The mission of the Biotic Surveys and Monitoring Section is to collect, interpret, and disseminate information from biological field surveys to assist in the protection of biotic resources in Illinois. Staff survey and monitor plants, vertebrates and invertebrates at the population, species, and community levels of organization, in Illinois and often in other parts of the world. Major research programs in the Section include statewide inventories of native and introduced organisms, long-term monitoring of plant and animal communities, studies on exotic species, intensive surveys for threatened and endangered species and high-quality remnant natural communities, restoration of disturbed or fire-dependent communities, and systematic studies of organisms within our taxonomic expertise.