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The Wild Things Conference Returns Saturday, March 1, 2025 - SOLD OUT

We’re thrilled to welcome you again to learn and share your expertise with our community. We’ve put together an exciting lineup of workshops and sessions from regional and national experts, plus meet & greets, video content, exhibitors, and sponsors. With over 140 presentations and discussion panels to choose from, the in-person program engages a diverse range of topics, research, and skills, and plenty of opportunities to meet with friends, old and new.

Thank you as well to our sponsors, scholarship supporters, and exhibitors who are all helping to make this another tremendously successful Wild Things.

Tickets for Wild Things 2025 are sold out. For additional information on the 2025 conference, visit wildthingscommunity.org.

**PLEASE NOTE: Some details are subject to change.**

NOTICE: Please be advised that photos and videos will be taken during Wild Things 2025. By attending, you consent to be photographed, filmed, and/or otherwise recorded. Your attendance on this event constitutes your agreement to the use of any resulting media by Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves for promotional, marketing, or any other purpose in perpetuity, without further approval or any compensation. 

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Saturday, March 1
 

5:00pm CST

A Race Against Typha: Evaluating the Impacts of Typha angustifolia in an Inland Salt Marsh
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Invasive hybrid cattail (Typha × glauca) threaten diverse and rare ecosystems in the Great Lakes
basin. LUC student researcher, Ms. Gustafson, will present a field study evaluating the impacts
of an expanding hybrid cattail stand within the last single stable inland salt marsh complex in
Michigan. This rare ecosystem supports the endangered salt tolerant plant species Eleocharis
parvula
and Schoenoplectus americanus and is the only site these two species grow together.
The expanding Typha encroachment threatens the survival of these species and the ecosystem.
Presenters
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Anthropogenic impacts on painted turtles (Chrysemys picta): Effects of human-derived sounds on nesting and development
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
As wildlife adapts to the ever-growing human population, they may modify their behavior to survive in human-modified environments. Understanding how a species may modify their behavior, or how their development may be negatively impacted by modifications, is necessary for predicting the impacts of global change on biodiversity. I conducted an experiment to assess how anthropogenic sounds affected turtle nesting behavior and offspring development at Thomson Causeway using recorded sounds (nature, traffic, construction, and people talking). I expect that turtles exposed to anthropogenic sounds will have shorter nesting times, higher levels of boldness behavior, and higher egg retention rates than the turtles exposed to nature sounds. I also expect to find that hatchlings exposed to anthropogenic sounds during development will have lower survival rates, and higher levels of boldness behavior, than those exposed to nature sounds.
Presenters
SS

Sara S Crow

Natural Science Technical Assistant, Northeastern Illinois University
I'm the Natural Science Technical Assistant in the Biology Department at Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU), where I prepare labs for various classes and support research initiatives. I am NEIU alumna, where I earned a bachelor’s degree in Biology with a minor in Environmental... Read More →
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Avian Acorn Herbivory in a Midwestern Oak Savanna
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Acorns support several bird species in sand savannas in the Chicago region, yet little is known about what oak species are of greatest importance to avian herbivores. At six savanna sites in Pembroke, IL we used motion cameras to monitor trays containing the three species most common at these sites (black, white, and pin oak). Data were collected in the fall, winter, and spring of 2023-24. While two acorn specialists, red-headed woodpeckers and blue jays, were abundant, blue jays alone visited the trays and overwhelmingly selected pin oaks. Understanding acorn preferences can enable more informed management decisions for wildlife in midwestern savannas.
Presenters
DR

Derek Rosenberger

Associate Professor of Conservation Biology, Wheaton College
Dr. Derek Rosenberger is a Conservation Biologist interested primarily in biodiversity and invasive species in endangered ecosystems. He is particularly interested in insect and avian species in prairies and savannas of the Midwest.
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Before and After: Through Soil
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
This is an artistic display using soil collected during our soil coring field research. The display aims to show Chicago's diverse soil profile even after urbanization while also honoring what soils were here before.
Presenters
avatar for Ellie Wasilewski

