A SMALL WORLD

On his quarter-acre property, one gardener has encountered hundreds of insect species by taking the time to look

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Recently i posted to my Growing Greener podcast an interview with gardener and insect-lover Brian Stewart, which I recorded back in November 2019. Brian is a professor of physics at Wesleyan University and a neighbor of mine. Once every couple of weeks we meet in the morning in his backyard to consume his wonderful cappuccinos. More often than not, our conversation is interrupted by Brian spotting some insect on his native plants and running for his camera.

This is more than a quirk; Brian has been photographing these creatures for his “Insect of the Day” project since 2007, soon after he participated in a local BioBlitz. In these events, a group of biologists and naturalists collaborate with local volunteers to seek out and identify all the species of wildlife—plant and animal—they can fi nd in a given location over a specified period of time (usually 24 hours).

For his BioBlitz, Brian was paired with a coleopterist, a scientist who studies beetles. By the time they recorded their haul and parted ways, Brian had decided to make his own collection of local insects. His wife, Jane, persuaded him to forego the usual approach, which involves killing the insects and pinning them to a board. Instead, Brian opted to collect photographic portraits.