United States. Founded 130 years ago, Forbes Biological Station is located in Havana, Illinois. Director Auriel Fournier reflects on the history and research legacy of the Forbes Biological Station on its anniversary.

  • PRI projects and data boost agricultural producers’ productivity

    Sep 9, 2021 9:15 am

    With some of the best farmland in the country, Illinois has a competitive advantage over other states in the agriculture sector. The Prairie Research Institute (PRI) at the University of Illinois is leveraging this advantage, investing in Illinois’ agriculture economy by offering programs, tools, and research projects to support producers and address current farming issues.

  • Be A Hero: Release Zero

    INHS Reports: Fighting the spread of aquatic invasive species in the marketplace

    Jul 14, 2017 8:00 am

    Aquatic invasive species are non-native organisms that harm the environment, economy, or human and livestock health. Illinois is especially vulnerable to aquatic invaders. Harmful effects of aquatic invasive species that reside in the lake include the multimillion dollar annual cost to industry and water utilities, reduced recreational activities, and degrading native habitats. One way that aquatic invaders are introduced to the Great Lakes region is through the buying and selling of species.

  • Soil temperatures this winter in Illinois were warmer than normal

    Mar 1, 2018 3:15 pm

  • Digitization Projects Make Nature Collections Available to Everyone

    Nov 14, 2016 8:00 am

    Extinct feather lice, invasive fish from the Great Lakes, and rare plants from Pakistan are a few of the millions of species no longer viewed just in dark academic warehouses and museums. Curators at the Prairie Research Institute (PRI) who have helped to preserve these biological specimens are digitizing them for anyone who is interested in science to view them online.

  • Drone in the sky

    New project is multistate, on-farm study of futuristic corn rootworm management

    Nov 9, 2021 2:45 pm

    As the toxins from Bt corn become less and less effective at managing western and northern corn rootworms, what’s next? It will take a combination of innovative techniques to provide sustainable control, according to University of Illinois researchers, who are gearing up for a project involving next year’s crops.

  • Few hunters know how their duck stamp dollars are spent

    Oct 6, 2017 9:15 am

    Illinois hunters each pay $25 for an annual federal duck stamp to legally shoot waterfowl, yet few know how their money is used, according to a University of Illinois study.

  • 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."

  • Eastern woodrat

    Study explores reasons why relocated woodrat populations have fared well in Illinois

    Jun 13, 2022 1:30 pm

    In a new study, researchers analyzed capture histories of 205 woodrats in the summers of 2013 and 2014 in areas of the Shawnee National Forest where woodrats had been reintroduced. The goal was to estimate local population size and determine how abundance and survival rates were associated with availability of nest-site crevices in rocks, the abundance of owls as predators, availability of nut-producing trees, and the risk of raccoon roundworm infection, which is fatal to woodrats.

  • Adult Syrian Spadefoot Toad discovered in a greenhouse in Burj Arab, Tartous Governorate, Syria, March 18, 2022. This was the second confirmed sighting of the species in the region. Photo by Naeil Khosam.

    Toad discovery brings together Syrian, Illinois scientists

    Dec 18, 2024 2:30 pm

    The Syrian Spadefoot Toad has been rediscovered in the war-torn country with the help of Syrian community scientists and Illinois researchers.

  • Aquatic biology team showing the mussels they've found

    Surveys and relocations protect vulnerable mussel populations

    Apr 5, 2022 9:00 am

    In the summer’s heat, an Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) aquatic biology team can be found in shallow rivers or streams under bridges slated for reconstruction, wading in water and sliding their fingers through the rocks and sediment below, searching for the edge of mussel shells. They’ll move the mussels they find out of harm’s way of construction equipment that will soon roll into the area.

  • Salt Fork in Champaign County

    Scientists take a historical look at fishes of Champaign County streams

    Mar 16, 2023 10:30 am

    Using data spanning 120 years, scientists in the Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) have a unique view of long-term changes in stream fish populations and their habitats in Champaign County. The best news: several fish species that were last seen here in the 1960s have returned to the county, suggesting some streams are improving.

  • Innovative microwave sensors deployed on an unmanned aerial system over the I-FARM facility for soil and biomass sensing in 2024. Photo credit Mohamad Alipour.

    Center for Digital Agriculture, Prairie Research Institute partner to support joint agriculture research

    May 5, 2025 10:00 am

    The Center for Digital Agriculture and the Prairie Research Institute have partnered to offer seed funding for joint research projects.

  • Researchers find link between avian malarial infections and body condition in migrating ducks

    Jun 13, 2018 4:15 pm

  • Eades wins award for efforts in the field of biodiversity informatics

    Jun 4, 2018 10:30 am
  • Wetlands geologist Nicolette Sheffield conducts field research at Illinois Beach State Park.

    $2.3 million NOAA grant for PRI research supports conservation of Lake Michigan coast

    Apr 17, 2025 8:00 am

    Prairie Research Institute scientists are conducting a $2.3 million project to support the protection and restoration of part of the Illinois Beach State Park coastal area.

