Voted as the state amphibian in 2005, the eastern tiger salamander is one of 20 species of salamanders found throughout Illinois. As the largest land dwelling salamander in North America, eastern tiger salamanders range in size from 6 to 13 inches. In the wild, salamanders have lived to be 16 years old. Not only are they the largest, but they also have the greatest range of all salamanders, spreading from southeastern Alaska, across the width of the United States and all the way down to the Mexican Plateau. Forests, grasslands, or mashes are common places to find them.
But you might have to look hard, because these salamanders hide beneath rocks and stumps, and burrows up to two feet deep. Sometimes referred to as a mole salamander, this nocturnal species spends the majority of its life in cool, dark places, preferring to dig its own burrows to escape warm temperatures. The best time to see salamanders out in the open is after a rain, at night, or during mating season.
The mating season for tiger salamanders begins in late winter or early spring when the ground begins to thaw. Thawing creates temporary ponds of water, where salamanders migrate to mate. One to two days after courtship, females lay up to 1,000 jelly-like eggs on twigs, leaves, or grass on the bottom of the pond. After hatching, the larvae stay in the pond until two to five months old. Once fully grown, eastern tiger salamanders begin to show the unique markings that earned them their name. The most common marking combination is a black background spotted by yellow or gold. Other possibilities are barred, which have vertical yellow stripes running down the body, as well as blotched, which have irregular markings all around their back.
Although their black and yellow markings act as a warning sign to potential predators, not all animals are scared away so easily. Owls, snakes, badgers, and bobcats are common predators of full-grown salamanders while aquatic insects, and snakes eat the larvae. To further aid in defense against threats, salamanders curl their bodies, close their eyes, and wave their tail high above their lowered head. A sticky, poisonous secretion is then released from their skin, often times flung by the salamander’s tail onto the predator’s face. If done effectively, the predator will retreat—at the minimum—with a burning sensation in its eyes and nose.
Skin plays an essential role in every tiger salamander’s survival. Not only does skin ward off predators by secreting poisons, it is also the site of respiration. To ensure that oxygen and carbon dioxide can be exchanged, mucus is secreted by glands to keep the skin moist. Glands also release chemicals that coordinate mating behavior. Because the skin is such an important organ for salamanders, it is very sensitive to environmental changes. Acid rain, for example, has been known to kill them. After repeated contact from the rain, the high acidity damages the outer skin tissue, making it impossible for the salamander to breathe.
Other environmental changes that cause problems for salamanders include habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation. Altering the land by channelizing streams, draining wetlands, and clearing forests have added to the reduction of habitat. Even removing temporary ponds causes a reduction in the population by destroying a breeding site or by killing the larvae, depending on the time of year.
In Illinois specifically, the majority of species have a gilled, aquatic, or larval stage when high quality water sources are required. Ensuring that salamanders have access to high quality land and water, large enough to sustain a diverse population, is essential to the survival of this amphibian.
In turn, tiger salamanders eat slugs, worms, snails, and insects while their larvae eat small crustaceans, insect larvae, and tadpoles.
When I started working at the Illinois Water Resources Center in May, I had no idea what kind of summer I had signed up for. Needless to say, I hit the ground running. On my third day, we traveled to Chicago for an overnight meeting with Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant and other state agencies. We discussed current issues and future plans and introduced new employees and interns, like myself. In an unfamiliar place with new people and environmental issues new to me, I was welcomed warmly and always encouraged to express my thoughts and opinions.
Next came a rainy Memorial Day, and with a newfound perspective of water’s role, I traveled across the state to Quincy, Illinois to visit my grandmother. Without having to do much searching, water’s effects were all around me during the trip—the green grass, beautiful flowers, wildlife, woods, and bluffs near the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. Feeling refreshed, week two of my internship began, and I started diligently planning and working on the blog for the summer. I researched and wrote my first blog post on the Fox River in northern Illinois, which seemed appropriate given my recent trip to Chicago. I also went to several video shoots for various outreach projects.
