![]() ![]() Each survey was conducted by the group on Monday around afternoon and checked throughout the week by Rob Carmichael. Surveys started Septemand lasted until October 15, 2018. The wide variety of habitats should have allowed for a wide variety of herpetofauna. The site included habitats such as savanna, wet savanna, wet prairies, mesic prairies, aquatic, and shoreline. including a wide variety of natural habitats to survey. Quadrants highlighted in red are the survey sites specified for this group. This private site included an almost pristine ecosystem, adjacent to Middlefork Savanna Forest Preserve, Figure 1.1 Map of Colburn's Melody site. This survey was done at the Melody site in Lake Forest, IL 60045. The Melody Site is very near the 40°N border, making it an ideal field to observe herpetofauna that may be more adapted to the lower end of temperatures. However, due, to their ectothermic nature and reliance on their external environments for body temperature regulation, most species are reported to be found between the latitudes of 40°N and 40°S (Barten, 2013). Reptiles and amphibians are native to every continent on Earth excluding Antarctica. ![]() Among the quickly developing society in this part of the state lay a few pockets of land that have yet to be charted, such as the well-preserved Melody Site in northeastern Illinois. Of particular interest are the sand prairie subareas - well-defined areas located along the eastern borders of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, and the northeastern mesic forest sub-areas - found in just the northeastern most corner of the state lining Lake Michigan (Barten, 2013). Nevertheless, a robust range of reptile and amphibian species are distributed throughout the state, having evolved to live efficiently in almost complete hiding. Rapidly increasing populations and urbanization continue to mar remaining natural habitats. The Chicago Herpetological Society reports that within the last century nearly all of the indigenous prairie was turned into agricultural land (Barten, 2013). Unfortunately, much of the original habitats found in Illinois have been domesticated, destroyed by man. A study by Smith (1961) divided the two main ecosystems into seven defined herpetological sub-areas: grand prairie, outlier prairie, sand prairie, northeastern mesic forest, western division, southern division, and river borders. At Level III, it is split into two more ecoregions: the Central Corn Belt Plains and Interior River Valleys and Hills (EPA, 2016). Illinois is a large centrally-located state, measuring 385 miles from north to south and 215 miles from east to west (Barten, 2013). In North America, the two main Level I ecoregions of the Midwestern United States are the Great Plains and Eastern Temperate Forests of those two, Illinois has been entirely placed in the Eastern Temperate Forests Level I ecoregion (EPA, 2016). Each ecoregion may play host to a number of species of herpetofauna, some of which may be more particular to their regions than others. As such, North America can be divided into 15 broad Level I ecoregions, 50 more detailed Level II ecoregions, and still 182 more specific Level III ecoregions (EPA, 2016). The positioning of the North American continent on the globe makes it susceptible to a uniquely diverse variety of atmospheric conditions, creating an equally diverse variety of ecosystems. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |