Inventory of Select Groups of Arthropods of 12 Mile Prairie. Annual Report forthe 1995-96 Fiscal Year of the Multi-State Prairie Insect Inventory

摘要

The focus of the efforts during the period of July 1995-June 1996 is calledTwelve Mile Prairie. It is located between Illinois Route 37 and the Illinois Central Railroad, and parts of it are in four counties, Effingham, Clay, Fayette and Marion. This land is owned by the Illinois Central Railroad and the Illinois Department of Transportation has scenic right-of-way on certain sections. It is located in the Southern Till Plain Division, one of the fourteen natural divisions in Illinois detailed by Schwegman et al, (1973). Twelve Mile Prairie is the most extensive natural prairie remnant in this division, with an estimated area of 94 hectares. Bill Handel of the Illnois Natural History Survey did a masters thesis on the vegetation of Twelve Mile Prairie. With his permission the Introduction of his thesis is attached (Appendix 1). this prairie has been of great interest for many years and its limited protection has meant that it has been relatively undistributed with limited management. In many ways is provides a reference of diversity against which more managed (often burned) prairies can be measured.