I later attended an Agriculture Water Quality Partnership Forum subgroup meeting in Springfield, as well as the Nutrient Management Council meeting in Champaign. The Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy, something I studied in my agriculture classes, was put into action as the different agencies and organizations worked together. In contrast, I then had the privilege of interviewing my dad about what conservation practices he implements on our family farm. It was amazing to not only explore these issues first-hand, but to apply and build upon concepts I previously studied.
As someone with a strong agricultural and farm background, I realize the importance of sustaining land, wildlife, and, of course, the human population. As increasingly more people move to urban environments and are further removed from agriculture, education will only continue to be more important. I cannot wait to start my senior year at Illinois State University, apply to graduate schools, and pursue a career in natural resources, environmental, and agriculture education. I am extremely grateful for the opportunities the Illinois Water Resources Center has given me and, even more so, the wonderful people I am fortunate to have worked with.
Overall, the passion my co-workers have for water related issues is truly inspiring. The wealth of knowledge and variety of personal and educational experiences creates a very interesting dynamic. I am leaving better versed on nutrient issues, stormwater, green infrastructure, and how all agencies must collaborate to solve problems. Through teaching an educational STEM camp, interviewing farmers, attending meetings, video shoots, and tweeting, I became a better agricultural communicator. Blogging regularly also made me a stronger writer, researcher, and critical thinker. In reality, there is no cut-and-dry answer or formula to solve all environmental issues. It is something we all must work together and compromise on in order to improve and sustain water resources and all life that depends on it. No matter where you live, water is something not to take for granted, but to embrace. After all, we would not be here without it.
AgriNews covers topics that affect local farm families and their businesses in Illinois and Indiana. Some of those topics include: crop and livestock management, agribusiness and new products, market information and national and state political issues.
Illinois Valley Community College (IVCC) and University of Illinois Extension are partnering to develop a soil research program on IVCC farmland that will explore issues including reducing nitrogen loss on cropland.
Cue the theme to “Jaws”: the alligator gar may be coming to a river or stream nearby.
Believed to have been extinct, the 6 foot, 125 pound alligator gar, a native of Illinois, is being restocked in lakes around the state. Not to worry, because of the gar’s small mouth, it doesn’t feed on large fish.
For my next Better Know a River interview, I came back to east-central Illinois to a waterway I had the privilege of exploring as a child. The Embarras, pronounced, “em-brah,” gets its name from the term French explorers used for obstacles or blockages that made the river difficult to travel. Let’s jump into the interview.
Where are you located?
I begin in southern Champaign-Urbana, contributing to the retention ponds near the intersection of Route 45 and Windsor Road, the creek near Veterinary Medicine on the south side of the University of Illinois, and Meadowbrook Park. From Champaign, I flow south through Clark, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, and Douglas counties. Next is Jasper county, where I turn eastwardly to finish my route through Lawrence and Richland counties. In total, I flow 195 miles until meeting the Wabash River near Lawrenceville. From the Champaign area all the way to Lawrenceville, my watershed is considered a Resource Rich Area.
What does that mean?
Although small portions of my river have been altered and channelized, almost 113 miles of my river are designated as biologically significant. These 113 miles have a diversity of species and habitats, such as sandbars, gravel bars, raceways, riffles, and silt-bottomed pools. Spotted bass, long-eared sunfish, slenderhead and dusky darters, bluntnose and silverjaw minnows, and shiners can regularly be spotted in my waters.
Farmland occupies well over the majority of my surrounding acres, but 15 percent of my area is wooded. State Parks, including Walnut Point in Oakland, Fox Ridge in Charleston, and Sam Parr in Newton provide recreation for outdoor enthusiasts and habitat for many organisms. Several state and privately owned conservation areas, preserves, and sanctuaries can also be found along my watershed. These sites include marshes, prairies, bottomland forests, old growth forests, and grasslands.
What kind of animals can be found in these preserved sites?
One of my favorite birds: the prairie chicken. But sadly, it’s rare to spot one.
The species reached its peak of 14 million in Illinois during the nineteenth century. In the 1860s, birds were harvested by the hundreds of thousands and shipped to the east coast for consumption. Their numbers started to drop after the turn of the century thanks to poor nesting conditions brought about by the steel plow, floods, and droughts. Other species, including the ring-necked pheasant, further threaten their existence. A native of Asia, these pheasants parasitize the chicken’s nest with their own eggs, causing the hen to abandon the nest and leave her eggs to die. Efforts to increase the population, including transporting birds from Kansas and designating lands as sanctuaries, have been mostly unsuccessful. In 2014, less than 100 birds were counted in Jasper and Marion counties.
