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Noris Salazar

English
Plant Systematics

Of more than 18,000 bryophyte species thought to exist in the world, we’ve counted about 751 moss species, 457 liverwort species and 13 hornwort species in Panama, living in poorly characterized communities.

Noris Salazar Allen
STRI Coral Reef

Identification of volatile compounds from three species of Cyathodium (Marchantiophyta: Cyathodiaceae) and Leiosporoceros dussii (Anthocerotophyta: Leiosporocerotaceae) form Panama and C. foetidissimum from Costa Rica. N. Salazar Allen, A.I. Saldaña, N. Gómez, C. Chung C. & M.P. Gupta. Bol. Soc. Argent. Bot. 52(2): 357-370. 2017.

The enigmatic hornworts of the Cape Horn miniature forests, 2012

My lab works with bryophytes, which are a highly diverse group of non-vascular plants that includes mosses, hornworts and liverworts. We study the distribution of bryophytes in various regions throughout Panama, the type of habitat where they grow and compare their distribution and community composition in response to environmental and anthropogenic factors. We also study their morphology, genetics and chemistry to better understand their evolution, phylogenetic relationships, and the potential usefulness of their secondary metabolites in defending them against pathogens and in fighting disease or biologically controlling pests.

How does bryophyte evolution contribute to abundant tropical biodiversity?

Bryophytes (liverworts, mosses and hornworts) are the extant relatives of the earliest land colonizers and they hold clues of the eco-physiological and chemical adaptations to early life on land. In spite of recent advances, there is still a lack of information on many aspects of the life cycle, ecology and evolution of tropical bryophytes. The basic information on biodiversity and habitat dynamics in Neotropical species is still poorly known, despite the fact that the Neotropics is the richest hotspot of bryophyte diversity. Only through a collaborative and multidisciplinary approach we can address the daunting mysteries of bryophyte evolution and diversification. It remains a fascinating and challenging puzzle.

How does tropical forest composition and structure affect the composition of bryophyte communities? And what are the dynamics of bryophyte communities in different tropical forests?

The structure of the bark of some trees and the structure of the forest – whether it is open, closed, seasonal or wet all the time – are important in determining what bryophytes grow where, and why. Islands and tree species composition can also greatly influence bryophyte communities. This is due to the niches and microclimates that make the difference in what kind of bryophyte community can be developed.

Climate change, pollutants and forest disruption also play a big role in how bryophyte communities are shaped and structured. Some bryophytes prefer sun; others thrive in shade. As a result, a disturbed forest with light gaps may have a very different bryophyte community than a similar undisturbed forest. Some bryophytes have very specific niches and once the niches are gone, those particular bryophytes are gone.

What is the functional significance of endosymbiont associations in thalloid liverworts?

Symbiosis has been crucial in the origin of important evolutionary novelties that determined the successful conquest of land by early land plants.  Bryophytes like other plants have developed epiphytic and endophytic associations particularly with fungi and cyanobacteria. Both leafy and thalloid liverworts frequently develop endosymbiotic association with fungi and, hornworts and few liverworts (e.g., Blasia) with nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria. Our studies focus on the relationships of fungal endosymbionts in two thalloid marchantialean liverworts, Dumortiera and Cyathodium. We are interested in the molecular diversity of fungi and their role in the successful adaptation of these plants to their environments. The information obtained could be useful for further studies on tropical microbiomes particularly in the Neotropics.

Do tropical liverworts produce compounds with biomedical or agricultural importance?

Chemically, liverworts have been one of the most studied bryophyte groups. Most liverworts have oil bodies, unique membrane bound organelles that synthesize many secondary metabolites (e.g., terpenoids and many aromatic compounds). These compounds have been useful as chemosystematic indicators and are also known to be bioactive against fungi, bacteria, some viruses, various food microorganisms, certain strains of cancer cells and some nematodes.

B.A., Trinity College, 1969.

M.A., State University of New York, 1973.

Ph.D., University of Alberta, 1986.

Identification of volatile compounds from three species of Cyathodium (Marchantiophyta: Cyathodiaceae) and Leiosporoceros dussii (Anthocerotophyta: Leiosporocerotaceae) form Panama and C. foetidissimum from Costa Rica. N. Salazar Allen, A.I. Saldaña, N. Gómez, C. Chung C. & M.P. Gupta. Bol. Soc. Argent. Bot. 52(2): 357-370. 2017.

Morfología y distribución de Dolotortula mniifolia y Trachyphyllum dusenii (Bryophyta) en Panamá. J.Gudiño L. & N. Salazar Allen. Bol. Soc. Argent. Bot. 52(2): 331-340. 2017.

Nuevas adiciones de especies de hepáticas (Marchantiophyta) para la flora de Panamá II. G. Dauphin, N. Salazar Allen, J.A. Gudiño, A. Sierra & D. Reyes. Brenesia 83-84: 16-21. 2015.

Forrest, L. L., Salazar Allen, N., Gudiño, J. A., Korpelainen, H., & Long, D. G. 2011. Molecular and morphological evidence for distinct species in Dumortiera (Dumortieraceae). The Bryologist 114(1): 102-115.

Salazar Allen, N., & Tan, B. C. 2010. Octoblepharum arthrocormoides (Calymperaceae) in N. Salazar Allen & B.C. Tan, sp. nov., a new species from Tropical Asia. Botany, 88(4), 439-442.

Bischler-Causse. H., Gradstein, S. R., Jovet-Ast, S., Long, D. G., & Salazar Allen, N. 2005. Marchantiidae. Flora Neotropica, 131-141. 

Salazar Allen, N., Lépiz, E., De Gracia, J.E. 2004. Cyathodium foetidissimum (Marchantiales) an Asiatic species new to Tropical America. The Bryologist 107: 41-46. 2004.

Gradstein, S. R., Churchill, S. P., & Salazar Allen, N. 2001. Guide to the Bryophytes of Tropical America. Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden, 86, 1-577.

Korpelainen, H., Salazar Allen, N. 1999. Genetic variation in three species of epiphytic Octoblepharum(Leucobryaceae). Nova Hedwigia 68(3-4): 281-290.

Salazar Allen, N. 1993. A revision of the pantropical moss genus Leucophanes Brid. Bryophytorum Bibliotheca 46: 1-281. J. Cramer. Berlin.

salazarn [at] si.edu
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Noris Salazar Allen
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Noris Salazar

Name

Noris

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Salazar Allen

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Staff Scientist
Discipline (Private): 
Long-term monitoring
Department: 
Staff scientists

D. Ross Robertson

English
Biogeography Taxonomy

Much of what is supposed to be mimicry among tropical reef fishes could be a figment of overly enthusiastic imaginations.

D. Ross Robertson
STRI Coral Reef

Repeated invasions into the twilight zone: evolutionary origins of a novel assemblage of fishes from deep Caribbean reefs

Molecular phylogeny, analysis of character evolution, and submersible collections enable a new classification of a diverse group of gobies (Teleostei: Gobiidae: Nes subgroup), including nine new species and four new genera, 2016

Fishes: Greater Caribbean – A Guide to the Shorefishes of the Caribbean & Adjacent Areas
Fishes: East Pacific – A Guide to the Shorefishes of the Tropical Eastern Pacific

Since I joined STRI’s scientific staff in 1975, I have conducted field research on a broad range of topics relating to the reproductive biology, demography, population biology, behavior, community ecology, evolution and biogeography of tropical reef fishes, with an emphasis on those species that live in the Neotropical seas on both sides of the Americas.

Biogeography of Neotropical marine fish faunas

Photographs and data for shorefishes on both sides of the Central American isthmus have led to the creation of comprehensive digital field guides and advanced understanding of fish species distribution. The research included the first quantitative analyses of the geographic limits and large-scale subdivisions of the distributions of the shorefishes of the two regions, and assessed how those patterns relate to environmental variation. This has provided a new appreciation of the regions’ biogeography, particularly in the Caribbean, where it revealed previously unsuspected patterns. We have also used that information to predict the actual size of the fauna of the tropical eastern Pacific and are working on a similar prediction for the Greater Caribbean. While the latter region has one of the most well studied shorefish faunas in the world, recent advances in genetic analyses have forced the realization that many presumed widespread species are in fact complexes of multiple, usually allopatric, species and that the biodiversity of this region is much higher than previously thought.

Deep reef fishes of the Caribbean

Due to their accessibility to scuba diving scientists, most of what we know about the Caribbean area reef-fish fauna relates to shallow water species. However, a substantial part of that fauna comprises deep-reef fishes that live well below the limits of scientific divers. While modern rebreather diving allows access to greater depths, it cannot extend to the lower depth limits of deeper living species.

Submarines provide access to the full range of fish species depths, and, most importantly, allow collecting of specimens. I am a participant in DROP (Deep Reef Observation Program), a joint effort by the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum and STRI to study deep reef fishes using a manned submersible based at Curaçao.

This represents the first submarine-based collecting of deep-reef fishes, and of information on their depth distributions, in the southern Caribbean. It also represents a resumption of U.S. efforts to document tropical deep reef fish faunas along and near its Atlantic shores, a program that terminated decades ago. Our submarine-based collecting at Curaçao has shown how little we know: in an area of only several hectares of reef adjacent to the submarine base, one third of the deep reef fishes we have collected are new to science, and we have encountered new species at every new site around the shores of that small island that we have visited with the submersible. These discoveries provide the impetus for expanding the activities of this submarine to other parts of the Greater Caribbean.

