Survey
of Northern Illinois and Indiana Fungi
John F. Murphy and Gregory M. Mueller
Department of Botany
The Field Museum
Chicago, Illinois
Introduction
Scientists and Associates
Research sites
SNIIF-related Publications and Presentations
Images of fungi collected through SNIIF
Links
Acknowledgments
The Survey of Northern Illinois and Indiana Fungi is a continuing project
by Field Museum mycologists (scientists who study fungi) to document the
diversity and distribution of fungi in our area, and to investigate the
usefulness of fungi as indicators of environmental health.
The Chicago area is home to an incredible diversity of plants, animals,
and fungi. Within the region's boundaries are forest preserves and other
natural areas that contain globally significant remnants of prairies and
oak savannas. However, the Chicago region is experiencing explosive urban
and suburban expansion with a consequent negative impact on natural areas.
Monitoring the health of the nature preserves, and managing them to conserve
local biodiversity is of high priority for the region.
Contrary to popular belief, our understanding of biodiversity in North America
is far from complete, especially regarding the diversity and distribution
of groups such as fungi, protozoans,and bacteria. Although these groups
don't attract the same attention as Grizzly bears and Redwood trees, their
importance in ecosystems is crucial. Land managers are particularly concerned
about mycorrhizal fungi, which are required by almost all plant species
for obtaining nutrition from the soil. Because these fungi have been shown
to be adversely affected by air pollution, monitoring them is an important
step in maintaining forest health.
In response to the paucity of knowledge of the diversity and distribution
of Chicago-area fungi, Field Museum curator Greg Mueller initiated the Survey
of Northern Illinois and Indiana Fungi (SNIIF) in 1994. Coordinated from
1995 to 1997 by John (Jack) Murphy and now by
Patrick Leacock, the purpose of SNIIF is to supplement the Field Museum's
existing database with new information obtained through intensive collecting
of fungi within the Chicago region.
Our collecting has mostly focused on fungi associated with oak savanna and
oak woodlands. We have visited many sites throughout Cook, Lake, Will, Kane,
and McHenry counties, but have concentrated our efforts on permanent plots
located within the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and the Cook County
Forest Preserve District at Palos Hills (see links).
Other areas which we have visited repeatedly include Green Lake Savanna,
the Wampum Lake area in SE Cook Co., and Harms Woods and Busse Woods in
Northern Cook Co.
Our collecting at Palos Hills is part of a Field Museum multi-taxon project
designed to evaluate the effect of restoration activities on a broad range
of organisms (fungi, beetles, mosses, amphibians, reptiles and birds) other
than plants. This project is supported by a grant obtained through Chicago Wilderness.
We have also teamed up with the Chicago Botanic Garden ecologist Jim Steffan
and volunteers, who have been sampling fungi in Mary McDonald woods in conjunction
with restoration activities there.
With permanent plots on three sites being monitored for fungi, we are beginning
to acquire enough data to analyze the patterns of diversity and distribution
of fungi in oak woodlands in the Chicago Region.
The Illinois Rapid Assessment Program (IRAP) is a new initiative funded
by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. IRAP is being developed
quickly to assess the condition and natural diversity of Illinois' natural
areas. As part of this program, we have initiated sampling in two prairie
areas, Powderhorn Nature Preserve and Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie
as well as expanding our work in Greenlake Savanna and Palos Hills.
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Deborah Aruguete: Undergraduate at the University of Chicago. Current research examines the absorption of heavy metals by soil-associated fungi using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy at Argonne National Laboratories.
Patrick Leacock, Ph.D.: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of
Botany, The Field Museum (October, 1997- ).
Gregory M. Mueller, Ph. D.: Associate Curator and Chair, Department of Botany,
The Field Museum.
John (Jack) Murphy, Ph. D.: Postdoctoral Research
Associate, Department of Botany, The Field Museum (June, 1995 - August,
1997). Currently Associate Professor and Dean of Academic Affairs, Deep
Springs College, Deep Springs, California.
John Paul Schmit, Ph. D. candidate at the University
of Chicago, in the Committee
on Evolutionary Biology.
