March 2020 | SMITHSONIAN 65
who collects moths, the Loblolly Marsh carried out
a 24-hour biodiversity survey. Volunteers recorded
545 species: two bees, 55 birds, 29 dragonfl ies and
damselfl ies, 24 moths and butterfl ies, one fi sh, 25
fungi, 15 reptiles and amphibians, two insects, fi ve
mammals, 376 plants, and 11 sciomyzid fl ies. Some
of those life-forms have rebounded even further—
but not the moths and butterfl ies Stratton-Porter
“OF THE LAND-OWNERS... MANY HAD OPENED
THEIR GATES, LAID DOWN THEIR FENCES, AND
GIVEN ME FREEDOM TO GO WHEREVER
MY SUBJECTS CALLED ME.”