Ellie Wasilewski

Lab Manager, UIC EcoΦlab
I am a lab manager in UIC's Earth and Environmental Science department who is interested in communicating science through creative mediums. 
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Building Resilience in the River's Shallows Using the Power of Plants
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Since 2015, Friends of the Chicago River has installed thousands of native plants along riverbanks in the North Shore Channel and the Little Calumet River to create healthy wildlife habitat and increase ecological and community resiliency against the impacts of climate change. With support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Coastal Resilience Fund, Friends is scaling up this proven strategy. This project involves assessing all 156 miles of the Chicago-Calumet River system for feasible planting locations for water willow (Justicia americana) and lizard’s tail (Saururus cernuus). This exciting project builds on decades of Friend’s investment and experience with instream habitat improvement and advocacy.
Presenters
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Capture Rates of Four Species of Snakes Utilizing Plywood vs Rubber Artificial Cover Objects at The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Artificial cover objects (plywood, rubber mats, tin sheets) are utilized to monitor snakes because snakes are difficult to find, and even harder to catch in dense vegetation. In 2023 and 2024, The Morton Arboretum facilitated a volunteer-based study deploying plywood and rubber mats across 14 locations in order to determine the relative abundance (capture rate) of snakes throughout the arboretum. Species, from common to rare, included Common Gartersnake, DeKay’s Brownsnake, Eastern Fox Snake, and Milksnake.  
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Celebrating 50 Years of Restoration at the College of DuPage
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
How has one of the oldest campus prairie restorations impacted today’s restorations in the Chicagoland Area and beyond and how is it helping shape tomorrow's restoration leaders? Since 1974 approximately 45 acres of urban woods, wetland, and prairie habitat has been restored at the College of DuPage and contains over 1000 species, including prairie specialists and several listed species. Generations of researchers, future ecologists and students, from biologists to artists, use the Russell R. Kirt Prairie to incorporate the natural world into their lives and explore the changing face of restoration and maintenance of natural areas.
Presenters
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Comparison of Assessing High Versus Low Effort Sampling Protocols for Benthic Macroinvertebrates in Streams
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Numerous stream ecosystem studies have demonstrated that benthic macroinvertebrates serve as one of the best indicators for assessing a stream’s overall health. The purpose of this study involved using Illinois RiverWatch protocols to compare the efficacy between high-effort and low-effort riffle and snag sampling for determining stream health using benthic macroinvertebrates for Lily Cache Creek, Plainfield, Illinois. By analyzing taxa and EPT taxa richness (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera), and pollution intolerant/tolerant percentages, this study aimed to determine whether low-effort sampling could potentially serve as an alternative to high-effort sampling in order to save time and money for future conservation research.
Presenters
VO

Vanessa Ortega

Student at Joliet Junior College
avatar for John Griffis

John Griffis

Biology Professor Emeritus/Adjunct, Joliet Junior College
Undergraduate research in stream ecology
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Darien Garden Club supports Wild Things TOO!
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Darien Garden Club does not fit the stereotypical garden club mold.  This club enjoys not only the social aspects of the organization, but we also enjoy learning about and supporting nature and the environment. We have 100+ adult members, and our DGC Sprout youth club includes 17 families with 35 young children.

Support for Pollinators:
DGC established several public pollinator gardens in community parks, senior residences, local library, and several at our meeting home, St. John Lutheran Church. We continue to maintain these spaces and use them to educate the public on the importance of pollinator habitat.

DGC provides all ages education via annual outreach events:
- Seed Exchange
- Pollinator Party
- Birding Experience Event
- Oaktober Celebration
- City Nature Challenge education

Darien Garden Club volunteers organize and provide education via several service projects:
- Garden Therapy at three senior facilities
- Planting and sharing at local schools
- Native seed collection and distribution
- Educational tabling at community events such as Darien's Arbor Day Celebration

Monthly meetings for our adult and youth clubs often cover environmental and nature subjects.  In the last few years DGC adult meetings had the following themes:
- Cicada emergence
- Climate change
- Argonne National Laboratory; Engaging the Region’s Innovation Ecosystem
- Bringing back pollinators
- Water features to attract wildlife
- Planting Natives
- Oak recovery.
- Native understory trees and shrubs
- Good Bugs in the Garden
- Fungi in the garden
- Backyard habitats
- Hummingbirds
- Intro to IL prairies
- Biomimicry
- Winter tree ID
- IL invasive species
- Permaculture

Our recent youth monthly meetings included:
- Monarch migration
- Owls
- Rain recycling
- Pollinators
- Reduce, Recycle, Reuse
- City Nature Challenge community science
- Cicada Celebration
- Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl education
- Composting


Recent Awards:
Darien Garden Club received the Pollinator Protector Award from the DuPage Monarch Project in 2023 and have been the recipient of several Garden Clubs of Illinois Inc. and National Garden Clubs Inc. awards related to our projects. DGC was named GCI "Garden Club of the Year" in 2024.

