Illinois Natural History Survey Reports

              1
I LLINOIS
NATURAL
HI STORY
S U R V E Y R e p o r t s
Winter 2006
No. 386
I N S I D E
Mapping Owned,
Managed, or Leased
Properties of the Il-linois
Department of
Natural Resources
2
New INHS Space
Facilities
3
Energy Impact of
Compact Development
vs. Sprawl (Urban
Ecology III)
4
Insect Biodiversity
Informatics
5
Species Spotlight:
Hellbender
6
The Naturalist's
Apprentice: Hellbend-er
Crossword Puzzle
7
Continued on back page
INHS researcher Tim Smith, with net, searches for
fi shes during the 2005 Busey Woods BioBlitz in
Urbana. Volunteer Jim Hoyt follows with a collecting
bucket. Photo by Julie Miller, Urbana Park District
What brings more than 50 sci-entists
together with interested
amateurs and the general public
for a 24-hour extravaganza to
see how many species could be
identifi ed from a 59-acre urban
natural area? The 2005 Busey
Woods BioBlitz, which ran
from noon on June 24 to noon
the following day, was
sponsored by the Urbana
(Illinois) Park District and
supported by a grant from
the Illinois Department
of Natural Resources. It
featured many biologists
on busman’s holiday from
their work at the Illinois
Natural History Survey
(INHS), and from various
parts of the state. Armed
with nets, binoculars,
and other assorted gear,
these scientists wrote
down their observations,
checked species off lists,
examined samples of
water and soil under a
microscope, and gener-ally
looked everywhere
they could think of in the
quest for additions to the
growing list of species
identifi ed during the blitz.
Specialists spoke with the
public, who were invited
to learn about the biodi-versity
of this much loved park.
The data collected were entered
into a database called Mandala,
which was originally created for
a National Science Foundation
PEET (Partnerships for Enhanc-ing
Expertise in Taxonomy) proj-ect
dealing with specimen-based
systematics research of a poorly
known family of fl ies (Therevi-dae)
that are not only present in
Illinois, but found worldwide.
The database was fi rst used at the
Allerton BioBlitz in 2001 where
1,949 species were identifi ed
from nearly 3,000 observations
recorded during a 24-hour period
in this 1,500-acre park near Mon-ticello,
Illinois.
So why, in an area less than
4% of the size of Allerton Park,
did scientists manage to fi nd
1,327 species (in ~1,700 recorded
observations), including a new
state record for a planthopper, or
nearly 68% of the total number
of species identifi ed at Allerton?
Part of the answer goes to the
root of why biodiversity studies
are important and why so many
specialists are needed to do this
work. Biologists working during
the blitz were under no illusion
that they would identify all of the
species to be found in
those 59 acres, and in
fact, no one knew how
many species might be
there, because no one
had ever really looked
in such detail. This was
both an opportunity to
share with the public the
kind of work and tools
that it takes to conduct
a bioinventory of a site,
and to take a snapshot
of its biodiversity. To
do a thorough bioin-ventory
of an area, the
work that many of these
biologists are engaged
in throughout the state
of Illinois, takes more
than the quick snapshot
in time allocated for
this bioblitz. Changes
through the season,
caused by differences in
temperature and mois-ture
will also account for
variation through time.
Bringing home the message about
the importance of establishing
baseline data for an area, being
able to monitor changes in the
biodiversity through time, and
24 Hours: The 2005 Busey Woods BioBlitz