When people visit Great Smoky Mountains National Park, they are usually expecting to see charismatic flora and fauna such as pink lady slippers or black bears. Insects rarely make the “to-see” list, but over the past decade, one particular group has seen a surge in popularity: dragonflies and damselflies.

Many people are familiar with the popular pass time of bird watching or birding, which millions of folks engage in each year; creating life lists and traveling around the world to check off a variety of the feathered beauties.

About 10 years ago, some birding aficionados began shifting the focus on their binoculars from birds to dragonflies and damselflies, both of which are species in the Odonata order. Known among amateur enthusiasts as “going after dragons and damsels,” the activity is becoming particularly popular in the Great Smoky Mountains where there are 93 species of dragonflies and damselflies for people to observe and make note of.

“There’s a hidden world you can’t see until you get binoculars on it and that’s what people discovered about dragonflies and damselflies,” said Keith Langdon, researcher in the GSMNP resource management and science division. “When you can see them up close, they are extremely colorful; some of the brightest blues, oranges, reds, and iridescent colors you can imagine.”

This new obsession with dragonflies by the public may come from their fluttering wings or the fascinating hovering motions they display. It might be the dainty bodies or the beautiful array of coloring each species of dragonfly has, but one thing is for sure, these are truly magnificent and fascinating creatures.

And dragonflies and damselflies are much more than just pretty faces and buff bods. They are representative of prehistoric creatures that date back some 300 million years. Back then they weren’t the delicate creatures we know today: according to fossil records, they were giant insects with wingspans of over two feet.

Jet-Propelled Larvae

Dragonflies hatch from eggs in a variety of aquatic ecosystems, from streams and ponds to wetlands, and spend a few months to several years as aquatic predators. As they grow, they shed their whole skin at once, which is called molting. This process occurs many times throughout their larvae stage. Immature dragonflies have six spindly legs, two fairly big eyes and breathe water through gills in their abdomen. Not only are dragonflies fast when they fly as adults, they begin developing their speed as larvae by squirting water out of their bodies in order to give themselves a quick, jet-propelled movement.

Once they are big enough, the immature dragonflies crawl out of the water during the warm months of spring or summer and emerge as winged adults from the skin of the nymph. Depending on the species, dragonflies can live for a few months to several years as aquatic larvae before emerging as adults. After transforming into the winged, adult stage, dragonflies stop growing and live for a few months as adults.

Male dragonflies engage in aerial duels for control of their territory. They display their size and speed to each other in order to show their dominance, but only defend their territory against other males of their species. When mating, dragonflies most likely communicate by touch and chemicals, but further studies are needed in order to truly understand their mating habits.

One of Langdon’s favorite odonate is the Calopteryx angustipennis. Known by its common name, the Appalachian Jewelwing, it is iridescent green and, according to Langdon, looks like a thin emerald. About a quarter inch in diameter, it’s one of the larger damselflies that exist in the southeastern United States.

Discovering Life in the Smokies

Insects make up a significant percentage of the total life on Earth and play a crucial role in the ecosystem, but scientists did not know much about the diversity of each species because in the past there has been very little research conducted on the insects that call the park home. That began to change on Earth Day in 1998 when the All Taxa Biodiversity Index (ATBI) project was launched with the specific goal to identify all living organisms in the park. To-date, the project has led to the discovery of 970 new species to science and over 9,000 new records of species for the Park.

The ATBI is managed by the National Park Service and Discover Life in America, a nonprofit organization established to help the NPS administer and coordinate the project by developing resources and partnerships to conduct the inventory and related educational activities.

“Many people think that because the park is protected, there’s no reason to do other work in the park,” said Todd Witcher, executive director of Discover Life in America. “But it’s really hard to protect what you don’t know exists and that really encompasses the things we’re studying and documenting.”

A good analogy of why the ATBI is important is to think about inheriting a large hardware store. One of the first things you’d probably want to do is look at an inventory list in order to understand what’s in the store. That’s exactly what researchers hope to get from the ATBI; an inventory list of all the critters that exist in the Park.

“We do work on the more obscure species, the less charismatic flora and fauna, but most of those make up the most important part of any ecosystem,” said Witcher, who considers dragonflies and damselflies one of the more charismatic insects in the Park.

In addition to their brilliant colors, dragonflies and damselflies play a crucial role in mosquito control. Dragonflies are adept aerial predators and are able to snatch their meals from midair. Some of their favorite snacks are mosquitoes and flies, but they’ve also been seen munching on wasps and other small insects. There is actually a dragonfly called a mosquito hawk because of its voracious appetite for the pesky mosquito.

Keeping Zika Virus at Bay

“We’ve had some introduced mosquitoes here in the last few years, including the Japanese rock hole mosquito that carries encephalitis and the Asian tiger mosquito that brings the West Nile disease,” said Langdon. “Lots of these introduced mosquitos won’t live in the wild. They live in human habitation areas, which elevates the risk of infection of humans and wildlife. Dragonflies take out large numbers of these mosquitoes at a time.” That’s especially good news considering that even mosquitos that carry the Zika virus and dengue fever (Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus) can live in the vicinity of the Smokies.