Invasive marine fishes

Only a small handful of exotic marine fishes native to areas outside the Atlantic and eastern Pacific are known to have successfully invaded the Neotropics. My current research includes study of a new invasion by one such Indo-Pacific species, which was discovered in the southwest Gulf of Mexico in 2013. We are working to determine the site of origin of this species, the mode of its introduction, and the full extent of its current geographic range in the Gulf of Mexico. We are also working on estimating its success relative to its native area, the extent of any ecological impact on native reef fishes in the Caribbean area, and the likelihood of its further spread.

The Cobia, a large predatory fish that can be two meters long and weigh up to 78 kilograms, was recently released into the Eastern Pacific through the escape of many thousands of juveniles from a sea cage aquaculture facility in Ecuador. This entirely predictable event occurred a few months after the facility began operation. Cobia does not naturally occur in the Eastern Pacific or across the remaining eastern three quarters — or 13,000 km — of the Pacific. Some of those escaped juveniles travelled at least 1,000 km to Panama in less than three months after their release, indicating a potential for this highly migratory species to spread rapidly. Fish biologists at all Pacific American countries between Peru and the United States and at potential invasion sites in the central Pacific (the Marquesas and Hawaiian Islands) have been alerted to record data about any Cobia captures. This information will allow documentation of the rate and extent of its spread, and estimation of its success in establishing a resident population in the Eastern Pacific. It is not yet possible to determine if such a population will become established and what impact it will have if that occurs.

Mimicry in tropical reef fishes

Describing new cases of supposed mimicry among tropical reef fishes is a popular pastime among reef fish biologists. However, examples involving precise similarity and multifaceted interactions between a model and a true mimic are relatively rare among such fishes. In many (perhaps most) cases, pairs of species probably independently evolved shared similarities in their appearance. These similarities may have led to the development of behavioral associations between such pairs of species through one learning that there are rewards to be gained from doing so. Ongoing research on this topic includes examination of interactions between models and their supposed mimics, and of geographic variation in degrees of resemblance and associations among such pairs.

Feeding biology of parrotfishes

Parrotfishes are common and abundant members of tropical reef fish faunas. The prevailing wisdom concerning their feeding biology is that they are herbivores that consume benthic macroalgae, and, in doing so, help the establishment and growth of living corals. Recent research pioneered by my collaborators in Australia indicates that for some parrotfish species, this view is erroneous and that they actually consume and digest microorganisms that are either scraped from the surfaces of rocky reef substrata or are imbedded in and excavated from below those surfaces. We plan to test this revisionary idea on a complex of species found on Eastern Pacific reefs, which include not only scraping and excavating species, but also a common hybrid between scraper and excavator species. That test would include the first genetic assessment of what these fish are actually consuming and the first stable-isotope determination of what ingested species they are actually digesting.

Diffusion of information through electronic applications on Neotropical shorefish faunas

A long-standing interest in identification guides for tropical reef fishes led me to begin development of a guide book on Tropical Eastern Pacific shorefishes in 1990. Electronic media allow not only the presentation of large numbers of images and other graphical material very economically but also the inclusion and analyses of quantitative data on fish faunas. Shortly after that guide book was released, tools for adaptation of this material to an electronic format became available, which led to the production of a bilingual CD version of the guide, followed by website adaptation and expansion of that guide. This in turn was followed by an equivalent website for the shorefish fauna of the Greater Caribbean, the sister biogeographic region to the Tropical Eastern Pacific on the other side of the Central American isthmus, and most recently, to iOS mobile versions of the websites for both those faunas. The mobile apps are currently being redeveloped to provide both iOS and Android versions. With the completion of these the material in the websites will become available across all major platform types currently in use. Between them, these two app families, which are unique for tropical marine fishes, cover almost 3,000 species, or about 20% of all named tropical shorefishes.

Besides the updating of information in these to app-families to incorporate new taxonomic information and new data on the ranges and ecology of member fishes, ongoing work on these app families is aimed at two aspects: (1) The incorporation of an Image Identification API (one that has been trained using images from these websites), a small, independent program imbedded within the website that will allow users to identify fish in images taken in each region that are presented to the API in that region’s website; and (2) Expansion of the coverage in each fauna to include deepwater and oceanic species.

B.Sc. University of Queensland, Australia, 1966

Ph.D. University of Queensland, Australia, 1974

Robertson DR, Tornabene L, Lardizabal CC,  Baldwin CC 2022. Submersibles greatly enhance research on the diversity of deep-reef fishes in the Greater Caribbean. Frontiers in Marine Science. 8:800250. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.800250

Carlon DB, Robertson DR, Barron RL, Choat JH, Anderson DJ, Schwartz SA, Sanchez-Ortiz CA 2021 The origin of the parrotfish species Scarus compressus in the Tropical Eastern Pacific: region-wide hybridization between ancient species pairs. BMC Ecology and Evolution 21, 7, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-020-01731-3

Robertson DR, Dominguez-Dominguez O, Solís-Guzmán MG, Kingon KC 2021. Origins of isolated populations of an Indo-Pacific damselfish at opposite ends of the Greater Caribbean. Aquatic Invasions 16. https://doi.org/10.3391/ai.2021.16.2.04

Chollett I, Robertson DR. 2020 Comparing biodiversity databases: Greater Caribbean reef fishes as a case study. Fish and Fisheries 2020;00:1–18. https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.12497

Robertson DR, Van Tassell JVT (2019) Shorefishes of the Greater Caribbean: online information system. Version 2.0. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Panama https://biogeodb.stri.si.edu/caribbean/en/pages

Robertson, DR, Baldwin, CC, Bellwood, D, Pyle, R, Smith-Vaniz W., Tornabene, L, Van Tassell, James L. 2019. Aspiration or expiration: hypoxia and the interpretation of fish predation in the fossil record. Palaios, 34: 245-247. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2110/palo.2019.027

RobertsonDR [at] si.edu
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D. Ross Robertson
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Emeritus

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D. Ross Robertson

Name

D. Ross

Last name

Robertson
Discipline (Private): 
Bioinformatics
Exploration
Fisheries and Marine Conservation
Marine Biology
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Staff scientists

Rachel Page

English
Animal Behavior Evolutionary Biology Ecology

Animals often face opposing selection forces. To pass on their genes to the next generation, they must attract mates. But to survive, they must evade detection by eavesdropping predators. This classic conundrum, the tug between reproduction on the one hand and predation on the other, shadows and shapes much of the animal world.

Rachel Page
STRI Coral Reef

Food-sharing vampire bats are more nepotistic under conditions of perceived risk, 2017

Revisiting adaptations of neotropical katydids (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) to gleaning bat predation, 2017

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Gamboa Bat Night

In our lab, we investigate sensory and cognitive mechanisms underlying animal behavior. Animals use a wide array of cues and signals to glean information about their environment. An animal’s sensory and perceptual systems filter incoming stimuli and define an animal’s Umwelt, or the specific way it perceives the world. Bats are a highly diverse ecological group, and variation in their use of sensory modalities, foraging strategies, and social information makes them excellent candidates for in depth studies of sensory and cognitive ecology.

One of the great joys of being positioned in Panamá is having our field sites right outside our laboratory doors, allowing us the opportunity to dive deeply into natural history. By closely observing animals in nature, and then designing hypothesis-driven tests that we can conduct outdoor flight chambers, we shed light on the sensory and cognitive tools animals use to make sense of the world around them.

How do predators shape their prey, and how, in turn, do prey shape their predators?

Focusing on Neotropical bats, katydids and frogs, we study the dynamics that shape predator-prey interactions. We investigate the mechanisms that enable predators to find their prey, and those that help their prey avoid them. Our investigations include eavesdropping, learning, memory, signal evolution, and the exploitation of multimodal communication courtship displays.

What are the costs and benefits of multimodal courtship display?

The male túngara frog competes for mates using multimodal advertisement signals. Males gather in shallow bodies of water in the forest at night, producing loud mating calls which increase in complexity when acoustically competing with other males. To produce their calls, males shuttle air back and forth across their vocal folds, between the body cavity and a large, visually conspicuous vocal sac. Both female frogs and eavesdropping bats attend to the sound of the mating call as well as to the movement of the dynamically inflating and deflating vocal sac, female frogs using vision, bats using echolocation. Vocal sac inflation, in turn, generates ripples on the water surface that influences calling in nearby males, and increases attractiveness to predatory bats. This trimodal communication system (acoustic, visual/echolocation, seismic), exploited by both intended and unintended receivers, provides fertile ground for experiments investigating the costs and benefits of multimodal courtship display.

How do learning and memory shape foraging success?

The acquisition, retention, and retrieval of information is critical to successful foraging. Through studies both in the lab and in the field, our group is investigating flexibility, learning, and memory in predator foraging behavior. Frog-eating bats use prey mating calls to detect, locate and assess their prey. Based on the frog mating call alone, bats can distinguish between palatable and poisonous prey. We have shown that bats can rapidly alter their prey-cue/prey-quality associations in response to variation in foraging success, and that forging information can be quickly spread from bat to bat via social learning. We are currently investigating the role of long-term memory in foraging success, and how social learning affects foraging dynamics in the wild.

