Illinois Natural History Survey Reports

              R e p o r t s
Spring 2007
No. 391
The Black-crowned Night-
Herons of Lake Calumet
Part II: Foraging Ecology
and Contaminant Exposure
2
Establishment of
Historic Fish
Communities to
Restored Illinois River
Floodplain Lakes
3
Endangered and
Threatened Plant Species
Database
4
Exploring the Potential
Influence of Fish Diver-sity
as a Determinant of
Ecosystem Properties in
Aquatic Food Webs
5
Species Spotlight:
Spring Ephemerals
6
The Naturalist's
Apprentice: Field Marks
of Illinois
Butterflies
7
Continued on back page
INSIDE
Modern prosperity and wealth are
hitched to the petroleum wagon.
From gasoline to polymers and
plastics, petroleum provides most
of our material needs. But such
progress comes at a cost. Most
noteworthy is global climate
change from greenhouse gases
produced by the use of fossil
fuels. To mitigate human-induced
climate change, the economy
needs to reduce activities that add
greenhouse gases to the environ-ment.
An important component of
this change is the emergence of
a bioeconomy, which in addi-tion
to food production includes
the conversion of biological raw
material (biomass) into biofuels
like ethanol and biodiesel.
Using ethanol produced from
plants is an environmentally
friendly alternative to petroleum-based
fuels. Currently, most etha-
Will the Emerging Bioeconomy Add to the
Burden of Invasive Species Management?
nol is produced from fermentating
sugars in plants. However, such
production may be at odds with
food production for humans and
animals. Hence research is under-way
to produce ethanol from the
major unexploited component of
plant biomass—cellulose. This
approach preserves the use of
crops for food production and
leaves leftover plant biomass for
energy production. In addition,
some plants are being considered
primarily for biomass and biofuel
production.
Some of the key species being
considered for biofuel production
are grasses, including switch-grass
(native to the eastern and
central U.S.), giant reed (native
to Asia), reed canarygrass (native
to temperate Europe, Asia, and
North America) and miscanthus
(native to Asia). Switchgrass,
giant reed, and
reed canarygrass reproduce
vegetatively and from seed, while
miscanthus only reproduces
vegetatively. Extensive research
is underway on the agronomic
and energy production potential
of these perennial grasses. In Illi-nois,
switchgrass and miscanthus
are being evaluated for bioenergy
production.
While the opportunity to
move towards biologically
renewable fuel production is ex-citing,
the plants under consider-ation
are cause for concern. Giant
reed and reed canarygrass have
significant economic and environ-mental
impacts due to their inva-siveness
in the U.S. Despite these
known risks, energy firms are
promoting giant reed for cultiva-tion
across 15,000 acres in Flori-da
and 30,000 acres in Alabama.
Some cultivars of switchgrass
are strong competitors of native
species in ecological restorations.
Plants native in one region of the
U.S. can become invasive when
established in another. A well-known
example of this is smooth
cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora),
a species native to the Atlantic
coast that is currently a major
invader of estuarine habitats on
the Pacific coast.
Miscanthus is promising
for its biomass potential and is
therefore increasingly promoted
Susan Post
(INHS) stands
in front of a
field plot of
miscanthus. The
characteristics
that enable it to
be a boon for bio-mass
production
may prove to be a
bane if it escapes
cultivation and
becomes invasive.
Photo by Michael
Jeffords, INHS Office
of the Chief