Study Area
Our study occurred at two sites in Illinois. The southern Illinois study
site is made up of Touch of Nature Environmental Center (37.62762,
-89.15827) and Giant City State Park (37.60195, -89.18925), making up a
combined 28.6 km2 of Southern Illinois University- and
state-managed land dominated by contiguous oak-hickory forest, with an
average annual temperature of 14.1°C and an average annual precipitation
of 118 cm (NOAA 2021). The central Illinois study site consists of
state- and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-managed properties surrounding
Lake Shelbyville (39.51856, -88.70658). The landscape consists of a
patchwork of private properties, public land, and small towns. The land
is dominated by row crop corn and soybean agriculture, with some
lakeshore and remnant forested patches. This study site has an average
annual temperature of 12.2°C and average annual precipitation of 120 cm
(NOAA 2021).