Illinois Natural History Survey Reports

              I LLINOIS
NATURAL
HI STORY
S U R V E Y R e p o r t s
Spring 2001
No. 367
I N S I D E
Fruit Complementarity
in Feeding Birds
2
Applying Geographic
Information Systems
Technology to the Eco-logical
Risk Assessment
Process in Illinois
3
Physiological Telemetry
in Fisheries Research
4
Illinois Wilds Institute
for Nature
Summer 2001
Class Schedule
6
Illinois Habitats Poster
Series: Two New
Posters
7
Charles Helm, INHS entomologist, leads outdoor workshop. Photo by Michael
Jeffords, INHS Center for Economic Entomology
Exotic, invasive
species are ma-jor
ecological
and economic
threats to the
natural and
agricultural eco-systems
of Illi-nois,
the nation,
and the world.
For example,
nearly 1,500
trees have been
lost to the Asian
long-horned
beetle in the
Chicago area,
garlic mustard is
choking out woodland wildfl ow-ers
throughout the state, zebra
mussels are wreaking havoc in
the Great Lakes, and the impact
of the recently detected soybean
aphid is yet to be determined.
While INHS scientists are in-volved
in both basic and applied
studies to assess the ever-increas-ing
threat of such exotic invaders,
an equally important component
of this ongoing battle is public
information and education. In
the case of the Asian longhorned
beetle in Chicago, intense media
coverage and public awareness
campaigns undoubtedly helped
the public to identify additional
infestations outside of the original
quarantine areas and to better
understand that tree removal, no
matter how distasteful, provided
the best opportunity to limit the
establishment and spread of this
pest.
The Offi ce of Outreach and
Education of the Illinois Natural
History Survey has a wide variety
of educational materials and pro-grams
available to the citizens of
Illinois and it has also developed
several educational activities that
target elementary, middle school,
and high school teachers and stu-dents.
Exotic species educational
and outreach efforts are an integral
part of these programs.
Calendar
The full-color 2001 wall calendar
“Exotic, Invasive Species of Illi-nois”
is aimed at raising awareness
of the overall problem of exotic
species and acquainting citizens
with a few of the more serious
invaders of the Illinois landscape.
Each month of the calendar fea-tures
a photograph and description
of a problem invader and important
dates concerning exotic species.
Nearly 3,000 copies of this calen-dar
have been distributed to local,
state, and federal agencies and to
middle school
and high
school science
teachers.
Posters
The gypsy
moth contin-ues
to threaten
trees in
northeastern
Illinois, result-ing
in a quar-antine
of Lake
County in
August 2000.
Because of the
potential for
inadvertent movement of gypsy
moth egg masses by the public
from infested to noninfested
areas, a poster was developed to
alert the public to check vehicles
and outdoor articles if they have
recently visited regions of known
infestations. With the coopera-tion
of the Illinois Departments of
Agriculture and Transportation,
these posters have been placed
in visitor centers, rest areas, and
other facilities frequented by the
traveling public.
Fact Sheets and Displays
One-page Insect Info fact sheets
have been developed for several
other species, including the Asian
longhorned beetle and Asian ti-ger
mosquito. A more detailed,
multi-panel photo and text dis-play
chronicles the entire Asian
longhorned beetle saga, from the
situation in China and its route of
Exotic Species Education and Outreach
Continued on back page
Rob Wiedenmann (L)
with INHS Chief David
Thomas at purple loose-strife
workshop.
Photo by Michael Jeffords,
INHS Center for Economic
Entomology