Status revision and update for Illinois' freshwater mussel Species in Greatest Need of Conservation

unpublishednot peer reviewe

Modeling historic distributions of Illinois’s freshwater mussels using Maximum Entropy

A component of State Wildlife Grant T-82-R-1 (Defining expectations for mussel communities in Illinois wadeable streams) is to evaluate species’ abundance, distribution, habitat requirements, ecological role and amount of information available regarding the species for all mussel Species in Greatest Need of Conservation (SGNC) in Illinois. This information will be used to update the freshwater mussel SGNC accounts included in the Illinois Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Plan developed in 2005. This document updates Appendix I and II and Actions for the Streams Campaign for mussel SGNC to include in the 2015 revised Illinois Comprehensive Wildlife Action Plan. Additionally, distribution maps and host fish information for mussel SGNC and other species found currently or historically in Illinois are included.Illinois Department of Natural Resources, State Wildlife Grant/Project Number (T-82-R-1)unpublishednot peer reviewedOpe

Freshwater mussels of the Vermilion and Little Vermilion Rivers in the Wabash River in Illinois

unpublishednot peer reviewedOpe

Using Bayesian decision networks to guide restoration of freshwater mussels in Illinois: a step-by-step guide to creating and using BDNs for ecological applications

We highlight the use of Bayesian Decision Networks to formalize the decision process and suggest a management strategy for restoring Ellipse and Spike to target areas. A BDN is particularly useful in complicated situations like this, because it allows for the combination of prior knowledge of mussel distributions and habitat relationships in Illinois with expected value of management outcomes. To build the Bayesian Decision Network, we used long term mussel presence data paired with a suite of environmental and biotic variables to elucidate important factors for each focal species and structure preliminary models (Chiavacci et al. 2018). We then built multiple versions for each species using three levels of information 1) data subset (target streams, non-target streams, or both; Figure 9), 2) expert opinion values (median, minimum, or maximum), and 3) precision of mussel data (long term presence, 2018 presence or 2018 density). All model versions were compared using sensitivity analyses to determine sources of potential model performance bias and decide whether a need for quantitative mussel density sampling in future model iterations was needed. All models built in this project were created using Netica by Norsys Software Corp., a program specifically designed to create Bayesian networks. Netica is available for download for 285 dollars for an individual application, or for 600 dollars for commercial applications (as of 2019).The 7 following walk-through serves as a step-by-step tutorial of how to build BDNs using Netica, while also detailing the methods and results of the Ellipse and Spike models created for this project. For each step, we outline a “General Description”, which is a broad description for managers to consider for their own projects, and “Applied Project Result” is a detailed explanation of the process completed for this project.Illinois Department of Natural Resources State Wildlife Grant project # T-99-R-1unpublishednot peer reviewedOpe

Freshwater mussels of the upper Illinois River basin: Mazon River, Aux Sable Creek, and Vermilion River

While broad geographic information is available on the distribution and abundance of mussels in Illinois, systematically collected mussel-community data sets required to integrate mussels into aquatic community assessments do not exist. In 2009, a project funded by a US Fish and Wildlife Service State Wildlife Grant was undertaken to survey and assess the freshwater mussel populations at wadeable sites from 33 stream basins in conjunction with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) / Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) basin surveys. Inclusion of mussels into these basin surveys contributes to the comprehensive basin monitoring programs that include water and sediment chemistry, instream habitat, macroinvertebrate, and fish, which reflect a broad spectrum of abiotic and biotic stream resources.These mussel surveys will provide reliable and repeatable techniques for assessing the freshwater mussel community in sampled streams. These surveys also provide data for future monitoring of freshwater mussel populations on a local, regional, and watershed basis.Illinois Department of Natural Resources: Office of Resource ConservationU.S. Fish and Wildlife Serviceunpublishednot peer reviewedOpe

Freshwater mussel survey prior to the Ellsworth Dam removal, Danville, Vermilion County, Illinois

This report is submitted in response to a request from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) for the Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) to conduct a freshwater mussel survey in the North Fork Vermilion River (Wabash River drainage) in the vicinity of the Ellsworth Dam, Danville, Vermilion County, Illinois. IDNR proposes to remove this dam, and needs updated survey data prior to the removal per the requirements of Authorization item #7 in the Ellsworth Park Dam Removal Incidental Take Authorization. Freshwater mussels were collected by hand-­‐picking and visual detection (e.g., trails, siphons, exposed shell) in the three zones (Impounded area, Construction zone, and Plunge pool). One live individual was found alive in the construction zone in three person hours, whereas 372 individuals representing ten species were found alive in the impounded area upstream of the construction in approximately 25 person-­‐hours. A total of 46 individuals representing eight species were found alive in the plunge pool in 2.25 person-­‐hours. All species collected are common inhabitants of central Illinois streams that are not listed as endangered or threatened at the state or federal level, and all live individuals were relocated to areas outside the predicted zone of influence.Prepared for Illinois Department of Natural Resources Office of Water Resourcesunpublishednot peer reviewedOpe