DGC plants for the future:
Darien Garden Club held large environmental themed symposium events titled Spring Gardening Inspiration in the past. We are making plans to celebrate our 25th year with a return to that format in 2026.

Our leadership, committee chairs and members are committed to our mission:

The Club was founded to encourage a nurturing environment where new and experienced gardeners, nature lovers, environmentalists, and anyone interested in horticulture can meet to share their experiences and get support from those who have similar interests.

Our purpose is to encourage an interest in gardening, increase knowledge and promote respect for the natural environment and to cultivate friendships with like-minded people. 


DGC is making a difference and supporting Wild Things!


Presenters
avatar for Cathy Streett

Cathy Streett

Community Outreach and Service Projects Chair, Darien Garden Club
I am a Nature and Gardening Enthusiast. I have held several positions over the last 25 years with Darien Garden Club. As Chair of our Community Outreach and Service Projects Committee over the last several years I have created and produced several nature-related community events for... Read More →
avatar for Christine Bosacki

Christine Bosacki

Chair, Nature and Environment, Newsletter Editor, Darien Garden Club
The modern garden club focuses on nature and the environment along with good gardening practices.  Darien Garden Club is a leader among over 50 Illinois garden clubs  Many programs for example  support growing native plants, protecting pollinators and encouraging sustainability... Read More →
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Deciphering Invasion Patterns: Familial Analysis of Non-Native Plant Species in North America
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Through analyzing the proportion of invasive species present within families of plants located within North America, and comparing them to the number of United States counties they occur in, familial invasion habits may be determined on a macroscale level. This data can be utilized to better determine when and where invasions are more likely to occur. Furthermore, by analyzing traits specific to these families, more targeted and effective invasive control can be implemented. The null hypothesis states that there is no effect between families and their levels of invasive species within their taxa, while the alternative hypothesis asserts that there is correlation between proportions of invasive species to their families and their levels of invasion.
Presenters
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Determining the correlation between phenotype and carotenoids concentration in Painted turtles
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Painted turtles have brightly colored shells and stripes on their skin. Carotenoids create these bright colors and little is known about how the quantity of carotenoids correlates with the colors expressed in the body. It’s essential to understand the importance of carotenoids and their associated coloration. Collecting reflectance and plasma from female and male turtles from populations in Illinois and Wisconsin, we tested for a correlation between phenotype and carotenoid concentration. We expected to find a strong, positive correlation between carotenoids in the plasma and the carotenoids of the skin and shell at both sites.
Presenters
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Ditch Maintenance With a Conscience
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Shields Township and the Lake County Stormwater Management Commission (SMC) collaborated to create an eco-friendly, eye-appealing, sustainable stormwater drainage system along Foster Avenue, east of Birch Avenue in Knollwood, IL.
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Effects of interannual variation in climate on breeding bird demography in a postindustrial wetland
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Evaluating whether restoration efforts have a positive impact on wildlife populations requires understanding demographic patterns such as recruitment of new individuals, fecundity, and the ratio of old to young individuals. However, the effects of restoration may be compounded with the effects of inter-annual weather, requiring analysis of multiple years of demographic and weather data. We address these questions using data from Chicago Ornithological Society's current MAPS banding station.
Presenters
avatar for Stephanie Beilke

Stephanie Beilke

Senior Manager, Conservation Science, Audubon Great Lakes
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Effects of Small-Scale Burning and Mowing on Restored Prairie Plant Communities
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
We conducted a research project at a restored prairie near Momence, Illinois (41.155, -87.705) in the growing season of 2024. Our goals were: 1) to characterize the tallgrass prairie plant community in the restored prairie, 2) to compare the existing prairie plant community to the original restoration plans from 2008, and 3) to assess the effects of burning and mowing on the plant community.
      To assess plant communities we conduced stem counts, line transects, biomass harvesting and soil testing. Line transects quantified the relative abundance of the plant species present in the prairie, and these data are currently being compared to the species lists of seeds and plugs that were originally planted. Stem counts in our experimental plots showed that burning resulted in 259% more large grass stems in comparison to nearby unmanaged areas, while mowing resulted in 77% fewer large grass stems. Additional results are still being processed and analyzed.
Presenters
avatar for David Hoekman