How do animals process, represent and use multimodal sensory information in the natural world?

New technology is allowing us to address questions in ways that were not possible just a few years ago. We are attaching GPS loggers, proximity sensors, and miniature ultrasonic microphones on free-flying bats in nature. These technologies are allowing us an unprecedented view into predators’ sensory worlds.

Origins of Species and Societies

B.A., Columbia University, 1996.

Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin, 2008.

Dixon MM, Jones PL, Ryan MJ, Carter GG, Page RA. 2022. Long-term memory in frog-eating bats. Current Biology. 32, R557-R558. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.05.031.

Bernal XE, Page RA. 2022. Tactics of evasion: strategies used by signallers to deter eavesdropping enemies from exploiting communication systems. Biological Reviews. doi: 10.1111/brv.12904.

Page RA, ter Hofstede HM. 2021. Sensory and cognitive ecology of bats. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics. 52: 541-562. doi: 10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-012921-052635.

Geipel I, Lattenkamp EZ, Dixon MM, Wiegrebe L, Page RA. 2021. Hearing sensitivity: an underlying mechanism for niche differentiation in gleaning bats. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 118: e2024943118.

Muñoz-Romo M, Page RA, Kunz TH. Redefining the study of sexual dimorphism in bats: following the odor trail. Mammal Review. doi: 10.1007/s00265-020-02914-0.

Page RA, Bernal XE. 2020. The challenge of detecting prey: Private and social information use in predatory bats. Functional Ecology. 34: 344-363. doi: 10.1111/1365-2435.13439.

Page, RA, Jones, PL. 2017. Overcoming sensory uncertainty: factors affecting foraging decisions in frog-eating bats. In: Perception and Cognition in Animal Communication (volume editors, MA Bee and CT Miller), in the book series Animal Signals and Communication (series editors: P.K. McGregor and V.M. Janik). Springer. pp 285-312.

Gomes, DGE, Page, RA, Geipel, I, Taylor, RC, Ryan, MJ, Halfwerk W. 2016. Bats perceptually weight prey cues across sensory systems when hunting in noise. Science. 353: 1277-1280. DOI 10.1126/science.aaf7934.

Jones, PL, Page, RA, Ratcliffe, JM. 2016. To scream or to listen? Prey detection and discrimination in animal-eating bats. In: Bat Bioacoustics (volume editors: B. Fenton and A. Grinnell; series editor: A. Popper). Springer. pp. 93-116.

Ramakers JJC, Dechmann DKN, Page RA, O’Mara MT. 2016. Frugivorous bats prefer information from novel social partners. Animal Behaviour. 116: 83-87.

Falk, JJ, ter Hofstede, HM, Jones, PL, Dixon, MM, Faure, PA, Kalko, EKV, Page, RA. 2015. Sensory-based niche partitioning in a multiple predator-multiple prey community. Proceedings of the Royal Society Series B. 282: 20150520. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.0520.

Fugère, V, O'Mara, MT, Page, RA. 2015. Perceptual bias does not explain preference for prey call adornment in the frog-eating bat. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. DOI 10.1007/s00265-015-1949-2.

Rhebergen, F, Taylor, RC, Ryan, MJ, Page, RA, Halfwerk, W. 2015. Multimodal cues improve prey localisation under complex environmental conditions. Proceedings of the Royal Society Series B. 282: 20151403. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.1403.

Jones, PL, Ryan, MJ, Page, RA. 2014. Population and seasonal variation in response to prey calls by an eavesdropping bat. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. DOI 10.1007/s00265-013-1675-6.

Clarin, TMA, Borissov, I, Page, RA, Ratcliffe, JM, Siemers, BM. 2014. Social learning within and across species: information transfer in mouse-eared bats. Canadian Journal of Zoology. 129-139. DOI 10.1139/cjz-2013-0211.

Halfwerk, W, Jones, PL, Taylor, RC, Ryan, MJ, Page, RA. 2014. Risky ripples allow bats and frogs to eavesdrop on a multisensory sexual display. Science. 342: 413-416, DOI 10.1126/science.1244812.

Page, RA, Ryan, MJ, Bernal, XE. 2014. Be loved, be prey, be eaten. In: Animal Behavior, vol 3. Case Studies: Integration and Application of Animal Behavior (ed., K. Yasukawa), New York: Praeger. pp. 123-154.

Jones, PL, Ryan, MJ, Page, RA. 2013. When to approach novel prey cues? Social learning strategies in frog-eating bats. Proceedings of the Royal Society Series B. 280.

Page, RA, Schnelle, T, Kalko, EKV, Bunge, T, Bernal, X.E. 2012. Reassessment of prey through sequential use of multiple sensory cues by an eavesdropping bat. Naturwissenschaften 99: 505-509.

Akre, KL, Farris, HE, Lea, AM, Page, RA, Ryan, MJ. 2011. Signal perception in frogs and bats and the evolution of mating signals. Science 333: 751-752.

Page, RA, Ryan, MJ. 2008. The effect of signal complexity on localization performance in bats that localize frog calls. Animal Behaviour 76: 761-769.

Page, RA, Ryan, MJ. 2006. Social transmission of novel foraging behavior in bats: frog calls and their referents. Current Biology 16: 1201-1205.

PageR [at] si.edu
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STRI Panama
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Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI)

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Rachel A. Page

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Rachel

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Page

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Staff Scientist
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Owen McMillan

English
Molecular Genetics and Genomics Evolutionary Biology Biodiversity

I am broadly interested in the origins and genetic basis of adaptive variation. This variation is often the product of natural selection. Identifying it and understanding how it works represent both the challenge and promise of modern biology.

Owen McMillan
STRI Coral Reef

Facultative pupal mating in Heliconius erato: implications for mate choice, female preference and speciation. Ecology and Evolution, 8(3):1882-1889.

Macro-evolutionary shifts of WntA function potentiate butterfly wing pattern diversity, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 114 (40):10701-10706.

Complex modular architecture around a simple toolkit of wing pattern genes. Nature Ecology and Evolution, 1:0052.

Gamboa Heliconius

I am broadly interested in the genetics of adaptation and speciation. How do new species form? How does adaptive variation arise and spread? How is morphological variation created through development and modified by natural selection? Is evolution predictable?

The focus of my lab’s research in recent years has been the convergent evolution of wing pattern development in Heliconius butterflies (for which my lab contributed to sequencing the entire genome) throughout the New World tropics. In addition to broad geographic sampling of butterflies, my research group also maintains populations of various species of Heliconius in insectaries in Gamboa, Panama, that can be used for experimental crosses.

As Dean of Academic programs, I oversee STRI’s large group of visiting scholars who number 800 every year, hail from dozens of countries and research institutions, and range in expertise from interns to postdoctoral fellows.

How do differences between organisms arise and spread?

My research leverages genomic technologies to identify functionally important regions of the genome. Recent research has focused on the evolution of wing patterns in Heliconius butterflies. The enormous wing pattern variation in the group offers exceptional opportunities for genomic level studies designed to reveal how morphological variation is created through development and modified by natural selection within the context of an extraordinary adaptive radiation. I maintain an active molecular genetic lab, as well as experimental facilities for Heliconius culture and study.

Duke University, Zoology, B.Sc., 1985

University of Hawaii, Zoology, M.Sc., 1991

University of Hawaii, Zoology, Ph.D., 1994

University College London, Genetics, Postdoctoral, 1994-1997

Hench, K., M. Helmkampf, W. O. McMillan, and O. Puebla.  (2022) Rapid radiation in a highly diverse marine environment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119 (4): e2020457119.

Livraghi, L., J. J. Hanly, S. M. Van Bellghem, G. Montejo-Kovacevich, E. van Der Heijden, L. S. Loh, A. Ren, I. A. Warren, J. J. Lewis, C. Concha, L. Hebberecht, C. J. Wright, J. M. Walker, J. Foley, Z. H. Goldberg, H. Arenas-Castro, C. Salazar, M. Perry, R. Papa, A.  Martin, W. O. McMillan*, and C. D. Jiggins*.  (2021)  Cortex cis-regulatory switches establish scale colour identity and pattern diversity in Heliconius. Elife, 10: https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.68549.

Rossi, M., T. J. Thurman, A. E. Hausmann, S. H. Montgomery, R. Papa, C. D. Jiggins, W. O McMillan, and R. M. Merrill.  (2021)  Visual mate preference evolution during butterfly speciation is linked to neural processing genes.  Nature Communications, 11(1).1-10.

Thurman, T.*, E. Brodie*, E. Evans and W. O. McMillan. (2018) Facultative pupal mating in Heliconius erato: implications for mate choice, female preference and speciation. Ecology and Evolution, 8(3):1882-1889.

Mazo-Vargas, A., C. Concha, L. Livraghi, D. Massardo, W. R. Wallbank, L. Zhang, J. Papador, D. Martinez-Najera, C. D. Jiggins, M. R. Kronforst, C. J. Breuker, R. D. Reed, N. H Patel, W. O. McMillan and A. Martin. (2017) Macro-evolutionary shifts of WntA function potentiate butterfly wing pattern diversity, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 114 (40):10701-10706.