My older sister, Amanda, and I pose by where our family’s woodland acres meet the Embarras river in Oakland, Illinois during the fall of 2002. Photo by: Lynn Rice.
Who has called your watershed home over the years?
My area was once home to the Illinois and Piankashaw tribes until the Kickapoo pushed both out in the late 1600s. Later, European settlers chose to live near me because of the abundant natural resources. These resources, as well as livestock and manufactured materials, were transported on flatboats down to the Wabash, Ohio, and Mississippi rivers, occasionally reaching the Gulf of Mexico. Former president Abraham Lincoln even has roots to my area.
Did he live near you?
No, but his father and stepmother, Thomas, and Sara Bush Lincoln, did. They moved to a farm south of Charleston in Lerna in 1837. Before leaving for the White House on January 31, 1861, Lincoln visited his family at the Reuben Moore, and Matilda Hall house, his stepsister’s nearby homestead, to say goodbye .
Today, the Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site is a living history museum where visitors watch and take part in real farm work characteristic of the period. Replicas of the Lincoln and Moore farmsteads were built at their original locations in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The Stephen Sargent farm is also on the site to contrast the older agriculture methods of the Lincoln’s, and the more modern practices of Sargent. Thomas Lincoln and Sarah Bush Lincoln are buried one mile west of their homestead in Shiloh Cemetery.
You have a long history in east-central Illinois! Do area residents still visit you?
Yes! I regularly see local and distant residents of all ages in my parts. Farmers tending to their crops, and livestock grazing in pastures keep me company on almost a daily basis. Fishermen, and hunters of all skill levels also come when the weather and season permits. Families enjoy picnicking, hiking, and camping in nearby state parks. Occasionally, I even get kayakers or canoers who enjoy my waters. Overall, I have enjoyed my time flowing through east-central Illinois, and hope to remain an excellent habitat for plants, and animals for many years to come.
Completing a vast journey across their native homeland of North America, monarchs may travel up to 3,000 miles in their lifetime. From their time as a larva, chrysalis, caterpillar, and finally, butterfly, these unique insects are always on the move. Their wide-ranging habitat and vibrant orange, and black coloration makes monarchs one of the most well-known butterflies in North America.
A monarch’s life cycle begins as an egg on a milkweed leaf, a plant toxic to other birds and insects. Once the egg hatches, the larva eats the egg and then begins eating up to sixteen inches of milkweed leaves. When large enough, they create a silk button and begin to form a chrysalis. The caterpillar cells rearrange themselves inside of the chrysalis until the conditions are right for the skin to shed, and become a beautiful monarch butterfly. This metamorphosis process takes only about two weeks.
Once they emerge from their chrysalis, monarch’s diets turn to nectar. To help them locate milkweed, and other nectar plants, monarchs have chemoreceptors that allow them to sense these plants from a far distance. They rely heavily on plants that bloom all year-round so they can access the nectar wherever they are. Some examples of flowers you can plant include cone flowers, black eyed Susans, golden rods, or blazing star.
Most monarchs live for only eight weeks and limit their travel to a single region, but the life expectancy of the fourth generation born each year is much longer. That batch of butterflies will live for eight months, traveling to warmer climates when the weather gets colder. Those residing east of the Rocky Mountains overwinter in Mexico, while Western monarchs spend the colder months in California.
Although not fully understood by scientists, fourth generation monarchs are able to extend their lives by going into what’s called reproductive diapause, meaning they do not reproduce until after they overwinter and travel north for spring.
Regardless of what generation they fall under, monarch populations are on the decline thanks to early freezing, predation, diseases, and a decrease in milkweed plantings—something often attributed to negative public perception of the plant. Their population spiked in 1996 and steadily fell until reaching record lows in 2013. Fortunately, the numbers have begun to rebound and 2016 looks to be a continuation of that upward trend.
For more general information on monarchs, milkweed, and nectar plants, visit monarchwatch.org.
