Several years after the International Maritime Organization adopted Traffic Separation Schemes to reduce the risk of collision between vessels and migratory whales in the Gulf of Panama, scientists assessed whether these conservation management actions are being effective
For Panamanian marine biologist Yehudi Rodríguez, her curiosity about sharks began early in life, watching the National Geographic programs and listening to her father’s stories as an underwater fisherman. This persistent interest led her to pave a path where there were not many opportunities, and to learn as much as possible from the people she encountered during her research projects in the field, especially from artisanal fishermen. Now she has more than 15 years studying sharks, she is a professor at the International Maritime University of Panama and director of Shark Defenders.
Deep reefs may represent one of the most diverse, underexplored ecosystems on the planet.
How does whale watching affect whale behavior? Who watches whales in Panama’s Las Perlas Archipelago? Researchers from STRI and ASU hope to recommend innovative data-based conservation strategies.
With this science-based initiative, 30% of the panamanian marine surface will be under some degree of protection
What makes a successful invasion? What keeps invaders out? Are some geographic locations more vulnerable to invasion than others?
Sharks’ bodies are covered with tiny, tooth-like scales called denticles. Shed denticles settle to the ocean floor, where they remain in sediments for years and can be used to understand which sharks lived on a reef in the past.
An entrepreneur who dreamed of becoming an oceanographer teams up with STRI researchers and young Latin American biologists to find out if some coral reefs are more resilient than others. His yacht will be the center of operations as they deploy high tech sensor arrays at sites around the tropical eastern Pacific.
Most coral species fared better in the shaded environment offered by the mangrove canopy
Picture this: What to do at a party when you try to carry on a conversation, but the music is too loud? A Panamanian doctoral student is trying to figure out how dolphins communicate underwater during heavy boat traffic in the Bocas del Toro Archipelago.