Van Belleghem, S. M., P. Rastas, A. Papanicolaou, S. H. Martin, J. J. Hanly, J. Mallet, J. J. Lewis, H. M. Hines, M. Ruiz, G. R. P. Moreira, C. D. Jiggins, B. A. Counterman*, W. O. McMillan* and R. Papa*. (2017) Complex modular architecture around a simple toolkit of wing pattern genes. Nature Ecology and Evolution, 1:0052.

Nadeau, N. J., C. Pardo-Diaz, A. Wibley, M. Supple, R. Wallbank, G. Wu, L. Maroja, L. Ferguson, H. Hines, C. Salazar, R. J. Tetley, S. Carl, R. ffrench-Constant, M. Joron, W. O. McMillan and C. D. Jiggins. (2016) The origins of a novel butterfly wing patterning gene from within a family of conserved cell cycle regulators. Nature 534(7605): 106–110. doi:10.1038/nature17961.

Supple, M. A., R. Papa, B. A. Counterman and W. Owen McMillan (2013) The genomics of an adaptive radiation– insights across the Heliconius speciation continuum. In Ecological Genomics, 249-271. Landry, C.R. and Aubin-Horth, N. (Eds). Springer.

Supple, M. A., H. M. Hines, K. K. Dasmahapatra, D. M. Nielsen, C. Lavoie, D. A. Ray, C. Salazar, W. O. McMillan*, and B. A. Counterman* (2013) Genomic architecture of adaptive color pattern divergence and convergence in Heliconius butterflies. Genome Research, 23:1248-1257.

Martin, A., R. Papa, N. J. Nadeau, R. I. Hill, B. A.Counterman, G. Halder, C. D. Jiggins, M. R. Kronforst, A Long, W. O. McMillan*, and R. D. Reed* (2012) Diversification of complex butterfly wing patterns by repeated regulator evolution of WntA. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 109(31):12632-12637.

Puebla, O., Bermingham, E., and W. O. McMillan (2012) On the spatial scale of dispersal in coral reef fishes. Molecular Ecology, 21:5675-5688

The Heliconius Genome Consortium (2012) Heliconius butterfly genome reveals promiscuous exchange of adaptive genetic variation among species. Nature, 487(7405): 94-98.

Hines, H. M., B. A. Counterman, R. Papa, P. Albuquerque de Moura, M. Z. Cardoso, M. Linares, J. Mallet, R. D. Reed, C. D. Jiggins, M. R. Kronforst, and W. O. McMillan (2011) Wing patterning gene redefines the mimetic history of Heliconius butterflies. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 118(49): 19666-19671.

Reed, R. D.*, R. Papa*, A. Martin, H. M. Hines, B. A. Counterman, C. Pardo-Diaz, C. D. Jiggins, N. L. Chamberlain, M. R. Kronforst, R. Chen, G. Halder, H. F. Nijhout, and W. O. McMillan (2011) optixs drives repeated convergent evolution in butterfly color pattern mimicry. Science, 333: 1137-1141

mcmillano [at] si.edu
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Owen McMillan
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Name

Owen

Last name

McMillan

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Staff Scientist
Discipline (Private): 
Evolutionary Ecology
Developmental Biology
Department: 
Staff scientists

Sean McMahon

English
Ecology

The most exciting component of the temperate program in ForestGEO is the extended network of scientists who bring expertise in numerous fields to bear on the important challenges facing Earth’s forest systems.

Sean McMahon
STRI Coral Reef

Tree circumference dynamics in four forests characterized using automated dendrometer bands

CTFS-ForestGEO: a worldwide network monitoring forests in an era of global change, 2015

ForestGeo Vertebrates Program

My primary research focuses on the ecological mechanisms that structure forest communities and determine their fine- and large-scale spatial and temporal dynamics. This research spans topics as diverse as forest demography, functional traits, canopy structure and change over succession, spatial patterns and shifts of temperate and tropical forest tree species, and how climate change influences biomass shifts over stand development. The work combines field research, advanced statistical analyses, computer simulations, and enjoys the collaboration of a global network of scientists in forest ecology, statistics, computer science, and climate science.

The ForestGEO network of forest plots has long offered forest scientists an important way to test whether local observed patterns reflect global processes. The temperate forest plots extend this program to critical biomes that show high-biomass and high growth, and many of the spatial and temporal patterns observed in tropical forests, all with many fewer species. Further, most temperate forests have a long history of human influence, both directly and indirectly, and their study offers critical information about how natural systems can be affected by and respond to human influence.

University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Ph.D. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. 2007.

University of Tennessee, Knoxville. M.S. Statistics 2006

University College Dublin M.A. in English Literature. 1993

University of Texas, Austin. B.A. in Honors Liberal Arts. 1992

Chang-Yang, Chia-Hao, Needham, Jessica, Lu, Chia-Ling, Hsieh, Chang-Fu, Sun, I-Fang and McMahon, Sean M. (2021). Closing the life cycle of forest trees: The difficult dynamics of seedling-to-sapling transitions in a subtropical rainforest. Journal of Ecology, https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13677

Chitra-Tarak, Rutuja, Xu, Chonggang, Aguilar, Salomon, Anderson-Teixeira, Kristina J., Chambers, Jeff, Detto, Matteo, Faybishenko, Boris, Fisher, Rosie A., Knox, Ryan G., Koven, Charles D., Kueppers, Lara M., Kunert, Nobert, Kupers, Stefan J., McDowell, Nate G., Newman, Brent D., Paton, Steven R., Perez, Rolando, Ruiz, Laurent, Sack, Lawren, Warren, Jeffrey M., Wolfe, Brett T., Wright, Cynthia, Wright, S. Joseph, Zailaa, Joseph and McMahon, Sean M. (2021). Hydraulically-vulnerable trees survive on deep-water access during droughts in a tropical forest. New Phytologist, https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.17464

Davies, Stuart J., Abiem, Iveren, Abu Salim, Kamariah, Aguilar, Salomon, Allen, David, Alonso, Alfonso, Anderson-Teixeira, Kristina J., Andrade, Ana, Arellano, Gabriel, Ashton, Peter S., Baker, Patrick J., Baker, Matthew E., Baltzer, Jennifer L., Basset, Yves, Bissiengou, Pulcherie, Bohlman, Stephanie, Bourg, Norman A., Brockelman, Warren Y., Bunyavejchewin, Sarayudh, Burslem, David F. R. P., Cao, Min, Cardenas, Dairon, Chang, Li-Wan, Chang-Yang, Chia-Hao, Chao, Kuo-Jung, et al. (2021). ForestGEO: Understanding forest diversity and dynamics through a global observatory network. Biological Conservation, 253 , 108907-108907. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108907

Poyatos, Rafael, Granda, Victor, Flo, Victor, Adams, Mark A., Adorjan, Balazs, Aguade, David, Aidar, Marcos P. M., Allen, Scott, Susana Alvarado-Barrientos, M., Anderson-Teixeira, Kristina J., Aparecido, Luiza Maria, Arain, M. Altaf, Aranda, Ismael, Asbjornsen, Heidi, Baxter, Robert, Beamesderfer, Eric, Berry, Z. Carter, Berveiller, Daniel, Blakely, Bethany, Boggs, Johnny, Bohrer, Gil, Bolstad, Paul, V., Bonal, Damien, Bracho, Rosvel, Brito, Patricia, et al. (2021). Global transpiration data from sap flow measurements: the SAPFLUXNET database. Earth System Science Data, 13 (6) , 2607-2649. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-2607-2021

Sedio, Brian E., Spasojevic, Marko J., Myers, Jonathan A., Wright, S. Joseph, Person, Maria D., Chandrasekaran, Hamssika, Dwenger, Jack H., Prechi, Maria Laura, Lopez, Christian A., Allen, David N., Anderson-Teixeira, Kristina J., Baltzer, Jennifer L., Bourg, Norman A., Castillo, Buck T., Day, Nicola J., Dewald-Wang, Emily, Dick, Christopher W., James, Timothy Y., Kueneman, Jordan G., LaManna, Joseph, Lutz, James A., McGregor, Ian R., McMahon, Sean M., Parker, Geoffrey G., Parker, John D., et al. (2021). Chemical Similarity of Co-occurring Trees Decreases With Precipitation and Temperature in North American Forests. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 9 https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.679638

Fung, Tak, Chisholm, Ryan A., Anderson-Teixeira, Kristina J., Bourg, Norm, Brockelman, Warren Y., Bunyavejchewin, Sarayudh, Chang‐Yang, Chia-Hao, Chitra‐Tarak, Rutuja, Chuyong, George, Condit, Richard, Dattaraja, Handanakere S., Davies, Stuart J., Ewango, Corneille E. N., Fewless, Gary, Fletcher, Christine, Gunatilleke, C. V. S., Gunatilleke, I. A. U. N., Hao, Zhanqing, Hogan, J. A., Howe, Robert, Hsieh, Chang-Fu, Kenfack, David, Lin, YiChing, Ma, Keping, Makana, Jean-Remy, et al. (2020). Temporal population variability in local forest communities has mixed effects on tree species richness across a latitudinal gradient . Ecology Letters, 23 (1) , 160-171. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13412

