MORRIS, Ill. – We are never more conscious of the summer sun than while struggling to unpack a trap full of turtles, watching with resignation as the wind slowly drags us and our kayak across the marsh. We are in Goose Lake Prairie State Natural Area, about 50 miles southwest of Chicago. We visit these wetlands two weeks per month during the field season, which runs from May to October.

Read more from Andrea Colton and Emily Sunnucks, technicians in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences affiliate professor Michael Dreslik's research group. Dreslik is also a herpetologist with the Illinois Natural History Survey.