Freshwater Mussels of the Spoon River Basin

While broad geographic information is available on the distribution and abundance of mussels in Illinois, systematically collected mussel-community data sets required to integrate mussels into aquatic community assessments do not exist. In 2009, a project funded by a US Fish and Wildlife Service State Wildlife Grant was undertaken to survey and assess the freshwater mussel populations at wadeable sites from 33 stream basins in conjunction with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) / Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) basin surveys. Inclusion of mussels into these basin surveys contributes to the comprehensive basin monitoring programs that include water and sediment chemistry, instream habitat, macroinvertebrate, and fish, which reflect a broad spectrum of abiotic and biotic stream resources.These mussel surveys will provide reliable and repeatable techniques for assessing the freshwater mussel community in sampled streams. These surveys also provide data for future monitoring of freshwater mussel populations on a local, regional, and watershed basis.unpublishednot peer reviewe

Exile Vol. XVI No. 2

PREFACE 3 ESSAY Observations At The Gap by Paul A. Dimitruk 4 Those Who Choose Words By Keith McWalter 5-6 On Victoria\u27s England by Paul A. Dimitruk 7-8 Facts Are The Enemy of Truth by Nancy Gutierrez FICTION Harmon by Barbara Mackey 22-25 Pilgrimage by Keith McWalter 35-44 ARTWORK by Wandi Solez: 6, 15, 23, 27 by Ken Wernz 10 by Stephen Swift 11 by Laura M. Hyslop 12 by Skip Staudt 19 by W. A. Hoffman 25 by Mary Ann Kowaski 34 by Jo Ann Orgo 40 PHOTOGRAPHY by Roger Block 16 by Tim Heath- all other POETRY My Poems by Susan Hallock 13 Counter-Fugue At Six-Thirty by Sherry Stodola 14-16 Apple Tree Poem by Darby Williams 17 When Snow Falls Into A Pond by Bruce Kidd 17 Woman-Man by Darby Williams 18 Transcendence by Wandi Solez 20 Paris Reflection by Wandi Solez 20 A Sleepless Night In Valencia, Spain by Wandi Solez 21 # 319 by Wandi Solez 21 Strange Lady by John Gillespie 26 Strange Lady II by John Gillespie 26 Where The Hell Is Rembrandt? by John Loveland 26 Years Ago by John Whitt 29 I\u27ve Finished Growing Now by Keith McWalter 29 Charisma by John Whitt 30 I Thought Of Cutting by John Loveland 31 Make Me Eat Peanut Butter by Fred Walton 31 The Cat by John Loveland 32 On The Rim by John Whitt 33 Undercurrent by Keith McWalter 33 Cover: Gail Lutsch Layouts: Keith McWalte

Reversal of Fragile X Phenotypes by Manipulation of AβPP/Aβ Levels in Fmr1KO Mice

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the most common form of inherited intellectual disability and the leading known genetic cause of autism. Fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP), which is absent or expressed at substantially reduced levels in FXS, binds to and controls the postsynaptic translation of amyloid β-protein precursor (AβPP) mRNA. Cleavage of AβPP can produce β-amyloid (Aβ), a 39–43 amino acid peptide mis-expressed in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Down syndrome (DS). Aβ is over-expressed in the brain of Fmr1KO mice, suggesting a pathogenic role in FXS. To determine if genetic reduction of AβPP/Aβ rescues characteristic FXS phenotypes, we assessed audiogenic seizures (AGS), anxiety, the ratio of mature versus immature dendritic spines and metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR)-mediated long-term depression (LTD) in Fmr1KO mice after removal of one App allele. All of these phenotypes were partially or completely reverted to normal. Plasma Aβ1–42 was significantly reduced in full-mutation FXS males compared to age-matched controls while cortical and hippocampal levels were somewhat increased, suggesting that Aβ is sequestered in the brain. Evolving therapies directed at reducing Aβ in AD may be applicable to FXS and Aβ may serve as a plasma-based biomarker to facilitate disease diagnosis or assess therapeutic efficacy

Incipient Resistance of Helicoverpa punctigera to the Cry2Ab Bt Toxin in Bollgard II® Cotton

Combinations of dissimilar insecticidal proteins (“pyramids”) within transgenic plants are predicted to delay the evolution of pest resistance for significantly longer than crops expressing a single transgene. Field-evolved resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) transgenic crops has been reported for first generation, single-toxin varieties and the Cry1 class of proteins. Our five year data set shows a significant exponential increase in the frequency of alleles conferring Cry2Ab resistance in Australian field populations of Helicoverpa punctigera since the adoption of a second generation, two-toxin Bt cotton expressing this insecticidal protein. Furthermore, the frequency of cry2Ab resistance alleles in populations from cropping areas is 8-fold higher than that found for populations from non-cropping regions. This report of field evolved resistance to a protein in a dual-toxin Bt-crop has precisely fulfilled the intended function of monitoring for resistance; namely, to provide an early warning of increases in frequencies that may lead to potential failures of the transgenic technology. Furthermore, it demonstrates that pyramids are not ‘bullet proof’ and that rapid evolution to Bt toxins in the Cry2 class is possible