Russo, Sabrina E., McMahon, Sean M., Detto, Matteo, Ledder, Glenn, Wright, S. Joseph, Condit, Richard S., Davies, Stuart J., Ashton, Peter S., Bunyavejchewin, Sarayudh, Chang-Yang, Chia-Hao, Ediriweera, Sisira, Ewango, Corneille E. N., Fletcher, Christine, Foster, Robin B., Gunatilleke, C. V. Savi, Gunatilleke, I. A. U. Nimal, Hart, Terese, Hsieh, Chang-Fu, Hubbell, Stephen P., Itoh, Akira, Kassim, Abdul Rahman, Leong, Yao Tze, Lin, Yi Ching, Makana, Jean-Remy, Mohamad, Mohizah Bt, et al. (2020). The interspecific growth-mortality trade-off is not a general framework for tropical forest community structure. Nature Ecology & Evolution, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-01340-9

Walker, Anthony P., De Kauwe, Martin G., Bastos, Ana, Belmecheri, Soumaya, Georgiou, Katerina, Keeling, Ralph, McMahon, Sean M., Medlyn, Belinda E., Moore, David J. P., Norby, Richard J., Zaehle, Sönke, Anderson-Teixeira, Kristina J., Battipaglia, Giovanna, Brienen, Roel J. W., Cabugao, Kristine G., Cailleret, Maxime, Campbell, Elliott, Canadell, Josep, Ciais, Philippe, Craig, Matthew E., Ellsworth, David, Farquhar, Graham, Fatichi, Simone, Fisher, Joshua B., Frank, David, et al. (2020). Integrating the evidence for a terrestrial carbon sink caused by increasing atmospheric CO2 . The New Phytologist, https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.16866

Walker, Anthony P., De Kauwe, Martin G., Bastos, Ana, Belmecheri, Soumaya, Georgiou, Katerina, Keeling, Ralph, McMahon, Sean M., Medlyn, Belinda E., Moore, David J. P., Norby, Richard J., Zaehle, Sönke, Anderson‐Teixeira, Kristina J., Battipaglia, Giovanna, Brienen, Roel J. W., Cabugao, Kristine G., Cailleret, Maxime, Campbell, Elliott, Canadell, Josep, Ciais, Philippe, Craig, Matthew E., Ellsworth, David, Farquhar, Graham, Fatichi, Simone, Fisher, Joshua B., Frank, David, et al. (2020). Integrating the evidence for a terrestrial carbon sink caused by increasing atmospheric CO 2 . New Phytologist, https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.16866

Albert, Loren P., Restrepo-Coupe, Natalia, Smith, Marielle N., Wu, Jin, Chavana-Bryant, Cecilia, Prohaska, Neill, Taylor, Tyeen C., Martins, Giordane A., Ciais, Philippe, Mao, Jiafu, Arain, M. A., Li, Wei, Shi, Xiaoying, Ricciuto, Daniel M., Huxman, Travis E., McMahon, Sean M. and Saleska, Scott R. (2019). Cryptic phenology in plants: case studies, implications and recommendations . Global Change Biology, 25 (11) , 3591-3608. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14759

Briscoe, Natalie J., Elith, Jane, Salguero-Gómez, Roberto, Lahoz-Monfort, Jos, Camac, James S., Giljohann, Katherine M., Holden, Matthew H., Hradsky, Bronwyn A., Kearney, Michael R., McMahon, Sean M., Phillips, Ben L., Regan, Tracey J., Rhodes, Jonathan R., Vesk, Peter A., Wintle, Brendan A., Yen, Jian D. L. and Guillera-Arroita, Gurutzeta. (2019). Forecasting species range dynamics with process-explicit models: matching methods to applications . Ecology Letters, 22 (11) , 1940-1956. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13348

Fung, Tak, Chisholm, Ryan A., Anderson-Teixeira, Kristina, Bourg, Norm, Brockelman, Warren Y., Bunyavejchewin, Sarayudh, Chang-Yang, Chia-Hao, Chitra-Tarak, Rutuja, Chuyong, George, Condit, Richard, Dattaraja, Handanakere S., Davies, Stuart J., Ewango, Corneille E. N., Fewless, Gary, Fletcher, Christine, Gunatilleke, C. V. Savitri, Gunatilleke, I. A. U. Nimal, Hao, Zhanqing, Hogan, J. Aaron, Howe, Robert, Hsieh, Chang-Fu, Kenfack, David, Lin, YiChing, Ma, Keping, Makana, Jean-Remy, et al. (2019). Temporal population variability in local forest communities has mixed effects on tree species richness across a latitudinal gradient . Ecology Letters, https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13412

Hogan, J. Aaron, McMahon, Sean M., Buzzard, Vanessa, Michaletz, Sean T., Enquist, Brian J., Thompson, Jill, Swenson, Nathan G. and Zimmerman, Jess K. (2019). Drought and the interannual variability of stem growth in an aseasonal, everwet forest. Biotropica, 51 (2) , 139-154. https://doi.org/10.1111/btp.12624

McMahon, Sean M., Arellano, Gabriel and Davies, Stuart J. (2019). The importance and challenges of detecting changes in forest mortality rates . Ecosphere, 10 (2) , 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2615

Smith, Marielle N., Stark, Scott C., Taylor, Tyeen C., Ferreira, Mauricio L., Oliveira, Eronaldo de, Restrepo‐Coupe, Natalia, Chen, Shuli, Woodcock, Tara, dos Santos, Darlisson Bentes, Alves, Luciana F., Figueira, Michela, de Camargo, Plinio B., de Oliveira, Raimundo C., Aragão, Luiz E. O. C., Falk, Donald A., McMahon, Sean M., Huxman, Travis E. and Saleska, Scott R. (2019). Seasonal and drought related changes in leaf area profiles depend on height and light environment in an Amazon forest . New Phytologist, 222 (3) , 1284-1297. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.15726

Needham, Jessica, Merow, Cory, Chang-Yang, Chia, Caswell, Hal and McMahon, Sean M. (2018). Inferring forest fate from demographic data: from vital rates to population dynamic models. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 285 (1874) https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.2050

Sedio, Brian E., Parker, John D., McMahon, Sean M. and Wright, S. Joseph. (2018). Comparative foliar metabolomics of a tropical and a temperate forest community . Ecology, 99 (12) , 2647-2653. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2533

Taylor, Tyeen C., McMahon, Sean M., Smith, Marielle N., Boyle, Brad, Violle, Cyrille, van Haren, Joost, Simova, Irena, Meir, Patrick, Ferreira, Leandro V., de Camargo, Plinio B., da Costa, Antonio C. L., Enquist, Brian J. and Saleska, Scott R. (2018). Isoprene emission structures tropical tree biogeography and community assembly responses to climate. New Phytologist, 220 (2) , 435-446. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.15304

LaManna, Joseph A., Mangan, Scott A., Alonso, Alfonso, Bourg, Norman A., Brockelman, Warren Y., Bunyavejchewin, Sarayudh, Chang, Li-Wan, Chiang, Jyh-Min, Chuyong, George B., Clay, Keith, Condit, Richard S., Cordell, Susan, Davies, Stuart J., Furniss, Tucker J., Giardina, Christian P., Gunatilleke, I. A. U. Nimal, Gunatilleke, C. V. Savitri, He, Fangliang, Howe, Robert W., Hubbell, Stephen P., Hsieh, Chang-Fu, Inman-Narahari, Faith M., Janik, David, Johnson, Daniel J., Kenfack, David, et al. (2017). Plant diversity increases with the strength of negative density dependence at the global scale . Science, 356 (6345) , 1389-1392. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aam5678

Evans, Margaret, Merow, Cory, Record, Sydne, McMahon, Sean M. and Enquist, Brian J. (2016). Towards Process-based Range Modeling of Many Species. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 31 (11) , 860-871. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2016.08.005

Griffith, Alden B., Salguero-Gómez, Roberto, Merow, Cory and McMahon, Sean. (2016). Demography beyond the population. Journal of Ecology, 104 (2) , 271-280. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12547

Herrmann, Valentine, McMahon, Sean M., Detto, Matteo, Lutz, James A., Davies, Stuart James, Chang-Yang, Chia and Anderson-Teixeira, Kristina J. (2016). Tree Circumference Dynamics in Four Forests Characterized Using Automated Dendrometer Bands . Plos One, 11 (12) , 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0169020

Janík, David, Král, Kamil, Adam, Dusan, Hort, Libor, Samonil, Pavel, Unar, Pavel, Vrska, Tomás and McMahon, Sean. (2016). Tree spatial patterns of Fagus sylvatica expansion over 37 years. Forest Ecology and Management, 375 , 134-145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2016.05.017

Král, Kamil, Shue, Jessica, Vrška, Tomáš, Gonzalez-Akre, Erika, Parker, Geoffrey G., McShea, William J. and McMahon, Sean M. (2016). Fine-scale patch mosaic of developmental stages in Northeast American secondary temperate forests: the European perspective . European Journal of Forest Research, 135 (5) , 981-996. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-016-0988-1

Needham, Jessica, Merow, Cory, Butt, Nathalie, Malhi, Yadvinder, Marthews, Toby R., Morecroft, Michael and McMahon, Sean M. (2016). Forest community response to invasive pathogens: the case of ash dieback in a British woodland. Journal of Ecology, 104 (2) , 315-330. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12545

Anderson-Teixeira, Kristina J., Davies, Stuart James, Bennett, Amy C., Gonzalez-Akre, Erika, Muller-Landau, Helene C., Wright, S. Joseph, Abu Salim, Kamariah, Almeyda Zambrano, Angélica M., Alonso, Alfonso, Baltzer, Jennifer L., Basset, Yves, Bourg, Norman A., Broadbent, Eben N., Brockelman, Warren Y., Bunyavejchewin, Sarayudh, Burslem, David F. R. P., Butt, Nathalie, Cao, Min, Cardenas, Dairon, Chuyong, George B., Clay, Keith, Cordell, Susan, Dattaraja, Handanakere S., Deng, Xiaobao, Detto, Matteo, et al. (2015). CTFS-ForestGEO: a worldwide network monitoring forests in an era of global change . Global Change Biology, 21 (2) , 528-549. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12712

mcmahons [at] si.edu
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Sean McMahon
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Scientist Type: 
Affiliate Staff Scientists

Name

Sean

Last name

McMahon
Discipline (Private): 
Long-term monitoring
Department: 
Staff scientists

Harilaos Lessios

English
Ecology Marine Biology

There are millions of species in the oceans. How did they come to be? Although we seek general rules, the answer may lie in the detailed biology of each group.

