Wild Things 2025

Fire-dependent oak woodlands and savannas were Illinois' most common wooded ecosystems, yet today are globally imperiled. Restoring them is a conservation priority, but few or no very high-quality examples that could guide restoration exist. Thus, we are still in the early stages of understanding models and goals - and how to reach them. This talk examines topics such as fire frequency, ecosystem structure, and herb layer composition through a series of comparative on-the-ground studies, historical analyses, and observations of one of the region's longest-running oak ecosystem restorations in 300 acres of Somme Woods and Prairie Grove.

Plant migration is happening every year as propagules disperse to suitable habitat. Range expansions northward for native plants are predicted as regional average temperatures increase due to anthropogenic global warming. This presentation will discuss contemporary ecoregion boundaries of several plant species of interest and how climate change may be allowing a trend of increased native plant migration. Range maps, habitat characteristics, autecology, and recent migration will be discussed.

The monarch butterfly is probably the most famous insect specialist (the caterpillars feed only on milkweed), but did you know that many native bees are also specialists? Female native bee specialists or oligoleges, collect pollen from a narrow range of native plants; this could mean just one plant genus or species, or many genera that belong to one plant family. Heather will highlight many examples of native plant-bee specializations, the overlapping habitat requirements of the bees and plants, and that most of these specialists and their host plants occur in fire-dependent ecosystems. The presentation will also include the threats to specialists such as habitat loss and climate change.

Julianne Mason, Ecological Management Supervisor for the Forest Preserve District of Will County, will recount the differing trajectories of two thistle-infested prairie restorations, where opposite thistle-management strategies were used. In conjunction with the results of a soil herbicide residual experiment, she makes the case that thistles in natural areas are a symptom of a problem – usually, a lack of enough native perennials – and why applying herbicide to kill thistles may be counterproductive. Juli has been professionally doing prairie and wetland restorations for the past 25 years, and like many of you, her previous self from >5 years ago would have been skeptical of this presentation’s contents and take-home message. However, it’s humbling and exciting at the same time to be reminded of the complexity of our natural systems, and to continue to learn and grow as restoration practitioners and natural resource managers.

To restore oak savannas, ecosystem stewards and managers cut invasive brush and thin trees, creating woody debris brush piles that are subsequently burned. With approximately 5,000 brush piles built and burned annually in the Chicago region, the ecological restoration community is concerned about the effects of burn scars on regional biodiversity and interested in developing strategies for minimizing these impacts. In response, we established a series of studies to 1) characterize short- and long-term effects of brush pile burns on plant and soil biodiversity; 2) identify the management choices that minimize or maximize these effects; and 3) evaluate post-burn strategies for mitigating brush pile burning effects on biodiversity. In this session, we will discuss current findings from a large-scale survey, a chronosequence study, and a restoration treatment experiment.

Dr. Miller will discuss the large variety of fungi that occur throughout Illinois.  The major groups of macrofungi will be presented including several edible and poisonous mushrooms.