ALMOST A BIOBLITZ.

Last summer I posted about a Bioblitz that I worked on in Illinois. It was great event and in the 24 hour period we cataloged well over 1500 species. On Friday we set off to Indiana Dunes to do another one but unfortunately the weather forecast was appalling. Even more unfortunately, for once, the forecasters were right! We had flash flood warnings, severe thunder storm warnings and high wind warnings, all of which occured!


This is what all the top models will be wearing on the Paris catwalks this summer! Belive it or not we are standing on a footpath not in a pond! The neoprene chest waders were definitely the clothing item of choice for the weekend! Unfortunately we all still managed to get soaked to the skin when we were not wearing them. In an area of such diverse habitats we should have been able to get a massive species count in the 24 hour period but the appaling weather really hampered everyones activities.


The region is known for a particularly rare species of butterfly called the Karner Blue Lycaeides melissa samuelis Its host plant is the wild lupine and there was certainly no shortage of that around but not a single butterfly to be seen in the awful weather.


This Six-spotted Tiger Beetle Cicindela sexguttata is almost obscured by the rain drops captured in this picture, not a great picture of the beetle but it certainly gives a good idea of how heavily it was raining! Needless to say the insect count was pretty low.


One group that was not detered by the weather of course, were the amphibians. This handsome American Toad Bufo americanus joined us at our blacklighting sight in the evening. He was hoping that our light would draw in some tasty snacks for supper, we were hoping that the light would draw in some interesting species for our count, we were all disappointed, the torrential rain kept pretty much everything away!


The only interesting visitor to our blacklight was this Honest Pero Moth Pero honestaria. We managed to catalogue it, I don't know whether the patient toad made it supper later in the night! Next morning we went looking for more amphibians.


We found these two amorous American Toads firmly hanging onto either end of a Fowlers Toad Bufo fowleri but unfortunately, as sometimes happens in these situations they were so focused on keeping a hold of her they had actually drowned her. Even though she was dead they were still determindly hanging onto her! We did manage to pry them off and they then immediately latched onto our hands. If you get hold of a male, it squeaks, thus telling another male to get off! The females don't squeak and neither, of course did our hand, so the male toad thought it was onto a winner!


A much more descrete character is this charming Blue-spotted Salamander Ambystoma laterale. Usually found under decaying wood it feeds on spiders, centipedes, slugs and earthworms. We were able to add several of these to our count.
Inspite of a couple of hundred scientists best efforts, the species count for the 24 hours of this bioblitz was only somewhere in the region of about 860 which is very low. But at least we got chance to be out in the field which is always a bonus. Now we just need a few days to dry all our equipment out!!


Photo Credits - CJT

WHAT IS A BIOBLITZ ANYWAY?

A bioblitz is when a group of biologists with numerous different fields of expertise get together to find and catalogue as many different species as possible, in a designated area in a twenty-four hour period. The list ranges from the tiniest of invertebrates through all forms of plant life, algeas and lichens and all the groups of vertebrates. And this is what I was doing from 4.30pm on Friday.
Some groups have an easier job then others, the birders for example just stroll of with binoculars and spotting scopes and list all the species they see or hear. Others have to work a little harder to find their species.This is Natalie from the Natural History Survey Team wading out to check her turtle traps! By the way, this is something she does five days a week as part of her job and does it as 'matter-of-factly' as the rest of us would cross the street! As you can see it is not exactly crystal clear water we are talking about here!
And this is Jamie from the Nature Museum struggling to find any aquatic life in one of the streams. Unfortunately, as with so many water courses these days, it had been adversely affected by pollution and/or fertiliser run-off further up stream so the pickings were slim. She managed to find a couple of species of fish and a small mussel though so every little helps.
I was with the 'herps' team, (reptiles and amphibians) which included Natalie and her turtle team and the rest of us staying more on terra firma! We had various boards in place around the area. (These are just sheets of plywood which are laid flat in the grass and left alone) they are very appealing as shelters for snakes. Our most common find was Garter Snakes Thamnophis sirtalis, as you can see, there was no shortage of them.
A more unusual find, one that we hoped for but could not guarantee was actually found by one of the 'bug guys' at 1.30am when he found it sliding across the path in front of him(!) is the Milk Snake Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum this is the only member of the King Snake family found in the Chicago region. The reason the King Snakes are so called is because they eat other snakes - hence the reason that this individual was not found under the boards with all the Garter Snakes!
We had already found the Red-bellied Snake, (as shown on the previous listing) so there was only one more expected species to find and we would have to wait until Saturday afternoon for that little beauty to be found. The Smooth Green Snake Opheodrys vernalis, it was particularly rewarding to see this species as it is becoming seriously threatened in many areas. It is insectivorous and so is being badly affected by the widespread use of pesticides.
As the afternoon wore on, some extremely large black clouds started to build up, but they did have the good manners to hold off until our twenty-four hours were almost up, which wasn't bad considering we had been forecast to have violent thunder storms during the night. Not the most appealing prospect when sleeping in a little tent!
So with almost one thousand species catalogued, everyone packed up their equipment, returned all specimens to their previous locations and beat a dignified retreat before the storm.

Photo Credits - Jamie Stubis and CJT

SO WHAT DO BIOLOGISTS DO FOR FUN ON A FRIDAY NIGHT?

Do you really want to know.................
OK so it's not that bad, check out the following link for some idea of where I am right now.
bioblitz08.blogspot.com
We have just come in from the field where we have been black lighting and getting eaten alive by the biggest mosquitoes I have EVER SEEN!!
Earlier in the day we managed to catch handfuls of Garter Snakes Thamnophis sirtalis and a couple of little Red-bellied Snakes Storeria occipitomaculata occipitomaculata. More fun tomorrow!
Photo Credits - Jamie Stubis and CJT