David Hoekman

Associate Professor, Olivet Nazarene University
Recently moved to Illinois and interested to learn more about the wild things of this part of the US.
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Enhancing Monitoring and Management with Geospatial Technology and Drones
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Habitat restoration efforts are increasingly implementing GIS (Geographic information system) applications to enhance monitoring and management. The Harper College Biology Department, in partnership with the Geography Department, has adopted drone technology and ArcGIS application Field Maps to restore the Craig Stettner Prairie on the college’s campus. Drones equipped with high-resolution visible light cameras and multispectral sensors offer detailed insights into vegetation health, mapping species distribution, invasive species, and tracking restoration progress. Field Maps further enhances this process by providing detailed assessments and visualization of data through the ArcGIS dashboard. The GIS data is combined with the traditional ecological assessments, FQI (Floristic Quality Index) and FQA (Floristic Quality Assessment) to facilitate informed and effective monitoring of the prairie restoration project, ensuring that the project goals are met, and human impacts are minimized.
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Glacial topography of the Chicago Region
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Posters of Geological survey maps of the Chicago Region showing the moraines and deposits of Wisconsin glacier. A 3D diorama with inserts representing the receding waters of Lake Chicago over the last 12,000 years and the Glenwood, Calumet, and Toleston beaches on which Chicago and the surrounding suburbs are built is the focus of this display. Presentation will speak to the continuing wind and water action that shapes the lake shore.
Presenters
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

How to be a good neighbor: An investigation of associational resistance through plant community characteristics
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
The ability of plant diversity to decrease damage caused by insect pests, a kind of biotic resistance termed associational resistance, has been explored as a potential tool in mitigating the establishment and spread of insect pests in forest ecosystems. Studies suggest certain structural characteristics of neighboring non-host trees in forest stands can reduce the amount of insect damage by decreasing physical host tree apparency. To better understand this mechanism, we will identify characteristics of vegetation structure that influence damage by insect pests by leveraging tree and plot level datasets from the USDA Forest Inventory and Analysis. Analyses will be performed using generalized mixed effect models, in which the proportion of trees damaged by insects will be the response variable. Investigating associational resistance will allow us to identify characteristics of communities that are particularly vulnerable to insect pests for management/conservation efforts, as well as to expand current understanding of the role of biodiversity in supporting overall ecosystem functioning.
Presenters
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Integrative Strategies for Remediating Allelopathy: Physicochemical and Biological Approaches
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Allelopathy is the release of allelochemicals by a plant into the environment and the effect it has on the growth or primary functions of other plants (Darmanti et al., 2015; Singh et al., 2021; The Morton Arboretum, 2023; Warren, et al., 2017). Shown by placing remediation agents (sediment/physical, biological, chemical) with extracted emodin and Rudbeckia hirta, the future of restoration for invasive allelopathic species can be facilitated.
Presenters
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Interactions between Midwest flora & fauna
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
I'll be displaying scientific illustrations I've created in the past few years that display the fascinating
relationships between plants and animals native to the Midwest.
Presenters
CH

Catherine Hu

Sedges Have Edges Art
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Invasional Meltdown of Plant Communities in Illinois Wetlands
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Illinois Wetlands are one of the state’s most important natural resources as they provide habitat for native species, protect communities from floods, and act as carbon sinks to mitigate the effects of pollution. For these wetlands to be effective, they must retain some degree of biotic resistance to combat challenges brought by climate change. Invasive species pose a great threat to the integrity of these ecosystems when they establish large populations that alter the composition and processes of the wetland. Management of aggressive invasive shrub species has proven to be difficult and expensive. This study uses long-term plant community data from the Critical Trends Assessment Program (CTAP) collected by the Illinois Natural History Survey to gain insight into how the establishment of an invasive species population potentially instigates secondary and tertiary invasion events in the successional sequence of wetlands. 
Presenters
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Native plants and pollinators in Chicagoland
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
This poster combines all the incredible digital illustrations Rika created for the Beginners Guide to Pollinators and Native Plants field guide (https://fieldguides.fieldmuseum.org/guides/guide/1755). The purpose of the guide is to introduce a general audience to relationships between native plants and pollinators through beautiful artwork
Presenters
RM

