Profile: Anthony Coates
Sea of fossils
Agosto 09, 2013
A Smithsonian emeritus scientist takes a field trip to some of Panama’s most important known marine fossil deposits for a quick lesson the age of the Ithsmus of Panama.
A Smithsonian emeritus scientist takes a field trip to some of Panama’s most important known marine fossil deposits for a quick lesson the age of the Ithsmus of Panama.
In September 2017, divers observed a massive “dead zone” rising to envelop Caribbean coral reefs in Bocas del Toro, Panama. Smithsonian post-docs joined together to understand marine hypoxia now and in the past.
My research interests have evolved from a strict focus on the ecology of coral reefs to paleontological investigations of the evolution of Caribbean marine ecosystems in response to environmental change and finally towards elucidating the causes and consequences of past and ongoing human...
My colleagues and I bring field-collected leaf beetles (principally Cassidinae sensu lato) into the lab to more carefully observe and photograph feeding behavior and to archive the various immature stages for systematic morphological study. Insects are labeled and stored in ethanol at -20C and...
New fossil mammals in Caribbean Panama suggest ongoing marine interchange during the final stages of formation of the isthmus.
The first winner of the D. Ross Robertson Postdoctoral Fellowship for Field Studies on Neotropical Reef Fishes, Floriane Coulmance, tests a new, underwater camera system to study the connection between hamlet color patterns and genetics in fish from four countries around the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.
Avoiding predators at all costs.
Paleontologists discover possible DNA remains in fossil turtle that lived 6 million years ago in Panama, where continents collide
A 13-million-year-old saber-toothed marsupial skeleton discovered during paleontological explorations in Colombia is the most complete specimen recovered in the region
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...