Harilaos Lessios
STRI Coral Reef

Hiller, A. and H. A. Lessios. 2017. Phylogeography of Petrolisthes armatus, an invasive species with low dispersal ability. Scientific Reports 7: 3359. 10.1038/s41598-017- 03410-8

Gene Flow in Coral Reef Organisms of the Tropical Eastern Pacific, 2016

The Great Diadema antillarum Die-Off: 30 Years Later, 2016

I am interested in the evolution and the ecology of marine organisms, particularly sea urchins, but also fishes, crustaceans, and corals. I focus on the processes that give rise to new species, and I use molecular tools to reconstruct the history of populations and of genes. Typically, this involves reconstructing the trajectories of population genetic and phylogenetic processes in relation to geographic distributions of populations, followed by the assessment of barriers (ecological or molecular) that maintain the genetic integrity of sympatric species. In this effort, I have been greatly aided by the history of the Isthmus of Panama, which separated inhabitants of two oceans at a known time.

How do new species arise and maintain their integrity?

Species generally arise when gene flow is disrupted by a geological or oceanographic barrier. When species come in contact again, they will not merge if they have evolved differences that prevent the transfer of genes. Examples in marine organisms might be specialization in different habitats, difference in spawning cycles, incompatibility of gametes, or developmental dysfunction of hybrids.

What molecules confer compatibility of gametes of the same species and incompatibility between gametes of different species?

We focus on sea urchins (model organisms for developmental biology), because their external fertilization greatly simplifies the number of factors that need to be taken into account. My colleagues and I are studying the evolution of bindin, a molecule on the sperm that is recognized by the egg, and EBR1 and the “350kD protein”, two molecules on the egg that interact with bindin to effect fertilization. To a lesser extent, we have also worked with speract, a molecule released by the egg to attract sperm, as well as its receptor on the sperm.

What are the evolutionary forces that result in barriers to genetic exchange between species?

Species are sets of populations reproductively isolated from other populations, so speciation is the evolution of barriers to genetic exchange. Such barriers need not be molecular interactions of gametes. A long-term study of two genera of sea urchins each with two sympatric sister species in the Caribbean is seeking to establish whether these species occupy different habitats, whether they reproduce at different times (and the factors that control their reproduction), whether their gametes are incompatible, or whether their hybrids are developmentally unstable (and the genes responsible for their lower fitness).

B.A., Harvard College, 1973

M.Phil., Yale University, 1976

Ph.D., Yale University, 1979

H.L. Lessios and G. Hendler. 2022. Mitochondrial phylogeny of the brittle star Genus Ophioderma. Nature Scientific Reports 2022. 12:5304. doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-08944-0

S.E. Coppard, H. Jessop, H.A. Lessios.  2021. Phylogeography of the sea urchin genus Echinothrix: patterns of dispersal, connectivity, colouration and cryptic speciation across the Indo-Pacific. Nature Scientific Reports 22:26568. doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-95872-0

T.J. Carrier, H.A. Lessios, A. M. Reitzel. 2020c. Eggs of echinoids separated by the Isthmus of Panama harbor divergent microbiota. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 648:169-177. doi.org/10.3354/meps13424

L. Geyer and H.A. Lessios. 2020b. Slow evolution under purifying selection in the gamete recognition protein bindin of the sea urchin Diadema.  Nature Scientific Reports. 10:9834 DOI:101038/s41598-020-66390-2

A. Hiller and H.A. Lessios. 2019d. Marine species formation along the rise of Central America: The anomuran crab Megalobrachium Molecular Ecology 29:413-428. DOI: 10.1111/mec.15323

N. Mongiardino Koch, S. Coppard, H.A. Lessios, D. Briggs, R. Mooi, G. Rouse.  2018b A phylogenomic resolution of the sea urchin tree of life.  BMC Evolutionary Biology (2018) 18:189 doi.org/10.1186/s12862-018-1300-4

H. A. Lessios and I. Baums.  2017a. Gene flow in coral reef organisms of the tropical eastern Pacific. In: P.W. Glynn, I.C. Enochs, and D. Manzello (eds.) pp. 477-499 In: Coral Reefs of the Eastern Pacific. Springer-Verlag. DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-7499-4_16

A. O’Dea, H. A. Lessios, A.G. Coates, R.I. Eytan, L.S. Collins, A.L. Cione, A. de Queiroz, D.W. Farris, R.D. Norris, S.A. Restrepo-Moreno, R.F. Stallard, M.O. Woodburne, O.Aguilera, M.-P. Aubry, W.A. Berggren, A.F. Budd, M.A. Cozzuol, S.E. Coppard, H.Duque-Caro, S.Finnegan, G.M. Gasparini, E.L. Grossman, K.G. Johnson, L.D. Keigwin, N.Knowlton, E.G. Leigh, J.S. Leonard-Pingel, P.B. Marko, N.D. Pyenson, P.G. Rachello-Dolmen, E.Soibelzon, L. Soibelzon, J.A.Todd, G.J. Vermeij, J.B.C. Jackson. 2016c. Formation of the Isthmus of Panama. Science Advances, 2: 8, e1600883. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1600883

H. A. Lessios.  2016a. The great Diadema antillarum die-off: 30 years later.  Annual Review of Marine Science 8:267-283 doi:10.1146/annurev-marine-122414-033857

H. A. Lessios, S. Lockhart, R. Collin, G. Sotil, P. Sanchez-Jerez, K. S. Zigler, A. F. Perez, M. J. Garrido, L.B. Geyer, G. Bernardi, V. D. Vacquier, R. Haroun, B.D. Kessing.  2012a. Phylogeography and bindin evolution in Arbacia, a sea urchin genus with an unusual distribution. Molecular Ecology, 21:130-144 DOI:10.1111/j.1365-294X.2011.05303.x

H. A. Lessios. 2011. Speciation genes in free-spawning marine invertebrates. Integrative and Comparative Biology, 51: 456-465

lessiosh [at] si.edu
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Harilaos Lessios
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Harilaos A. Lessios

Name

Harilaos

Last name

Lessios

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Staff Scientist
Discipline (Private): 
Developmental Biology
Marine Biology
Molecular Genetics and Genomics
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Staff scientists

Matthew Larsen

English
Hydrology Geology Geography and Biogeography

Inspired experiments and observation by STRI scientists and our many collaborators and students continue to improve our understanding of tropical ecosystems. This information continually changes the way we address environmental stewardship, resource management, and the many challenges ahead.

Matthew Larsen
STRI Coral Reef

Forested Watersheds, Water Resources, and Ecosystem Services, with Examples from the United States, Panama, and Puerto Rico, 2017

Contemporary human uses of tropical forested watersheds and riparian corridors: Ecosystem services and hazard mitigation, with examples from Panama, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela, 2016

As Director Emeritus of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, a unit of the Smithsonian Institution headquartered in Panama City, Panama, I retired in June, 2020 from the job of managing more than 400 employees, an annual budget of $35 million, and the institute’s research facilities throughout Panama. In addition to our resident scientists, our facilities are used annually by more than 1,400 visiting scientists, fellows and interns who come from academic and research institutions in more than 50 nations. STRI furthers the understanding of tropical nature and its importance to human welfare, trains students to conduct research in the tropics, and promotes conservation by increasing public awareness of the beauty and importance of tropical ecosystems.

During my tenure at STRI I increased the diversity of the leadership team, hired 7 new staff scientists, inaugurated new research facilities and supported innovations in communication and public outreach. There is more information about my achievements as Director of STRI here.

Previously, from 2010 to 2014, I was the U.S. Geological Survey Associate Director for Climate and Land Use Change, where I led science programs focused on climate change, land use change, and a national ecological carbon sequestration assessment. Additionally, I managed the Landsat satellite program and the National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center. Prior to 2010 I served in various scientific leadership roles at the U.S. Geological Survey, following an 18-year research career in that agency. My approximately 90 publications are in marine geology, natural hazards, water resources management, climate change, and ecosystem services.

How do we maximize our contributions as scientists and public servants?

STRI scientists offer unbiased information about tropical environments from rainforests to coral reefs — for the public good. Our science serves all sectors of society in the United States, in Panama where we are based, and throughout the tropics. As a premier tropical research platform, we host long-term, large-scale, studies and we convene scientists from around the world.