Rika Mizoguchi

Field Museum
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Orchid Appreciation Society
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
The Orchid Appreciation Society celebrates orchids of the Great Lakes region. This series includes five illustrations of Ram’s Head Lady’s Slipper, Yellow Lady’s Slipper, Show Lady’s Slipper, Pink Lady’s Slipper, and Tuberous Grasspink. Besides the Ram’s Head Lady’s Slipper, listed as threatened in Wisconsin and Michigan, the other orchids are endangered in Illinois. These orchids have complex relationships with mycorrhizal fungi. Fungal partnerships are needed for the orchid to grow in woodlands, bogs, swamps, and riverbeds. These rare and unique plants call the most fragile parts of the Great Lakes region home. Each piece is a 12” x 16” original scientific illustration of micronpen and watercolor. Follow @maggiewarrenstudio to see more of her work!
Presenters
avatar for Maggie Warren

Maggie Warren

Advance Inquiry Program, Brookfield Zoo
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Photograms of native plants
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
This is a showing of native NE Illinois plants presented as photograms in white and grays on stark black backgrounds. The images are of single plants, groups of plants and collages that show uncluttered portraits of and the character of them.
A photogram is a non camera image done in a darkroom. A plant is placed on photographic paper, exposed to light for a few seconds and put through a series of baths. A photo like image emerges in a few seconds. Light that penetrates the plant will show as grays, light that can not penetrate shows as white, and uncovered areas are black.
In its simplest form, it can be compared to a sun print.
Presenters
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Population health and demographics of semi-urban snake communities in Cook County, Illinois
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
This project investigates the health, demographics and movement patterns of colubrid snakes throughout Cook County, Illinois at an individual and population level. Snakes in Cook County are subject to a host of pressures including climate change, disease, habitat degradation, road mortality and illegal collection. Monitoring these populations becomes essential as ectotherms experience global decline due to these factors and others. We present data from one season of field work across 10 different sites in the Forest Preserves of Cook County, including baseline demographic data, radiotelemetry data and health data regarding prevalence of snake fungal disease (Ophidiomyces ophidiicola) within sampled populations.
Presenters
LH

Liz Hucker

Wildlife Biologist, Forest Preserves of Winnebago County
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Promoting bog conservation through botanical illustration
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
This poster will present a series of botanical illustrations highlighting the unique conservation value and beauty of bog ecosystems in the Great Lakes region. Created as a science communication project sparked by experiences with public outreach at the Chicago Botanic Garden and in the Hubbard Brooks Research Foundation Young Voices of Science Program, these illustrations focus on carnivorous plants and other often-overlooked native Midwestern bog species. With a BA in fine arts and an MS in plant biology in progress, I am passionate about using art to make science accessible and engage the public in conservation at all age and education levels.
Presenters
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Remote sensing to evaluate environmental damage in inaccessible areas: A Gaza wetland case study
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Remote sensing is a valuable tool for assessing changes in environmental integrity and makeup of a region. In this study, I use Wadi Gaza as an example of an inaccessible area in which vegetation degradation and land cover change can still be assessed using this technology. Wadi Gaza is one of the most important coastal wetlands in the Eastern Mediterranean, as an area rich in biodiversity and a stopover for many migrating birds from Africa and Eurasia. It is already experiencing severe environmental degradation due to pollution and other factors, and the recent military activity could be accelerating these effects. I will use vegetation indexes and landcover classification to assess changes in habitat at several points in the growing seasons of 2023 and 2024. The methods used in this study can be applied here in the Midwest in hard-to-reach areas or areas inaccessible due to natural disasters. Further, Wadi Gaza is an example of a wetland of cultural significance and its integrity carries importance for agricultural outcomes as well as human health. Keeping these wider impacts in mind is an essential part of decision-making for environmental rehabilitation and conservation, both in the Midwest and beyond.


