Animals in captivity may have trouble breeding, so to keep amphibian species from dying out, researchers are discovering new ways to help them reproduce.
Tropical storms often begin with an impressive display of pyrotechnics, but researchers have largely overlooked the role of lightning strikes in tropical ecosystems.
The new diagnostic test showed comparable or even better results than the gold-standard assay recommended for the diagnosis of chytridiomycosis.
Plant ecologist S. Joseph Wright received an award for his illustrious career at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, in Panama.
A generous grant to support international partnerships and training will enable GEO-TREES to offer the free, online data needed to verify the amount of carbon stored in complex forests worldwide, in real time.
STRI staff scientist Joe Wright and colleagues present results in Science indicating that diversity among adult tropical trees can be maintained if spatial repulsion among individuals of the same species is greater than spatial repulsion among individuals of different species.
The Smithsonian Bird Friendly coffee and cocoa certification program just opened its new Latin American office at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama, making it easier for regional coffee and chocolate industries to join the global movement to produce sustainable coffee and chocolate.
A groundbreaking study assessed the extinction risk of more than 8,000 amphibian species worldwide and concluded that two out of five amphibians are threatened.
The new GEO-TREES initiative addresses the uncertainty of satellite estimates of forest carbon by creating a trustworthy global carbon verification system based on existing collaborations among scientists at forest research sites worldwide. Supported by the Bezos Earth Fund, all data will be available free, online.
Joshua Tewksbury, director of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, explains how the development of a global standard measure of forest carbon will jumpstart the carbon economy.
