The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama, the only bureau of the Smithsonian Institution based outside of the United States, is dedicated to understanding biological diversity. What began in 1923 as a small field station on Barro Colorado Island in the Panama Canal Zone has developed into one of the world's leading research institutions. STRI’s facilities provide a unique opportunity for long-term ecological studies in the tropics, and are used extensively by some 600 visiting scientists from academic and research institutions in the United States and around the world every year. The work of resident scientists has allowed STRI to better understand tropical habitats and has trained hundreds of tropical biologists.
4,000-year-old shaman's stones discovered near Boquete, Panama
Archaeologists working at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama have discovered a cluster of 12 unusual stones in the back of a small, prehistoric rock-shelter near the town of Boquete. The ...
Genetic matchmaking saves endangered frogs
What if Noah got it wrong? What if he paired a male and a female animal thinking they were the same species, and then discovered they were not the same and could not produce offspring? As researchers from ...
For every species of mammal, 300 arthropod species lurk in the rainforest
Climate change may alter amphibian evolution
Most of the more than 6,000 species of frogs in the world lay their eggs in water. But many tropical frogs lay their eggs out of water. This behavior protects the eggs from aquatic predators, such as fish ...
Have thieving rodents saved tropical trees?
Fossil turtle from Colombia round like car tire
Paleontologist Carlos Jaramillo's group at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama and colleagues at North Carolina State University and the Florida Museum of Natural History discovered a new ...
Amazon was not all manufactured landscape before Europeans arrived, scientists report
Population estimates for the Amazon basin just before Europeans arrived range from 2 to 10 million people. The newly reported reconstruction of Amazonian prehistory by Smithsonian scientist Dolores R. Piperno ...