Dragonflies feed on both the larvae and adult mosquitoes and will hang around open areas in the Park, such as clearings near visitor centers or parking lots, as well as wetlands and streams. Its varied habitat is one of the things Langdon appreciates about dragonflies and damselflies.

“Some of them are wide ranging and found everywhere, but some of them are very habitat specific and only like small streams with sandy bottoms or medium sized streams with rushing water,” said Langdon.

Other habitats for these dragons and damsels include pond edges that have a certain type of marsh or brush around them. Some species can even live in muddy streams that are so small you can step right across them. Dragonflies and damselflies are an important member of the aquatic community. Not only do they keep the mosquito population under control, they also serve as prey for other things like frogs and fish.

The amount of yearly rainfall and elevation range in the park promote a wide array of aquatic and wetland habitats for dragonflies and damselflies. Over 2,000 miles of streams and rivers, as well as numerous small wetlands, seeps and scattered ephemeral ponds exist throughout the Park and provide the perfect habitat for a variety of different dragonflies and damselflies.

Typically, the order Odonata is known for inhabiting wetlands, ponds and slow-moving water. What’s unusual to the Smokies’ dragonfly and damselfly population is that the Park has a lot more flowing water than it does standing water.

“It’s interesting that we see primarily those species that can live in either kind of condition,” said Becky Nichols, the entomologist for the GSMNP. “They can be in either standing water or flowing water. When we get down into the wetland and pond areas, usually at lower elevations, you find more of those that are adapted only for standing water. There are slightly different lifestyles and habitats for all of these 93 species that we have in the Park.”

In fact, most of the records for this group of insects have come from efforts focused on the Park’s long-term aquatic macroinvertebrate monitoring program, which started in 1992.

“If you know the habitats in the Park, you can have better luck finding some of these dragonflies and damselflies,” said Langdon.

Team Odonata

According to the Nature Conservancy, about 18 percent of the Odonata in the United States are globally ranked as “vulnerable” or “imperiled” and, as a group, are ecologically sensitive and face numerous human threats. During early surveys and colleting trips lead by The Dragonfly Society of the Americas, several odonate species were added to the Park’s lists. The group that conducted the first comprehensive inventory of Odonata in the GSMNP was dubbed Team Odonata and included volunteers from Discover Life in America, Park staff in the Resource Management and Science Division, staff from the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont and student interns from the Appalachian Highlands Science Learning Center at Purchase Knob.

In late 2004,Team Odonata surveyed wetlands, ponds and upland marshes in the Cades Cove and Tremont areas of the Park. The team added 7 new dragonflies and 10 new damselflies to the Park list during two field surveys from 2004 to 2005. This list, when combined with historical records, has nearly tripled the Park’s Odonata species. At present, reliable records exist for: 63 dragonflies and 30 damselflies.

A review of additional records from counties surrounding the Park resulted in 41 species of Odonates that have yet to be discovered in the park.

“We expect to find probably around a total of 130 odonates when the ATBI is complete,” said Nichols.

A few noteworthy species on the list include the Williamson’s emerald (Somatochlora williamsoni), Tree-top emerald (S. provocans) and Northern pygmy clubtail (Lanthus parvulus).

Looking Backwards

The Williamson’s emerald is a medium-sized dragonfly with very distinct brilliant green eyes. It prefers slow streams and lakes in shaded habitats and is considered a secretive dragonfly, which results in it not being seen very often. In fact, the last time this dragonfly was seen in the Park was in 1947 by Carl Cook, who discovered it when he recognized something was different on the insect: the brilliant green eyes.

“It took him a long time to capture this dragonfly,” said Langdon. “They are very wary. They can literally see behind them because their eyes are so complex.”

Cook finally captured the dragonfly about 300 miles south from where it had ever been previously found, but no one’s been able to find one in the Park since.

“We’ve looked for it. It’s pretty distinctive,” said Langdon. “It’s found up in Canada, but it’s kind of disappeared from our fauna.”

The Northern pygmy clubtail is a new record for the park and another species discovered at the southern limit of its range. There are only three Lanthus species worldwide and they are some of the oldest known living insects. This dragonfly is identified by its green and black markings and long, club-shaped tail. Two of the species call the Appalachian region home, but have been found as far north as New York. The third is found only in Japan. The Northern pygmy clubtail inhabits forests adjacent to pristine, spring-fed brooks, seepages and small rivers. Larvae are sensitive to excessive sedimentation and as such, make excellent indicators of high water quality.

Because of their sensitivity to sedimentation and pollutants, sampling of dragonfly larvae is an easy and effective way to assess the risk contamination in aquatic ecosystems. In 2012, citizen scientists began assisting with this project in national parks. In GSMNP, the larvae sampling is used to detect mercury contamination in streams and waterways.

Canaries in the Coal Mine

Mercury is a pollutant created by the burning of fossil fuels like coal in power plants. It travels long distances in the atmosphere as tiny particles and gases before settling to the ground by rainfall or snow and ultimately ending up in streams, ponds, wetlands and lakes. When it gets into the water, it is transformed into a more toxic form that can build up in an organism faster than its body can get rid of it through a process called bioaccumulation.