Presenters
avatar for Laura Shihadah

Laura Shihadah

Graduate Student, University of Illinois
Laura (she/her) is currently in her final semester of an online master's degree in Natural Resources and Environmental Science through the University of Illinois. By day she works full-time at the genomic sequencing core at Northwestern University. Her research interests span a wide... Read More →
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Seasonal Use of DuPage County Savanna Preserves by Red-Headed Woodpeckers
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Woodpeckers are keystone species of suburban Chicago, and many are year-round residents. The red-headed woodpecker, a savanna specialist, has declined by 90% in the past 50 years across the Midwest, and tends to be a facultative migrant. According to citizen science data (eBird) red-headed woodpeckers are often found in DuPage County in both summer and wintertime, however, these data fail to show how abundance changes throughout the seasons. This study uses monthly surveys across DuPage County savannas to measure the abundance of red-headed woodpeckers throughout the migratory season. This project will inform preserve management to protect critical seasonal habitats in the suburban Chicago region.
Presenters
DR

Derek Rosenberger

Associate Professor of Conservation Biology, Wheaton College
Dr. Derek Rosenberger is a Conservation Biologist interested primarily in biodiversity and invasive species in endangered ecosystems. He is particularly interested in insect and avian species in prairies and savannas of the Midwest.
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Seasonal Variations in Urban Wetlands
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
My poster will focus on the effect of seasonal variations on both productivity and diversity of urban wetland algae communities around Chicago. To determine how seasonal variations affect algae productivity, the dissolved oxygen of samples from five urban wetlands were measured during the spring and fall to determine the gross primary productivity, respiration, and net primary productivity of each community. Then, to determine how seasonal variations affect algae diversity, samples from the two urban wetlands with the highest productivity were collected during the spring and fall to determine the species evenness, species richness, and shannon-wiener index value of each community.
Presenters
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Seeing the whole pitcher: understanding the relationship between the purple pitcher plant and its microbial communities
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Sarracenia purpurea, a native Midwest carnivorous plant, is notable for its rosette of wide pitcher leaves filled with rainwater that host a rich community of microbes who feed on insects trapped by the plant. This poster will present in-progress results from a graduate research project investigating the impact of the microbial communities inside S. purpurea’s pitchers on the plant's physiological success. An experiment at the Chicago Botanic Garden will measure S. purpurea’s ability to use nutrients from the prey it captures when greenhouse-grown pitchers are inoculated with wild-collected microbial communities of varying diversity, using rate of photosynthesis and chlorophyll fluorescence as response variables.
Presenters
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Springtails: The Ancient Key to Boosting Global Biodiversity
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Presenting novel research around ecosystem restoration and springtail populations affecting soil biodiversity, incorporating data from 4 countries and 8 forests. Springtails are thought to be decomposers, however this research hints at them being a keystone species. Due to native springtail species being located on every continent of Earth, it may be viable to introduce springtail populations into forests as a form of restoration, seeking to artificially boost biodiversity while avoiding the risk of introducing invasive species and disrupting the food web.
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Stewardship and Creating
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
This presentation explores the association between stewardship and creating. Regular stewardship provides a safe place to be curious and to observe. For certain groups of people, this can fuel art practices such as journaling. These outlets can be helpful to investigate, document and reflect.  Reflection is especially important for immigrants and people of color who historically may not have the same access or connection to the land. This presentation will engage the audience through personal stories, showcase artwork, highlight the importance of inclusivity through one volunteer’s journey of stewardship and how creativity cemented her relationship with the land.
Presenters
avatar for Sima Shah

Sima Shah

Traditional artist and printmaker, Kiwi versus the Paintbrush
I am a traditional illustrator, printmaker and nature journalist who cares deeply about social justice and land conservation. I have my certificate in traditional botanical arts from the Chicago Botanic Garden. The last several years I have been illustrating the plants in Illinois... Read More →
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Supporting Monarch Population Growth in an Urban Environment
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
The UIC Heritage Garden seeks to connect horticulture with environmental sustainability, cultural diversity, and social justice. The Heritage Garden hosts a year-round undergraduate internship program where students engage in research, including a project that explores how monarch butterflies utilize the garden’s milkweed plants and other floral resources. This poster will highlight the success of these efforts by comparing surveys of monarch eggs and larvae in six different satellite garden sites with different species of milkweeds and different levels of aphid infestation. Our findings provide insights and guidance for supporting monarch conservation in a dense urban environment such as Chicago.
Presenters
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

