Smithsonian_03_2020

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.”