Long-term monitoring

STRI scientists have compiled a database of meteorological and ecological data unrivalled in the tropics. Rainfall and temperature records date to the early 1900s. Pacific coral monitoring began in the 1970s, and large-scale tracking of forest dynamics and flowering and fruiting trees started in 1980. Since 1972 the Environmental Science Program has kept track of bird, lizard and insect populations on land as well as water quality, biomass and productivity in marine environments. The ForestGEO and MarineGEO programs generate comparable monitoring data for sites around the world. This unique wealth of information gives Smithsonian researchers the power to detect and understand long-term trends.