A record 22 grant requests were received! A record 13 were funded! A record $13,000 was contributed by a record 22 organizations and individuals!
Watch for articles about each of these projects in the IOS quarterly journal, The Meadowlark. Thank you to all the individuals and organizations that made these awards possible.
Here’s a brief synopsis of the 13 grants that were awarded:
| # | Amount | Name/Organization | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | $1,000 | Ben O’Neal Franklin College and Ill. Nat. Hist. Survey |
Assess the nesting ecology of waterbirds and other marsh birds prior to the drawdown in the Emiquon preserve in spring/summer 2013. |
| 2. | $1,000 | Amber Wingert U of I – Champaign |
Monitor the Barn Owl nest boxes in Southern Illinois to determine reproductive success, develop a model of nest box site selection and test the effectiveness of conspecific playback as a survey method. |
| 3. | $1,000 | Kevin Sierzega Southern Illinois University – Carbondale |
Quantify the differences in bird community metrics, e.g., species richness, evenness and diversity during spring migration and in the breeding season across a gradient of oak-hickory and beech-maple dominance forests. |
| 4. | $1,000 | Scott Chiavacci U of I – Champaign |
Determine factors affecting shrubland bird nest success and causes of nest failure in urban and rural marshlands in 8 test sites in northeastern Illinois and 3 sites in east-central Illinois. |
| 5. | $1,000 | Antonio Celis Murillo U of I – Champaign |
To foray or not to foray: Extraterritorial behavior in Field Sparrows and its behavioral, morphological and reproductive correlates. |
| 6. | $1,000 | Maria Stager U of I – Champaign |
Evaluate the effects of day length and temperature on seasonal variation in metabolic performance and correlated differences in underlying gene expression profiles in Dark-eyed Juncos. |
| 7. | $1,000 | Mark Swanson Field Museum and Ill. Wesleyan Univ. |
Determine the interactions between morphologically similar, but genetically distinct Barred Owls of Illinois and the upper Midwest. |
| 8. | $1,000 | Henry Pollock U of I – Champaign |
Investigate thermal tolerances and responses to heat stress in a suite of Illinois birds and compare the data with similar data collected in Panama to determine how birds will respond to climate change |
| 9. | $1,000 | Justin J. Shew Southern Illinois University – Carbondale |
Funds for year 3 of a 4 year study of the nesting success, species richness, species population, etc. of grassland birds in land set aside in the Conservation Reserve Program(CRP). |
| 10. | $1,000 | Valerie Buxton U of I – Champaign |
Making the most of what remains: Determining urban grassland quality in Illinois. Assess how grassland patch size and landscape context affect grassland bird occurrence, abundance and nest success. Funds for year 2. |
| 11. | $1,000 | Douglas R. McClain Cooperative Wildlife Research Lab – SIU-Carbondale |
Year 2 of a study to research the response of breeding wood ducks to differences in productivity within the Cache River watershed. The Cache River watershed has undergone different modifications during its history. |
| 12. | $1,000 | Sarah Cleeton U of I – Champaign |
Explore the role of migratory songbirds in the spread of Lyme disease invasion (such as Lyme disease) in central Illinois |
| 13. | $1,000 | Elsa Anderson DePaul University |
Assess Red-headed Woodpecker nest-tree and habitat characteristics and evaluate nesting competition in relation to nest-site success in Cook County |