The dragonfly mercury project in the GSMNP tests how dragonfly larvae can serve as indicators of ecosystem health. Before maturing into brightly-colored flying adults, the larvae hatch from eggs in sandy-bottom stream edges or around ponds. They live underwater and feed on other aquatic insects, tadpoles and small fish over the course of one to four years. Dragonfly larvae live in the same stream or pond until they grow to maturity, which makes them a great candidate for the study because the amount of mercury in an organism is linked to the habitat in which an organism lives and the food they consume.

Large predators, such as eagles, bears and even humans, can have up to a million times more mercury than the aquatic areas where they live or hunt because of a factor called biomagnification, which is basically the ongoing accumulation of mercury as it moves its way up the food chain. Toxic effects of mercury include impaired reproductive and neurological development.According to Nichols, the dragonflies in GSMNP do show an elevated mercury level, but further studies and comparison of results from other parks will help determine whether the elevated mercury is cause for concern.

“Dragonflies and damselflies are part of our long term ecological monitoring that we do in the park,” said Nichols.

Every year, researchers and volunteers sample streams in the Park through the aquatic macroinvertebrate monitoring project. They keep track of all the aquatic insects in each spot and look at trend lines over the years to see if the diversity is changing or staying the same. If there’s a decline in diversity at one spot, they try to discover the reason behind the decline. In most cases, according to Nichols, the diversity is staying the same.

“Some species of dragonflies are quite tolerant of stream disturbance, but a lot of them are fairly sensitive,” said Nichols. “Anytime we’re out sampling and we find the larval stage, that’s a really good day.”

The Appalachian Mountains have some endemic dragonflies, according to Langdon. One such species is the Cherokee clubtail (Gomphus consanguis). Adults are usually about 2 inches in length. The male Cherokee clubtail is a dark, slender creature with a gray-green thorax and one thin, black crossline on its face. Female Cherokee clubtails look fairly similar to the male, but with greenish stripes that run almost the full length of its body. This species of dragonfly larvae is usually found in small streams with silty pool bottoms. Adults use these same habitats during breeding season, but are also found in nearby fields and other open habitats, where they eat almost any flying insect they can catch.

River Cruisers

Another dragonfly endemic to the Appalachians is the Margarita river cruiser (Macromia margarita). This species of dragonflies is known for flying right down the middle of streams and rivers at high speeds. Some even fly right down the middle of roads. The river cruisers are large dragonflies with green eyes that almost meet at the top of their heads. The female river cruisers lay their eggs by dipping the tip of their abdomen in the water as they fly over it.

According to Langdon, the river cruisers are a federal species of concern, but have not been listed as federally endangered. “It’s not very common and federal agencies are putting a watch list together from people who report it whenever they find it.”

Entomologists with the University of Texas are also working to compile information about dragonflies and damselflies in order to help identify and track the diversity of Odonata in the United States. Amateur dragon and damsel enthusiasts can take a picture of a specimen and send it to the university where it is then verified and posted on their county atlas for the United States.

Overall, dragonflies and damselflies are becoming more accessible to the general public through what’s known as citizen scientists. More and more individuals are able to identify dragonflies or damselflies using guides that were published over the past decade.

“It’s a chance for ordinary people to become competent biologists in a certain area and to add to the science by studying them naturally in the wild,” said Langdon.

The ATBI project in the Smokies is a perfect opportunity for researchers and citizen scientists to learn more about the diversity of the dragonfly and damselfly populations in the GSMNP and hopefully inspire others to appreciate the smaller critters that make up the greatest percentage of the total life on Earth.

All the Little Things that Run the Earth

According to Witcher, the biodiversity of our planet is disappearing at an alarming rate.

“There’s a prediction that about 60 percent of our diversity will disappear on Earth before we are even able to name it or really find out anything about the value of it, so I think it’s important that people are aware of it,” said Witcher. “People may not think that a bug is all that important in the whole scheme of things, but as E.O. Wilson would say, ‘all the little things that run the Earth are important.’ All the little things are what run the Earth, so we should be protecting them with the same fervor we protect bears and elk.”

Park researchers hope the surge in popularity of looking for dragonflies and damselflies will help raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity within the park. Coupled with the interest from citizen scientists in the ATBI, there is a huge opportunity for education for both youth and adults throughout the many phases of the project. For example, through the National Park Service’s formal environment education program, a high number of students are able to participate in the collection and identification of dragonflies and damselflies by exploring streams and other aquatic habitats in search of larvae. Adult volunteers interested in the ATBI include retired specialists who provide the scientific expertise and knowledge of a variety of insects, including the dragonflies and damselflies that exist in the Park.

Excitement from the ATBI efforts to identify new dragonfly and damselfly species in the park has resulted in a tremendous increase in the knowledge of these species in a short amount of time. So next time you’re heading out to the Park, be sure to grab your binoculars and one of the new guide books for dragonflies and damselflies. Who knows, you might be the person who catches a glimpse at an elusive dragonfly or maybe even be on hand for the discovery of a brand new species.

Originally published in Smokies Life Magazine, Volume 11, #1