The Effect of Urban Native Landscaping on Species Abundance, Richness, and Diversity in Comparison to Urban Ornamental Landscaping
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
This study looks at how human managed areas can affect wildlife biodiversity. A location with native landscaping will be compared to a location with ornamental landscaping in terms of species abundance, richness, and diversity. It is anticipated that in the area with native landscaping, there will be a higher level of biodiversity due to the impact native plants have on the trophic levels. With the idea of the mesopredator release hypothesis, it is believed that areas with more native plants will have more quaternary consumers which will help in reducing tertiary consumers and increasing primary and secondary consumers.
Presenters
avatar for Claudia Morrison

Claudia Morrison

Conservation and Experiential Programming Assistant, Forest Preserves of Cook County
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

The effect of urbanization intensity on bumblebee-plant network structure and floral resource topological roles
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Terrestrial ecosystem functioning is reliant on animal pollinators to facilitate plant reproduction, though these pollination services face threats due to declining pollinator populations. Bumblebees, key pollinators for many plants, are affected by landscape fragmentation and homogenization, impacting their distribution, abundance, and dietary breadth. Our study (2022–2024) examines bumblebee-plant networks across northern Illinois, focusing on urbanization's influence on bumblebee biodiversity. Preliminary results reveal that bumblebee diets and plant composition differ across urbanization levels, with high-developed sites showing lower interaction complexity. Modularity analysis highlights key plant species supporting bumblebee networks, with urbanization explaining 48% of dietary variation, indicating vulnerability in highly developed areas.
Presenters
KC

K.C. Carter

Pollinator Ecologist, Illinois Natural History Survey
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

The effects of salinity levels on Invasive plant species
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
The spread of invasive plant species on land has increased in recent years. Maintaining a balanced ecosystem where native species can thrive is crucial for preserving biodiversity. Invasive terrestrial plant species disrupt native environments by altering nutrient cycles, outcompeting native plants for resources, and contributing to habitat destruction. Analyzing the effects of salinity levels offers insights into the tolerance of communities experiencing invasion. Monitoring soil salinity can also provide opportunities for preventative measures against the introduction of invasive species, allowing for the implementation of management strategies to prevent their establishment and protect native ecosystems.
Presenters
avatar for Gabriela Nunez-Mir

Gabriela Nunez-Mir

Assistant Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

The Environmental Beauty of the Calumet Region
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Presenters
BL

Blake Lenoir

Project Onward
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

The How to: Creating a BIPOC Conservation based Fellowship (FUEGO: Fellows United for Conservation, Growth, and Opportunity)
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
The FUEGO Fellowship: Fellows United for Environment, Growth, and Opportunity was created to address how environmental and conservation movements can incorporate diverse environmental narratives and practices, and how these narratives are manifested in different cultures.

As a result, the fellowship focus is to (1)Address Common Barriers: reducing barriers to entry by underrepresented groups (2)Expand Professional Networks: providing scholarships to attend conferences and support networking events (3)Build a Sense of Belonging: creating a cohort that encourages self-care and community building and (4) Strengthen Career Readiness: providing monthly skill-share hybrid workshops and webinars.

We will share our successes, challenges, and fellow trajectory.
Presenters
YW

YLANDA WILHITE

Senior Partnership Coordinator, The Field Museum of Natural History
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

The impact of competition with pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata) and invasive cattail (Typha × glauca) on the growth of northern wild rice (Zizania palustris)
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Northern wild rice (Zizania palustris; manoomin in Anishinaabemowin; ZP) is an annual emergent macrophyte of cultural and economic significance to many North American indigenous tribal nations. Its historic range extended throughout the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States, but its present extent is much smaller due to habitat loss, changes in hydrology, and climate change. ZP often grows in competition with other wetland plants whose niches overlap with its own. In the presence of competitors, ZP germination, growth, survival rate, and/or seed yield may be significantly reduced. Most ZP competitors are perennial plants with established rhizomes, which persist in the sediment, granting a head-start on growth each year. This mesocosm experiment investigated how competition with hybrid cattail (Typha x glauca) and pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata) – dominant invasive and native rhizomatous species, respectively – impacted ZP growth.
Presenters
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

The influence of canopy loss on understory plant invasions across the eastern United States
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
In temperate deciduous forests, overstory structure modulates light availability to the understory. Thus, the structure and diversity of the understory is dependent on overstory canopy structure. In the eastern US, understory species coevolved to withstand light scarcity due to overstory structure. However, the ability of exotic plants that do not share a natural history with eastern US understories to cope with canopy loss in their novel ranges is not well understood. Preliminary analyses demonstrate that canopy loss increases exotic richness and evenness in forest understories, suggesting that canopy loss is a possible driver of understory invasions in the eastern US.
Presenters
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

