A Natural History of the Chicago Region Book

Preface and Acknowledgments
1. The Great Forces
Ice Sculptor: Glaciation,
Fertility Underfoot: Soil,
Atmospheric Impacts: Climate,
Burned to Life: Fire,
A New Force,
2. In Quality Unexcelled: Prairie Types and Composition
Of Breezes and Braided Roots: The Grasses,
Where Spring Begins: The Gravel Prairies,
The Richest of All: The Black-Soil Prairies,
On the Bones of Earth: The Dolomite Prairies,
Dr. Clute's Domain: The Sand Prairies of Braidwood,
3. In Quality Diminished: Prairie Settlement and Conservation
Under the Fleur-de-lis: The French Period,
The Prairie Resists: Treelessness, Fire, Disease, and Other Barriers to Settlement,
The Defenses Crumble but Some Prairie Survives,
The Turning Point for Prairie Conservation: Goose Lake Prairie,
Prairie Tales: A Few Prairies and the Battles to Save Them,
Protecting the Protected: Prairie Stewardship and Management,
4. The Nearly Vanished Transitions: Barrens and Savannas
Gone So Quickly: The Deep-Soil Shrublands and Savannas,
All Sorts of Floral Treasures: The Sand Savannas and Shrublands,
Like Nowhere Else on Earth: The Savanna of Langham Island,
5. Witnesses to History: Forests
Letting in the Light: Oak Forests,
Where Shadows Reign: Maple Forests,
Raised in Flood and Drought: Lowland Forests,
Mostly On or Under the Trees: Lichens and Mushrooms,
From Lumber to Ecosystems: Utilization and Conservation,
Knotty Questions: How Best to Treat Local Forests,
6. Of Two Worlds: Wetlands
The PilgrimsProgress to Section 404: Destruction and Conservation of Wetlands,
On a Cusp: Sedge Meadows and Marshes,
Wiggly Fields: Bogs and Fens,
7. The Last Wilderness: Lake Michigan
The Sullying of Lake Michigan: Pollution,
Floaters, Bottom Dwellers, and a Filter Feeder Run Amok: The Plankton and Benthos,
Agents of Change: Commercial Fishing and Alien Species,
Victims of Change: Native Fish,
8. Approaching the Way: Rivers and Small Lakes
Rivers in Flux,
Current Affairs: River Ecology,
River Atrophy: The Disappearing Mussels,
Like Crystals on the Landscape: The Small Glacial Lakes,
9. Casualties of a Modern World: The Marshes of the Kankakee and Calumet
Two Thousand Bends of a Silver Thread: The Kankakee's Great Marsh,
The Marsh That Will Not Die: The Calumet,
10. Lake Michigan's Rim: Beaches, Dunes, and Bluffs
Setting the Scene,
So Many Fine Examples of Rare and Beautiful Species: Natural Communities of the Indiana Dunes,
By Their Deeds, Ye Shall Know Them: Utilization and Conservation of the Indiana Dunes,
Steeper and More Mesic: The Dunes of Berrien County,
Not All Treasure Is at the Rainbow's End: The Western Dunesland,
Cool Shadowy Slopes: The Bluffs and Ravines,
11. Many More Than We Know: Insects
Beleaguered Beetles, Mystery Moths, and A Rediscovered Dragonfly: A Smattering of Endangered Insects,
Flitting on the Edge: The Mitchell's Satyr and the Karner Blue,
Mere Patches in Time and Space: The Corpse as Ecosystem and Forensic Entomology,
Conspicuous on a Large Scale: Insect Swarms,
The Musical Brood: Periodic Cicadas,
12. Survivors in Trouble: Reptiles and Amphibians
In the Soup and Pets of Plunder: Turtles,
Long and Suffering: Snakes (and Three Lizards),
Winding through History: Massasauga Rattlesnakes,
Under Cover or on the March: Salamanders,
Plight of the Choristers: Frogs and Toads,
13. Of Extinction and Resurrection: Passenger Pigeon, Prairie Chicken, Sandhill Crane, and Colonial Nesters
Remembering Martha and Her Kin: Passenger Pigeon,
A Chronicle of the Boom Times: Prairie Chicken,
Triumph of the Trumpeter: Sandhill Crane,
Changing Status of the Colonial Nesters: Cormorants, Herons, and Gulls,
14. For Everything There Is a Season: Birds through the Year
Nesting Season: Birds of Woodlands,
Nesting Season: Birds of Grasslands and Marsh,
In Passage: Migration and Vagrancy,
Thriving in the Cold: Wintering Birds,
15. Figures in Fur: Mammals
What a Time It Must Have Been: Extirpated Species,
They Fly by Night: Bats,
Burrowers, Tree Dwellers, and Engineers: Insectivores and Rodents,
Adaptable Song Dog of City and Suburb: The Coyote,
Meet the Neighbors: Raccoons, Opossums, and Skunks,
The Metamorphosis of Bambi: White-Tailed Deer,
Conclusion: Prospects for the Future
Do Go Gentle into That Good Fight: Ecological Restoration and Construction,
Sharing Space: Institutional Trends,
A Place for All: Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie and Prairie Parklands,
Notes Bibliography Index