As a scientist who dedicated my career to public institutions, I believe that a strong civil service is the backbone of a democratic society. Civil servants are the stewards of information that serves the public good and we guarantee that institutional knowledge and capability are retained during political transition at the top level of national government.

1997 Ph.D., Geography, University of Colorado

1976 BSc., Geology, Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio

Larsen, M.C., 2017, Forested watersheds, water resources, and ecosystem services, with examples from the United States, Panama, and Puerto Rico, In: Ahuja S. (ed.) Chemistry and water: the science behind sustaining the world's most crucial resource, p. 161-182, Elsevier, Amsterdam, ISBN: 978-0-12-809330-6.

Larsen, M.C., 2016, Contemporary human uses of tropical forested watersheds and riparian corridors: Ecosystem services and hazard mitigation, with examples from Panama, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela, Quaternary International, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.03.016.

Larsen M.C., 2014, Global change and water availability and quality: challenges ahead. In: Ahuja S. (ed.) Comprehensive Water Quality and Purification, vol. 1, p. 11-20. United States of America, Elsevier.

Larsen, M.C., 2012, Global change and water resources, where are we headed? Water Resources Impact, American Water Resources Association, vol. 14, no. 5, p. 3-7.

Larsen, M.C., 2012, Landslides and sediment budgets in four watersheds in eastern Puerto Rico, ch. F in Murphy, S.F., and Stallard, R.F., eds., Water quality and landscape processes of four watersheds in eastern Puerto Rico, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1789, p. 153-178.

Larsen, M.C., and Webb, R.M.T., 2009, Potential effects of runoff, fluvial sediment and nutrient discharges on the coral reefs of Puerto Rico, Journal of Coastal Research, v. 25, p. 189-208. ISSN 0749-0208.

Keefer, D.K., and Larsen, M.C., 2007, Assessing Landslide Hazards, Science, v. 316, p. 1136-1138.

Larsen, M.C., and Wieczorek, G.F., 2006, Geomorphic effects of large debris flows and flash floods, northern Venezuela, 1999, Tropical Geomorphology with Special Reference to South America, Latrubesse, Edgardo, ed., Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie Suppl. Vol. 145, p. 147-175.

Larsen, M.C. and Santiago-Román, Abigail, 2001, Mass wasting and sediment storage in a small montane watershed: an extreme case of anthropogenic disturbance in the humid tropics, in Dorava, J. M., Palcsak, B.B., Fitzpatrick, F. and Montgomery, D., eds., Geomorphic Processes and Riverine Habitat, American Geophysical Union, Water Science & Application Series Volume 4, p. 119-138.

Larsen, M.C., 2000, Analysis of 20th century rainfall and streamflow to characterize drought and water resources in Puerto Rico, Physical Geography, v. 21, p. 494-521.

Larsen, M.C., Torres-Sánchez, A.J., and Concepción, I.M., 1999, Slopewash, surface runoff, and fine-litter transport in forest and landslide scars in humid-tropical steeplands, Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, v. 24, p. 481-502.

Brown, E. T., Stallard, R. F., Larsen, M. C., Bourlès, D. L., Raisbeck, G. M., and Yiou, F., 1998, Determination of predevelopment denudation rates of an agricultural watershed (Cayaguás River, Puerto Rico) using in situ-produced 10Be in river-borne quartz, Earth and Planetary Sciences Letterss, v. 160, p. 723-728.

Larsen, M.C., and Torres Sánchez, A.J., 1998, The frequency and distribution of recent landslides in three montane tropical regions of Puerto Rico, Geomorphology, v. 24, no. 4, p. 309-331.

Larsen, M.C. and Parks, J.E., 1997, How wide is a road? The association of roads and mass-wasting disturbance in a forested montane environment, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, v. 22, p. 835-848.

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Matthew C. Larsen

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Matthew

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Larsen

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Director Emeritus
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Ecosystem Services
Global Change
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Carlos Jaramillo

English
Geology Paleontology and Paleobiology

The history of the tropics is one of radical change. It transformed from a place without a single flowering plant 120 million years ago to an ecosystem completely dominated by flowering plants today.

Carlos Jaramillo
STRI Coral Reef

Comment (1) on “Formation of the Isthmus of Panama” by O’Dea et al., 2017

Miocene Floodings of Amazonia, 2017

Carlos Jaramillo Lab
Fossil Sharks in Panama
Pollen Morphological Database
Tropical Temperature Database

Based on clues ranging from microscopic pollen samples to massive petrified trees and larger-than-life-sized turtle and crocodile fossils, my lab pieces together millions of years of evidence to reconstruct the deep-time history of tropical ecosystems. I help to build international networks of collaborators to take on huge projects such as the excavations in the Panama Canal expansion earthworks, which shed light on the formation of the Panama land bridge between North and South America. We also work in one of the world’s largest coal mines in Cerrejón, Colombia, that led to the discovery of oldest tropical rainforest that developed about 60 million years ago. The fauna of Cerrejón contains large animals including the biggest terrestrial snake species known to date, Titanoboa cerrejonensis, as well as large crocodiles. Our research provides vital perspective as we strive to understand how modern tropical ecosystems work and to predict how they will respond to future environmental change. 

Does deep-time climate change predict the future of tropical forests?

In response to elevated atmospheric carbon and temperature, the world's oldest fossilized tropical forests increased their biomass and species diversity. The fossil record shows that today's plants probably have the genetic capacity to acclimatize to climate change.

Why are there so many species in the tropics? How is the latitudinal diversity gradient explained?

An old question that still does not have a clear answer. The answer, nevertheless, requires the fossil record.

Can we develop new techniques to analyze biostratigraphic data? How can we use fossils to find natural resources such as oil, coal, gas and water?

The exploration of groundwater, oil, gas, coal and many other minerals requires of good stratigraphic correlations and an understanding of depositional environments. Fossils are very useful tools for geologists to solve those problems.

University of Florida 1999 Ph.D. Geology, Botany

University of Missouri-Rolla 1995 M.S. Geology

Universidad Nacional de Colombia 1992 Geology

Jaramillo, C., 2016, Evolution of the Isthmus of Panama: biological, paleoceanographic, and paleoclimatological implications, in Hoorn, C., and Antonelli, A., eds., Mountains, Climate and Biodiversity: Oxford, John Wiley & Sons.

Jaramillo, C., and Cardenas, A. 2013. Global Warming and Neotropical Rainforests: A historical perspective. Annual Reviews of Earth and Planetary Sciences 41: 741-766.

Jaramillo, C. 2012. Historia Geológica del Bosque Húmedo Neotropical. Revista de la Academia Colombiana de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales 36: 59-80.

Jaramillo, C., Rueda, M., and Torres, V. 2011. A Palynological Zonation for the Cenozoic of the Llanos and Llanos Foothills of Colombia. Palynology 35: 46-84.

Jaramillo, C., et al. 2010. Effects of Rapid Global Warming at the Paleocene-Eocene Boundary on Neotropical Vegetation: Science 330: 957-961.

Jaramillo, C., Hoorn, C., Silva, S., Leite, F., Herrera, F., Quiroz, L., Dino, R., and Antonioli, L. 2010. The origin of the modern Amazon rainforest: implications from the palynological and paleobotanical record. In: Hoorn, M.C. and Wesselingh, F.P. (Eds.) Amazonia, Landscape and Species Evolution. Blackwell, Oxford: 317-334.

Jaramillo, C., Rueda, M. and Mora, G. 2006. Cenozoic Plant Diversity in the Neotropics. Science, 311: 1893-1896.

jaramilloc [at] si.edu
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Carlos Jaramillo
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Carlos A. Jaramillo

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Carlos

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Jaramillo

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Staff Scientist
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Exploration
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David Kenfack

English
Plant Taxonomy Plant Systematics

The main difficulty in identifying rare or completely unknown species lies in obtaining fertile specimens — the flowering and fruiting parts of trees.

David Kenfack
STRI Coral Reef

Limited carbon and biodiversity co-benefits for tropical forest mammals and birds, 2016

Gambeya korupensis (Sapotaceae: Chrysophylloideae), a new rain forest tree species from the Southwest Region in Cameroon, 2016

As the coordinator of the ForestGEO network’s forest monitoring plots in Africa —in Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Kenya and Nigeria — I am part of the Smithsonian’s global effort to understand the mechanisms that underlie forest change both in tropical and temperate ecosystems. My personal research focuses on plant systematics and evolution. I use a combination of morphological, molecular, ecological and spatial data to explore plant groups with challenging taxonomy to understand their evolutionary history and biogeography.

My first question when I go into a forest is how many tree species are there?

Since the establishment of the forest dynamics plot in Cameroon’s Korup National Park in 1996, 24 new species of flowering plants have been described and ten more have been confirmed new to science. In addition, 65 other trees from the plot remain identified only to family or genus level, and we strongly believe that most of these will turn out to be new to science as well. The Korup plot has about 500 tree species.

Does ForestGEO help forest conservation efforts?

When ForestGEO is established in a forest it raises awareness — the place becomes famous because of the many researchers who work there. As soon as we put ForestGEO data on the website, the researchers receive two or three requests to use the data every week from all around the world. When something happens near or in a ForestGEO site, more people are concerned, and that can promote the conservation of that forest.

