Illinois River Biological Station

"It’s unique that a town the size of Havana, about 3,000 residents, would have two biological research facilities of the University of Illinois conducting this cutting-edge, world-class research of international significance." - A Burgett #SmallTownSpark ilhumanities.org/news/possibili…

Come work with us! IRBS is looking for seasonal technicians to help with our upcoming field season! Check our website frequently as new positions will be posted in the coming weeks! ➡️ …s-river-bio-station.inhs.illinois.edu/about/employme…

(2/2) Nocturnal & light sensitive but blind to red light, opossum shrimp are retrieved from 160-1300ft depths using vertical tow nets retrieved at 1.5ft/s. Each tow can take anywhere from 5-30 minutes. For more details ➡️ cals.cornell.edu/news/2023/10/m… #ManuscriptMonday

In this #JGLR paper, IRBS staff Toby Holda and colleagues study drivers of opossum shrimp abundance, important to the #GreatLakes food web. This and ongoing @CBFS_Shackelton research will be used in a new ecosystem indicator for the Great Lakes! doi.org/10.1016/j.jglr… (1/2)

In this 10-day effort, 752K+lbs of silver carp were removed! The few native fish captured were returned to the river unharmed. These carp will be mostly turned into fertilizer, but you can find @ChooseCopi on the shelves at select grocers and restaurants. They're delicious!

Early winter is usually the best time of year for mass-removal efforts, as the silver carp have schooled up and the water temp is low enough to both reduce their natural jumping behavior and keep dissolved oxygen levels high enough for fish to survive the weeks long effort.

Commercial fishers, @INHSillinois & @IllinoisDNR spent the past 2 weeks with a monumental effort in the Starved Rock pool of the Illinois River, removing more than 3/4 of a MILLION pounds of invasive silver carp!

“Fine-scale accuracies, fast acquisition speeds and the ability to gather real-time data make this a promising tool and is one of the first uses of GPS technology to track fish movement in a riverine system." doi.org/10.1002/2688-8… #ManuscriptMonday

This suggests that silver carp likely have little benefit as a prey resource for largemouth bass and other similar predatory fish, and that predatory fish themselves have little impact at controlling silver carp populations. (3of 3) #ManuscriptMonday

In this open access article, IRBS authors and partners investigated the size relationship between largemouth bass (LMBS) and the silver carp (SVCP) they consumed. LMBS ranged in size from approximately 4-10 inches, while their SVCP prey ranged in size from 1-4 inches. (1 of 3)

Last week we completed our Fall seasonally intensive water quality monitoring event. We took out our airboat again to access a couple sites on the lower Sangamon River and explored the lower stretches of the Treadway Lake complex. #UMRR #waterquality #waterqualitymonitoring

Our partners at the Big Rivers and Wetlands field station in Cape Girardeau, MO are looking for a water quality specialist to be a part of their Long-Term Resource Monitoring team! Apply by November 7! #waterquality #UMRR jobs.mdc.mo.gov//job-invite/26…

A few cool catches from fish sampling the last couple weeks on the La Grange Reach of the Illinois River. #fishfriday #sportfish #UMRR

Over the next 2 weeks we're out conducting our Fall seasonally intensive water quality monitoring event. First stop was one of our shallow backwaters in our airboat! #WaterWednesday #waterqualitymonitoring #UMRR

In this recent open-access article, IRBS staff and co-authors document 4 new collections of Spotted Bass in their non-native range on the Upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers. #ManuscriptMonday onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ec…

A commercial netting crew we work with to reduce invasive carp populations in the upper Illinois River caught an absolute GIANT this week near Morris IL. This 109lb carp was caught a day after the same crew caught a 90lb fish in the same location.

Happy #WorldTurtleDay from the large river turtles of Illinois!