Crow Island Bioblitz
By Nick Henner and Will Frohling
Crow Island Woodland Trail
9/22/15
Sunny 68°F
Plants over grew trail. There were many different plants and animals. It is a very biodiverse.
Trees
We found about 5 trees like these:
A very tall tree
Soaks up most of the sunlight and provides shade and shelter for other organisms.
Dead ash trees
Emerald Ashboarers have killed these ash trees. They also are homes for Hairy Woodpeckers.
A 15ft tall tree
Lots of ivy is growing all over this tree.
Common plants along the woodland trail
Choke Berry
There were many choke berry plants along the trail.
Burrs
Burrs were a little less common than the choke berries. However they came in large clumps.
Black eyed Susan's
Always in the sun, the Black eyed Susan's were plentiful along the trail.
Touch me not
The most common flower, yet there are not as many flowers per plant.
White Snakeroot
White Snakeroots were one of the most common flowers, coming in big clumps.
Purple Aster
The Purple Aster was one of the rarest plants to find.
A selection of animals along the woodland trail
Reticulated Netwinged Bettle
Many animals were hard to find, many hidden by plants. This is one of the few pictures of animals we got.
Bee
Bees were everywhere along the woodland trail.
A selection of animal evidence
A dead tree segment
This is where smaller insects would live.
Dead Ash Trees
Hairy Woodpeckers find these dead trees their home.
Were species evenly distributed across the site or did you find greater variety in particular areas? If there were distribution differences, where did you find the greatest diversity? Explain.
The species were fairly evenly distributed across the site. However most of the species were in clumps. There would be a clump of purple aster then a clump of White Snakeroot.
What factors might have affected the number of species we found? What kinds of organisms have we probably missed?
The area in which we looked for species definitely affected the number of species we found. We missed most of the animals in the woods as we only found a few.
Did you find any species native to Illinois? Any nonnative species? Any invasive species?
Yes, all of the species we found are native to Illinois. None of the species we found were invasive.
What do we think could be done to increase the biodiversity of the Crow Island Woods?
We think if humans didn't burn portions of the woods or if humans didn't walk the woods the biodiversity would increase.