B.S in Botany, University of Yaoundé I, Cameroon 1987

MAITRISE ÈS SCIENCE, University of Yaoundé I, Cameroon 1988

DOCTORAT 3e CYCLE in Plant Systematics, University of Yaoundé I, Cameroon 1995

PH.D. (Ecology, Evolution and Systematics), University of Missouri-St. Louis, USA 2008

Baldeck C.A., Dalling J.W., Kembel S.W., Harms K.E., Yavitt J.B, John R., Valencia R., Navarrete H., Bunyavejchewin S., Kiratiprayoon S., Davies S., Chuyong G., Kenfack D., Thomas D., Vallejo M., Madawala S., Adzmi Y., Supardi Md.N.N. 2013. Phylogenetic signal in soil resource niches of tropical trees. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 280, 1753.

Parmentier I., Duminil J., Kuzmina M., Philippe M., Thomas D.W., Kenfack D., Chuyong G.B., Cruaud C. & Hardy O.J. 2013. How effective are DNA barcodes in the identification of african rainforest trees? PloS one 8, e54921

De Cáceres M., Legendre P., Valencia R., Cao M, Chang L-W, Chuyong G., Condit R., Hao Z., Hsieh C.-F., Hubbell S., Kenfack D., Ma K., Mi X., Noor M.N.S., Kassim A.R., Ren H., Su S.-H., Sun I.-F., Thomas D., Ye W., & He F. 2012. The variation of tree beta diversity across a global network of forest plots. Global Ecology and Biogeography 21: 1191–1202.

Kenfack D. 2011. Cassipourea atanganae sp. nov., a new species of Rhizophoraceae from Lower Guinea. Adansonia 33: 209 – 213.

Kenfack D. 2011. A synoptic revision of Carapa (Meliaceae). Harvard papers in Botany 16: 171 – 231.

Duminil J., Kenfack D., Viscosi V., Grumiau L. & Hardy O.J. 2011. Testing species delimitation in sympatric species complexes: the case of an African tropical tree, Carapa spp. (Meliaceae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 62: 275 – 285.

Parmentier I., Harrigan R.J., Buermann W., Mitchard E.T.A., Saatchi S., Malhi Y., Bongers F., Hawthorne W.D., Leal M.E., Lewis S.L., Nusbaumer L., Sheil D., Sosef M.S.M., Affum-Baffoe K., Bakayoko A., Chuyong G.B., Chatelain C., Comiskey J.A., Dauby G., Doucet J.-L., Faucet S., Gautier, Gillet J.-F., Kenfack D., Kouamé F.N., Kouassi E.K., Kouka L.A., Parren M.P. E., Peh L. K.S.-H., Reitsma J.M., Senterre B., Sonké B., Sunderland T.C.H., Swaine M.D., Tchouto M.G. P., Thomas D.W., Van Valkenburg J. L.C.H. & Hardy O.J. 2011. Predicting alpha diversity of African rain forests: models based on climate and satellite-derived data do not perform better than a purely spatial model. Journal of Biogeography 38: 1164 –1176.

Chuyong G.B., Kenfack D., Harms K.E., Thomas D.W., Condit R. & Comita L.S. 2011. Habitat specificity and diversity of tree species in an African wet tropical forest. Plant Ecology 212: 1363 – 1374.

Kenfack D. 2011. Carapa vasquezii (Meliaceae) a new species from western Amazonia. Brittonia: 63: 7 – 10.

Kenfack D. & Peréz A. 2011. Two new species of Carapa (Meliaceae) from Western Ecuador. Systematic Botany 36: 124 – 128.

Kenfack D. 2011. Resurrection in Carapa (Meliaceae): a reassessment of morphological variation and species boundaries using multivariate methods in a phylogenetic context. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 165: 186 – 221.

Weber N., Birnbaum P., Forget P.-M., Gueye M. & Kenfack D. 2010. L’huile de carapa (Carapa spp., Meliaceae) en Afrique de l’Ouest: utilisations et implications dans la conservation des peuplements naturels. Fruits 65: 343 – 354.

DeWalt S.J., Schnitzer S.A., Chave J., Bongers F., Burnham R.J., Cai Z., Chuyong G., Clark D.B., Ewango C.E.N., Gerwing J.J., Gortaire E., Hart T., Kenfack D., Macía M.J., Makana J.-R., Ibarra-Manríquez G., Martínez-Ramos M., Sainge M., Muller-Landau H.C., Parren M.P.E., Parthasarathy N., Pérez-Salicrup D.R., Putz F.E., Romero-Saltos H. & Thomas D. 2010. Annual rainfall and seasonality predict pan-tropical patterns of liana density and basal area. Biotropica 42: 309 – 317.

Forget P-M., Poncy O., Thomas R.S., Hammond D.S. & Kenfack D. 2009. A cryptic new species of Carapa Aublet (Meliaceae) from Central Guyana. Brittonia 64: 366 – 374.

Kenfack D. & Dick C.W. 2009. Isolation and characterization of 15 polymorphic microsatellite loci in Tetragastris panamensis (Burseraceae), a widespread neotropical forest tree. Conservation genetic resources. 1: 385 – 387.

Morlon H., Chuyong G.B., Condit R., Hubell S., Kenfack D., Thomas D.W., Valencia R., & Green J., 2008. A general framework for the distance-decay of similarity in ecological communities. Ecology Letters 11: 904 – 917.

kenfackd [at] si.edu
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David Kenfack
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David Kenfack

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David

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Kenfack

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Roberto Ibañez

English
Conservation Biology Herpetology

Across the world chytrid fungus threatens amphibians with extinction, including many species that we are not familiar with. Getting as many as possible into captive breeding programs is essential to their survival until science finds a cure for the disease.

Roberto Ibañez
STRI Coral Reef

Altitudinal distribution and advertisement call of Colostethus latinasus (Amphibia: Dendrobatidae), endemic species from eastern Panama and type species of Colostethus, with a molecular assessment of similar sympatric species, 2017

Toxins and pharmacologically active compounds from species of the family Bufonidae (Amphibia, Anura), 2017 

My primary research focus is on Panamanian frogs that are likely extinct in the wild due to a fungal infection but are kept alive in captive breeding programs in Panama and the United States. Our lab has collected founding individuals for these amphibian colonies, devised methods to sustainably feed them, and raised reproductive populations that maintain the species’ genetic health. We are also advancing research that seeks to find a cure for this fungal disease, called Chytridiomycosis, with the hope of reintroducing species to their native habitats. My research has included studies of biodiversity and the biogeography of amphibians and reptiles in Panama.

How can individual countries help save frog species?

Our project is helping to implement the action plan for amphibian conservation that was created by Panama’s environmental authorities in 2011. This is only possible thanks to the government of Panama’s interest in conservation of amphibian biodiversity and the support we have received from businesses in Panama.

B.S., Universidad de Panamá

M.S., University of Connecticut

Ph.D., University of Connecticut

Woodhams, D. C., Alford. R. A., Antwis, R. E., Archer, H. Becker, M. H., Belden, L. K., Bell, S.C., Bletz, M., Daskin, J. H., Davis, L. R., Flechas, S. V., Lauer, A., Gonzalez, A., Harris, R. N., Holden, W. M., Hughey, M.C., Ibáñez, R. D., Knight, R., Kueneman, J., Rabemananjara, F., Reinert, L. K., Rollins-Smith, L. A., Roman-Rodriguez, F., Shaw, S.D., Walke, J.B., McKenzie, V. 2015. Antifungal isolates database of amphibian skin-associated bacteria and function against emerging fungal pathogens. Ecology, 96(2)

Ellison, A. R., Tunstall, T., DiRenzo, G. V., Hughey, M. C., Rebollar, E. A., Belden, L., Harris, R. N., Ibáñez, R., Lips, K., Zamudio, K. R. 2015. More than skin deep: functional genomic basis for resistance to amphibian chytridiomycosis. 2015. Genome Biology and Evolution, 7(1): 286-298.http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evu285

Perez, R., Richards-Zawacki, C., Krohn, A. R., Robak, M., Griffith, E. J., Ross, H., Gratwicke, B., Ibáñez, R., Voyles, J. 2014. Field surveys in Western Panama indicate populations of Atelopus varius frogs are persisting in regions where Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis is now enzootic. Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, 8(2): 30-35.

Myers, C. W., Ibáñez, R. D., Grant, T., Jaramillo, César A. 2012. Discovery of the frog genus Anomaloglossus in Panama, with descriptions of two new species from the Chagres Highlands (Dendrobatoidea: Aromobatidae). American Museum Novitates, 3763: 1-19. http://dx.doi.org/10.1206/3763.2

Heckadon-Moreno, S. Ibáñez, R.D., Condit, R. 1999. La Cuenca del Canal: deforestación, contaminación y urbanización: proyecto de monitoreo de la Cuenca del Canal de Panamá (PMCC).

Ibáñez, R. D., Solis, F. A. 1991. Las serpientes de Panama: Lista de especies, comentarios taxonomicos y bibliografia. Scientia, 6(2): 27-52.

ibanezr [at] si.edu
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Roberto Ibañez
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Roberto Ibanez

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Roberto

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Ibañez

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Staff Scientist
Discipline (Private): 
Long-term monitoring
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