Quixin Wu, Ph. D.: Collections Manager, Fungi, Department of Botany, The
Field Museum.
The Biodiversity Explorers:
The Biodiversity Explorers is an 8 -week summer internship program for high
school students between their sophomore and junior years. Students are selected
competitively and chosen for their academic excellence. The program is endowed
by the Bannerman Foundation, and seeks to encourage high school students
to pursue field-oriented careers in Biology.
Biodiversity Explorer interns work with Field Museum scientists on active
research programs, and also interview Field Museum scientists and attend
lectures at the Field Museum throughout the 8 week program. In 1995, 1996,
and 1997, the Biodiversity Explorers assisted Jack Murphy in the survey
of Northern Illinois fungi, collecting, identifying, data basing, and processing
thousands of collections. With their help, our knowledge of fungi in the
Chicago region has been greatly expanded.
Click here for portraits of the Biodiversity
Explorers in 1995, 1996, and 1997.
For more information about the Biodiversity Explorer program, contact
Lisa Bergwall at (312) 922-9410 ext 559.
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Sources of data include specimens preserved in the Field Museum Fungus
Collections. Many of these are almost 100 years old and represent vouchers
of Moffatt's 1909 publication, Fungi of the Chicago Region.
Modern collections are mostly from our study sites at the Indiana Dunes
National Lakeshore (click HERE for an
image near our study sites, or HERE
for the IDNL home page), Palos Hills (a district of the Cook County Forest
Preserves), and the Chicago Botanic Garden. We have made additional significant
collections from Cook County Forest Preserve District preserves at Harms
Woods, Linne Woods, Busse Woods, Greenlake Savanna, Powderhorn Nature Preserve,
the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie and near Wampum Lake. In addition
to the sites listed here, we have accepted collections from throughout the
Chicago region, donated by too many individuals to list. Many of these have
been significant new records.
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For a list of publications and presentations resulting from the SNIIF,
click here.
Our results to date indicate that species diversity of fungi in the Chicago
region is high. A one-tenth hectare plot in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
contains approximately 180 species of macrofungi, and casual sampling in
a different forest type near this plot revealed an entirely different, though
equally diverse group of fungi. There are many species of macrofungi (i.e,
mushrooms) which have not been recorded from our region, and we suspect
that some of our collections are of undescribed species.
Even with over a century of collecting in our area, we have only begun to
understand the diversity and distribution of Chicago-area fungi.
Nevertheless, some patterns emerge. Although any two sites share only a
small proportion of species, these shared species are abundant and probably
represent the dominant fungi of our region. Images of some of these are
presented in our image collections . There are
large numbers of species which appear to occur on only one sampled site,
making each site appear unique. This may indicate that fungi have low populations
which are dispersed randomly. Alternatively, these "rare" fungi
might be responding to environmental variation of which we are unaware.
Additional research is required to discriminate between these two possibilities.
One of the chief limitations in arriving at an understanding of fungal biodiversity
is the lack of taxonomic expertise. This is an area where non-professionals
can make a significant contribution to science, as amateur birdwatchers
have for Ornithology and plant societies have for Botany. Individuals interested
in learning more about fungi might contact the Illinois Mycological Association or the North American Mycological Association, and might explore the links listed in the Mycological Resources on the Internet website.
LINKS:
The Field Museum
Mycological Resources
on the Internet
Chicago Wilderness
North American Mycological Association
Illinois
Mycological Association
Mycological Society of America
Cook County Forest Preserve
District
Financial support for these studies have been provided in part by grant from the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (for IRAP), The Bannerman Foundation (Biodiversity Explorers Internship Program), Webber Family Research Fund, University of Chicago Richter Grant (research support for Deborah Aruguete), and NSF (RAMHSS supplement that supported two high school interns during Summer 1997 and a multi-year grant entitled "Training for Undergraduates in Collections-Based analyses of Biological Diversity" that partially supported Deborah Aruguete's work).
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If you have comments regarding this website, email Patrick
Leacock
