Illinois Natural History Survey - University of Illinois

INHS report January February 1995

Forbes Biological Station Begins Second Century of Research

Forbes Biological Station as seen from Quiver Creek.

The Illinois Natural History Survey's Forbes Biological Station on the Illinois River at Havana has begun its second century of research. The station was officially opened on 1 April 1894 by Dr. Stephen A. Forbes, founding chief of the Survey. It was the first inland aquatic biological station in the country manned and equipped for continuous investigations, and the first to dedicate itself to the study of a major river system.

Forbes selected Havana as the site because the river's bluffs and beaches and the abundance of pure spring water provided good working and camping conditions for field researchers. Initially established with a $1,800 appropriation from the state legislature, the first station consisted of three rented rooms in Havana, a 120-volume library, and a chartered cabin boat moored on Quiver Lake.

Stephen A. Forbes, namesake of Forbes Biological Station.

With additional funds in 1895, a 60-ft houseboat that was to serve as a floating laboratory was built in Havana from plans drawn under Forbes' direction. The boat, which was ready in September 1896, gave the station the advantage of mobility and year-round operation.

In 1903, Forbes noted that over 6,000 collections of fishes, plankton, and a variety of aquatic forms had been made since the station's opening. Weekly water samples had been analyzed for a consecutive period of 3 1/2 years. In addition to local collections, boatside samples had been taken along 450 miles of the Illinois River and 316 miles of the Mississippi River.

Continuous collections at the biological station made possible the first edition of The Fishes of Illinois in 1908. This book, a joint endeavor by Forbes and Survey aquatic biologist Robert E. Richardson, was issued in a second edition in 1920 and remained a unique publication for more than 40 years.

Wildlife research at the Survey began in the 1870s when Forbes investigated the food habits of birds. Not until 1938, however, was wildlife research fully recognized in the Survey's program when Arthur S. Hawkins and Frank C. Bellrose were employed to initiate a waterfowl research program. The first permanent structure for the field station was completed on Lake Chautauqua in early 1940, and Hawkins, Bellrose, and John M. "Frosty" Anderson moved into the new building to begin what would become one of the most productive waterfowl research programs ever conducted at the field station. Several benchmark studies in the biology of waterfowl were produced that did much to advance the art of waterfowl management.

The Survey's program to band waterfowl begun by "Frosty" Anderson in 1939 expanded rapidly and continued through 1952. Over 75,000 ducks, mostly mallards, were banded during this time, generating important information such as migration behavior. Following extensive die-offs of mallards in 1947 and 1948, the Survey began an investigation of the effects of lead shot on waterfowl that was to span a period of more than 40 years. This and subsequent studies at the station were instrumental in developing a federal program implemented nationwide in 1991 for eliminating lead shot for waterfowl hunting.

Bellrose's studies of the wood duck, waterfowl migration, and lead poisoning are considered landmarks in the field. His publication of Ducks, Geese and Swans of North America, an updated edition of a 1942 classic, sold more than 300,000 copies and was recognized by the Wildlife Society as the best book publication of 1977. Bellrose and his colleague, Dan Holm, collaborated on another book, Ecology and Management of the Wood Duck.

One of the best wildlife data sets ever compiled in North America had its genesis in 1938 when Bellrose censused waterfowl during the fall migration in the Illinois Valley. Ground counts were continued until the fall of 1948 when aerial censuses of the Illinois River floodplain were begun. These weekly aerial counts are still conducted. The massive amount of data provided by years of censusing has vastly improved our understanding of the chronology of migration, the effects of refuges, the value of wetlands, and the distribution of waterfowl in Illinois.

One of the most important studies implemented by Dr. William C. Starrett , director of the station from 1948 to 1972, was an annual electrofishing survey of the Illinois River. Begun in 1959, the survey continues to be updated and provides a baseline for documenting changes in number, distribution, and species of fish populations as the river system continually sustains changes brought about by natural processes and human activity.

Research at the station is currently directed by Dr. Stephen P. Havera and Dr. Richard E. Sparks. Sparks, an aquatic biologist at the station since 1972, has added to our understanding of the effects of chemical contaminants on aquatic organisms, soil erosion and sedimentation as factors in stream pollution, and the ecological impacts of barge-fleeting and river navigation.

Havera, who has been with the Survey since 1972, has served as director of the Havana station since 1982. He is a wildlife ecologist whose research interests include animal ecology, physiology, nutrition, and habitat relationships. Havera recently completed a book manuscript on a comprehensive study of waterfowl in Illinois.

In 1988, construction for an addition to the station was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation and the Illinois Capital Development Board. The station, officially named the Stephen A. Forbes Biological Station in May 1989, has expanded to include a leased building in Havana and a staff of approximately 30 full- and part-time people.

The staff at Forbes Biological Station continues to work in three areas of demonstrated competence: river and wetland ecology, population studies of aquatic organisms and migratory birds, and toxicological and habitat studies. The researchers hope to make significant contributions to national and international issues such as the functions and values of wetlands, biodiversity, ecosystem management, and floodplain management and restoration.

Robert E. Richardson and assistant Henry C. Allen studying fish breeding grounds in 1910.

A publication on the station, Forbes Biological Station: The Past and the Promise, is available upon request from the Illinois Natural History Survey, 607 E. Peabody, Champaign, IL 61820.

Stephen P. Havera and Katie E. Roat, Center for Wildlife Ecology

Charlie Warwick, editor