For my second Better Know a River interview, I chatted with a river located in west-central Illinois: La Moine River. There’s a lot to talk about, so let’s jump straight into the interview.
Where in western Illinois are you located?
I am a tributary of the Illinois River, flowing 124 miles south through seven counties until I meet the Illinois at the junction of Cass, Schuyler, and Brown County. My rugged, irregular course earned me my one of my previous names: Crooked Creek.
What other names have you had?
I’m not sure if you’re familiar with my region, but it’s rich in natural resources. Argyle Lake State Park, Weinberg-King State Park, and Anderson Lake are all near me. The area is so beautiful that for a time I was referred to as Eden.
The name that stuck, obviously, was La Moine. It’s of French origin and translates to River of the Monk. The history behind this name is debated to this day. One possibility is that La Moine is an abbreviation of Moingonas, a Native American tribe who inhabited the area. The second possibility, is that after a man was found living alone on the banks of my river when the Sacs and Fox tribes settled in the area, I was referred to as as Ke-ish-shaw-qua’s sepp, the river of the man who lives alone. That translates to La Riviere des Moines in French, which was later shortened to La Moine. Whether my name is connected to the Des Moines River in Iowa also remains a mystery.
Sounds like you have been home to many societies.
Yes. In fact, people have lived in my basin for more than 10,000 years, and more than 3,000 archaeological sites were found leading up to the new century.
Was it the natural resources that drove them to you?
Well, it’s at least why they stayed.
During the mid-1800s, many natural resource industries were booming in the La Moine basin. Settlers used the timber from my forests for barrels. At one point, Schuyler County had around 1,500 men employed just for barrel construction. After the mussel beds of the Mississippi were depleted, “clamming” moved towards the Illinois River. Made from the shell of mussels, buttons were in high demand before World War I until Japan started selling them for much cheaper than the US. And coal was so rich in my area that it could easily be dug up with a shovel, which sparked the local mining industry. From the start of the coal mining boom through 1996, almost 255 million tons of coal were produced from mines in McDonough, Schuyler, and Brown counties alone.
One unusual resource mined from my basin was clay. Clay deposits were mined for around fifty years to make jugs, field tiles, bricks, and other pottery products. The industry thrived for half a century, and “Jug Towns” such as Ripley became well known. Eighteen potteries once existed, and a particularly large one in Colchester—Moses King’s Brick and Tile Works—produced 140,000 bricks a week. Unfortunately, products could only be shipped along me in the spring, when the water level was high enough. Overtime, pottery factories near railroads or more navigable bodies of water took over the industry.
As exciting as that time was, I’m sad to say it took a toll. Today, only 85 of the nearly 1.2 million acres within my basin still have habitats considered undegraded. No original forests remain except for about 39 acres.
But despite those ecosystem changes, lots of plants and animals are still found in your waters and banks.
Yes! Over 446 mammals, amphibians, reptiles, snakes, and other aquatic species live in habitats around me. Eighty-six percent of Illinois bird species are found in my basin. Less common birds, such as Cooper’s hawk, broad-winged hawk, and Acadian flycatcher, can even be spotted in my woods. Rare species of mammals can also be found in small quantities including the federally endangered Indiana bat, bobcats, and the once-threatened river otter.
But the fragmented nature of my forest, wetland, prairie, and bluff habitats causes problems for some, especially birds that have to hunt in areas far away from their nests. There are high rates of nest predation, and even brood parasitism.
How does your overall future look?
I am very optimistic about my future. Animals, such as the river otter, were reintroduced in 1997 and have established themselves again. Native shortgrass will be planted on thirteen acres to expand bird breeding habitats. Fifty acres of bottomland forest and uplands have been placed in permanent easement, while erosion weakened streambanks are beginning to be stabilized. Argyle Hollow Barrens Nature Preserve within Argyle Lake State Park contains a unique plant community including prairie plants, stunted open-growth trees, and scattered shrubs growing on thin soil over bedrock. While the land will never be quite as it was before settlement, the steps people are taking to improve my basin drastically improve my long-term sustainability.
For more information on the La Moine river basin visit www.dnr.illinois.gov/publications/Documents/00000531.pdf
