Visiting The Smokies Spring 2020
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Smokies Species Count Tops 20,000 Milestone Twenty-one years on the hunt, 20,000 hits to show for it — and still counting. The latest scorecard for the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory is in, as documented by Discover Life in America. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a fertile place where nature flourishes. The park has reached a biodiversity milestone with the discovery and documentation of 20,050 species of plants, animals and other organisms currently known to live in the park. It just adds to the reasons Friends of the Smokies strives to preserve, protect and provide. “The park is alive at every turn. On every trail is something new to be discovered,” Tim Chandler, executive director and chief operating officer of Friends, said Thursday. “That’s why people return annually. Visitors find something new every time they visit, and they love it.” This comes just one year after the October 2018 announcement that the ATBI celebrated another milestone, adding 1,000 new species to science. Current tally: 1,006. “A living classroom is what it is,” Chandler said. Scientists from across the world assist the park in an
Courtesy of Tom Howe
The frosted elfin butterfly, a rare butterfly whose caterpillars feed on lupine and indigo, is a species completely new to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and was found through the Discover Life in America inventory project.
effort to catalog all life in the Smokies through the ATBI. “This is a remarkable achievement — cataloging so many species in this relatively small region,” Will Kuhn, director of science and research for DLIA, said in a news release. “But, we think that there are still tens of thousands of species waiting to be
discovered in the park. We’ve still got work to do.” The ATBI is an ongoing project to study the diversity of life in the Smokies including where the species can be found, how abundant they are and how they interact with one another. The project is managed by DLIA, a nonprofit partner of the park, in cooperation with park staff. “Reaching this milestone is a testament to the curiosity, tenacity and dedication of the biological community,” Superintendent Cassius Cash said. “Each year, we have scientists who share their time and expertise to help us better describe, understand and protect the wonders of the Smokies.”
Adding up species
Among the newest species recorded in the park are the giant bark aphid (Longistigma caryae), which is the largest aphid in the U.S.; the Blue Ridge threelobed coneflower (Rudbeckia triloba var. rupestris), a wildflower native to Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina; the frosted elfin butterfly (Callophrys irus), a rare butterfly whose caterpillars feed on lupine and indigo; and the yellow passion flower bee (Anthemurgus passiflorae), which exclusively pollinates the small flowers of the yellow passion flower. In addition, the nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) was recently documented in the park for the first time. Park visitors don’t have to be able to pronounce the names to appreciate what they represent. They are evidence that even hikers who venture deep into the Smokies to experience solitude are never alone, not by a long shot. Even when visitors return to the same trails, their experiences are different because the surroundings with all these living species has changed. “The biodiversity inside the park is never-ending, with every season bringing a difference. Fall is coming on. It’s the metamorphosis of nature, what happens from fall to winter to spring,” Chandler said. “It’s just the amazing beauty of the park that is living and breathing, and we can be part of it and see it as it continues being made.”