The Power of Adaptive Management: Floristic Quality Trends at Barrington Greenways Initiative Sites
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Using a qualitative rapid assessment tool combined with vegetation transects, we've developed a robust adaptive management system for 36 managed areas. This system allows us to identify priority management needs, adjust specific management strategies, follow up on the success of these strategies, and measure overall floristic quality and condition over time.
Presenters
avatar for Karen Glennemeier

Karen Glennemeier

President and Senior Ecologist, Habitat Research LLC
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Tiny Remnants
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Tiny Remnants
2024
Acrylic on cradled panels
16"w x 20"h x 9 panels
https://www.allisonhausladen.com/work/tiny-remnants
You can see a photo of how the paintings will be hung if you scroll down here.

The paintings in “Tiny Remnants” are all inspired by interactions between plants and creatures I saw in my yard since removing invasives four years ago, giving remnants room to grow, and restoring the land into a native habitat garden and food forest.

“Remnants” are lands unaltered by people. From 1820 to 1900, American colonizers converted almost all of Illinois’ 22 million acres of prairie into farmland. Now, there are only 0.01% of prairie remnants left in our “prairie state.”

Tiny remnants remind us of what was here before and hint at what we’re supposed to do to regain balance and heal our lands. Those few remaining remnants must stay protected, and then from that starting point, we can continue to restore already altered lands—including our own yards. In such a fragmented world, a native plant itself becomes a remnant of the past, capable of teaching us about the native life that depends on it.
Build and protect a native ecosystem around you, and watch life unfold.


Silent Prairie
2024
Acrylic on canvas
24"w x 36" h
https://www.allisonhausladen.com/work/silent-prairie

The prairie went silent late last summer, like the silent spring Rachel Carson reported DDT caused. The township’s mosquito-sprayers market a safe application, but my prairie said otherwise. Let’s all pay attention and ask tough questions. Let’s become citizen scientists, learn, opt-out, and save our insects to save our birds — for birds need insects to eat in the spring and summer and insects have a place in this world, too.

American Picturesque - View of the Driftless Area from Blue Mound
2024
Acrylic on canvas
16"w x 20"h
https://www.allisonhausladen.com/work/american-picturesque-blue-mound

Like walking into a renaissance painting, the Driftless Area unfolds from southern Wisconsin’s highest point. This is the part of Wisconsin the glaciers missed 10,000 years ago, so it lacks glacial drifts—deposits of rock, gravel, and silt—and maintains its hills and valleys, unlike the plains surrounding it. Through conservation, we see the beauty of an early American wilderness, albeit sans the large mammals that inhabited it before European colonization.





Presenters
avatar for Allison Hausladen

Allison Hausladen

Allison Hausladen is a painter based in Grayslake, IL. Through her art, she seeks to capture the feeling of a moment, a place, to better remember it. Increasingly, she is focusing on environmental themes, to inspire others to welcome and protect nature around them.
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Unearthed: Art and Transformation
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
"Unearthed" is an art series that delves into the relationship between humanity and soil, via a simple yet powerful process: Paper is buried in soil in strategic locations, including Chicago parks that have been transformed from industrial dumping grounds to naturalized parks. The elements, time, and earth's organisms worked together to decompose the paper, leaving behind textured canvasses of unexpected beauty, which are then transformed to final works of art.
Presenters
avatar for Pamela Sloan

Pamela Sloan

artist, pamsloanart
Artist, Endangered Species . www.pamelasloan.com
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Urban Salt Marshes, Novel Ecosystem
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
This project aims to find the effects of salt application
on roadways and change in biodiversity due to the increased presence of salt-tolerant plants along roadways. This ultimately leads to the creation of salt marshes in freshwater ecosystems.
Presenters
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

5:00pm CST

Using LiDAR as a method to detecting invasive shrubs in southern Illinois
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
My poster is about my master's research project on testing out a method for detecting invasive shrub species in southern Illinois, in hopes that this method can be applied elsewhere and be a benefit for conservation/restoration work in identifying high areas of invasive shrub species.
Presenters
Saturday March 1, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34