  • INHS Reports: Angler survey on Lake Michigan fishing

    Jun 15, 2017 12:00 pm

    INHS researchers examined Lake Michigan fishing from social and economic perspectives. They surveyed anglers to collect information about angler expectations and needs in the Lake Michigan fishery and to ascertain the economic importance of fishing as a recreational activity. 

  • Black bear in a field of lupines

    Translocation is a viable option for problem bears

    Apr 2, 2021 9:00 am

    One way to manage bears who damage property and crops is to move them to a different area within their geographic range. Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) scientists studying translocation have found that capture and release does not lower bears’ survival rates, so it’s a good option for handling nuisance bears.

  • Researchers survey and study mosquito vectors for the Zika virus in Illinois

    Sep 7, 2017 9:15 am

    Researchers at the Illinois Natural History Survey are surveying and collecting adult female mosquitoes in Illinois and testing how effective insecticides are against them, particularly the Asian tiger mosquito, a species capable of transmitting the Zika virus.

     

  • Recorded bird calls entice warblers to nest in conservation areas

    Oct 10, 2017 10:15 am

    Some species of migrating songbirds return each year to their favorite summer home in the Midwest, where food and nesting sites are plentiful. A University of Illinois scientist and a biologist from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources found that recorded birdsongs could coax endangered Kirtland’s warblers to a new breeding site hundreds of miles from their usual destination for their own protection.

  • Working with scientists better informs managers’ decisions on bird conservation

    Jun 9, 2021 10:45 am

    Scientists studying birds have the data, and conservation managers make the decisions in the field, but if the two groups collaborate, together they can form the best outcomes on real-world bird conservation issues.

  • Researchers need your brown marmorated stink bugs

    Oct 1, 2013 12:00 pm

    Fall is the time for many insects to start making their ways indoors for the winter. The brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB), Halyomorpha halys is believed to have been introduced from Asia and can be a pest on tress and crops. Researchers are still trying to determine the range of the BMSB and need your help. If you believe you have BMSB, we would be very interested in looking at it.

  • Endangered bumblebees to be counted and studied this summer

    May 31, 2018 8:45 am

  • Study Finds Recent Size Changes in Illinois River Mussel Shells

    Oct 12, 2016 8:00 am

    Man-made levees and water pollution have made an impact on the fish and other fauna of the Illinois River throughout the 20th century, but researchers at the Prairie Research Institute (PRI), University of Illinois, have taken an even longer view of human-induced changes in freshwater mussels, dating back to pre-Columbian times.

  • A bee visits an echinacea flower.

    Available prairie seed mixes may fall short for pollinators

    Mar 24, 2025 2:45 pm

    As populations of bees and butterflies decline in the Midwest, native prairie restoration becomes crucial. A new Prairie Research Institute study found, however, that many commercial seed mixes used to conserve and restore prairies may not have enough diversity or spring flowering plants to fully support these pollinators.

  • Deer from Cook County

    INHS survey studies Illinois hunters’ beliefs about controlling disease in deer populations

    Apr 3, 2024 11:15 am

    Despite the increase in cases of chronic wasting disease in Illinois deer, hunters in recent years have gained trust in agency actions and are more positive about the use of sharpshooting to control the disease, according to a survey of hunters conducted at the Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) at the Prairie Research Institute.

  • INHS staffer makes massive contribution to species name index

    Nov 22, 2019 2:30 pm

    In a project to build an index containing the names of all biological species found on earth, Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) informatician Dmitry Mozzherin and the HathiTrust team scanned one-tenth of all published human knowledge on occurrences of scientific names in less than a day.

  • Southern White Pelicans at Rend Lake in large numbers

    Nov 4, 2011 12:00 pm

    INHS Ornithologist T.J. Benson was featured in an article about the Southern White Pelicans currently being seen in large numbers at Rend Lake. Unlike the Brown Pelicans, which dive into the water for food, White Pelicans align themselves in a circle and scoop up the fish. Benson stated that in the spring the birds might migrate through more quickly needing to get to the breeding grounds, the fall migration can be more spread out, with birds lingering in places with good resources. Asked about the number of birds, he stated that "Anecdotally, you're definitely seeing more and more. It's kind of true that wetland birds in general are tending to do better over time. Some of that is habitat restoration and cleaning up waterways."

  • Western corn rootworm behavior in soybeans offers clues to understanding rotation resistance

    Oct 28, 2021 8:45 am

    Illinois farmers’ concerns about increasing western corn rootworm populations and plant damage in rotated cornfields have University of Illinois researchers taking a closer look at how rootworm diets affect the beetles’ flights from soybeans to cornfields.

  • Check in with INHS online before heading out to hunt or fish

    Apr 30, 2021 8:30 am

    Whether it’s for hunting or fishing, the Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) collects data and provides information and education to support hunters and anglers in exploring Illinois and its many biological resources.

  • Forests help shield streams from pollutants in cropland areas

    Sep 16, 2019 10:00 am

    Streambank forests that help to buffer streams from pollutants are particularly important for stream quality, even in areas such as east-central Illinois where cropland predominates and the river system has deteriorated, according to a University of Illinois study.

  • INHS joins effort to digitize North American parasite collections

    Nov 5, 2019 7:00 am

    The Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) joins Purdue University and 25 other institutions to lead an effort to modernize the world’s knowledge of arthropod parasites by digitizing more than 1.3 million specimens using a three-year, $4.3 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant.

  • Ant in the Sanderson collection

    National Science Foundation awards more than $480,000 to amber preservation project

    Mar 6, 2019 8:15 am

    The National Science Foundation has awarded more than $480,000 to a Prairie Research Institute project to preserve and digitize an extensive collection of Dominican amber that is in danger of deterioration without proper curation and care. The plants, arthropods, and vertebrates captured in the amber provide insights into life 16-18 million years ago, during the Early Miocene epoch.

  • Researchers photograph bats under bridges with a borescope

    Oct 9, 2018 2:30 pm
  • Joseph L Sencer rating roots before catching corn rootworm beetle populations so their eggs can be collected for bioassays in 2021. 

    Illinois researcher warns of growing corn rootworm threat

    Sep 15, 2020 7:15 am

    Corn rootworms inflict more than $1 billion annually in lost revenue and control costs. PRI insect behaviorist Joseph L. Spencer regularly travels across Illinois collecting corn rootworms and studying their behavior, ecology, and their growing resistance to pest management, particularly resistance to Bt corn hybrids and crop rotation.

  • black bear

    Data analysis paints a clearer picture of translocation success among black bears

    Aug 25, 2020 11:00 am

    Javan Bauder and Max Allen analyzed data from 1,462 translocations of 1,293 black bears in Wisconsin from 1979 to 2016, evaluating translocation success of black bears across Wisconsin.

  • 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.

  • Scientists use modeling techniques to tease out coyote and fox population trends in Illinois

    Aug 5, 2020 11:30 am

    Asking licensed Illinois trappers about their experiences and the numbers of coyotes and foxes they harvest is one way to discover animal population trends. The trick, though, is to account for trappers’ motivations that can be swayed by economic factors and weather.

  • Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs are on the Move This Fall

    Sep 30, 2016 8:00 am

    An invasive stink bug species has been found in five newly invaded Illinois counties this year, according to Kelly Estes, Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey (CAPS) coordinator in the Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois.

  • Tick-infested songbirds help spread Lyme disease

    Mar 1, 2017 8:00 am

    Songbird species that carry the ticks responsible for Lyme disease and other diseases forage close to the ground in large wooded areas, according to a recently published study by Christine Parker, a graduate research assistant at the University of Illinois’ Prairie Research Institute, Illinois Natural History Survey.

  • Jim Lamer

    INHS welcomes Jim Lamer as director of the Illinois River Biological Station

    Mar 11, 2019 12:30 pm

    Jim Lamer joined the Illinois Natural History Survey as a large river ecologist and director of the Illinois River Biological Station in Havana. 

  • American Crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) egg (parthenogen) showing banding pattern indicative of potential viability.

    INHS researchers reveal “virgin birth” in a crocodile

    Jun 12, 2023 9:30 am

    In a recent study published in the journal Biology Letters, this is the first known instance of a crocodile virgin birth, but virgin births (parthenogenesis) have been recorded in fish, birds, lizards, and snakes. Parthenogenesis is a natural form of asexual reproduction in some animals where viable offspring are produced from an otherwise unfertilized egg. Mark Davis, a conservation biologist at the Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) at the Prairie Research Institute (PRI) and co-author on the study helped examine the crocodile fetus' genomic makeup, ultimately discovering that the fetal genome resulted from reproduction without a male crocodile’s genetic contribution. 

  • Carp play a role in disseminating plant seeds in the Illinois River

    Feb 28, 2018 10:15 am

  • Girl Scouts provided habitat for Illinois bats

    Oct 29, 2018 1:45 pm

    When it came to earning their Silver Award, which encourages scouts to complete a project that helps their community, Girl Scout Troop 51978 from Westmont, Illinois, decided to support bat conservation with help from Illinois Natural History Survey associate mammalogist Tara Hohoff.

  • eDNA helps researchers track and identify endangered and at-risk species

    Sep 10, 2019 8:00 am

    A promising technology and unlikely collaboration give scientists greater insights into five rare and hard to find species in Fort Polk, Louisiana. 

  • A still image from the camera trap video captured by U. of I. student Bethany Warner shows a flying squirrel in Brownfield Woods Oct. 27.

    Flying squirrel documented in Brownfield Woods

    Dec 20, 2024 12:00 pm

    A University of Illinois student researcher recently identified a Southern flying squirrel in a university natural area for the first time in recent memory.

  • Researchers rescued stranded mussels on the Vermilion River

    Aug 31, 2018 11:00 am