Roost Rulers
Small prey bully large predators… and win
Marzo 23, 2022
Tiny, fruit-eating bats take over the roost of larger, carnivorous bats at the edge of Panama’s Soberanía National Park.
Tiny, fruit-eating bats take over the roost of larger, carnivorous bats at the edge of Panama’s Soberanía National Park.
Plant leaves show us the species that exist in a forest, and the ecological conditions in which they live. These attributes can also be observed in fossil leaves, which allows us to reconstruct forests that existed millions of years ago and understand how they have changed over time. In this talk we will talk about how fossil leaves tell us about the effect of a mass extinction 66 million years ago, on the evolution of modern tropical forests.
Most ocean life remains to be discovered. Because fish and many other animals that live in the ocean often have larvae or other, microscopic life stages that drift freely in ocean water, counting species by genetic barcoding of plankton samples adds to counts of species recorded as adults and is a highly efficient way to understand what lives in the ocean and how biodiversity changes as we modify the ocean environment.
Giant agates found in an island on the Pacific coast of Panama prompted a study on the area’s geology to answer the question of how the Isthmus evolved and became a bridge between two continents.
From tracking the movements of large felines across the continent to helping rural communities reap the benefits of protecting biodiversity, director of Yaguará Panamá Foundation Ricardo Moreno turned his childhood dream into a mission.
Traditionally, we highlight the richness of the fauna that lives in the forests of Panama. However, the complex Panamanian forests also hide a diversity in the behavior of this fauna. Considering how small Panama is, for these same species, the behavior can vary according to its environment. In this talk we will talk about how camera traps provide us with pieces of the puzzle of the ecology and behavior of the fauna in Panama.
Why do some male bats have sticky, odorous arms? The first clues only led to more questions. But now a new sleuth, Mariana Muñoz-Romo, described by a colleague as “probably the world’s expert on chemical communication in a bat species,” is on the case.
As winged mammals, baby bats learn to fly and stop drinking mothers’ milk during their transition from infants to flying juveniles. Bat researchers observed a new behavior. Mothers push pups away with their forearms, perhaps encouraging them to go explore the world on their own
Geologist Tony Coates changed the way we think about the ground under our feet. He confirmed the date when North and South America were connected at about 3 million years ago. We remember Tony not only as a skilled field geologist, but as a kind person and storyteller, who captured the imagination of scientists and non-scientists alike with his ability to spin a tale.
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.