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).