Deep reefs may represent one of the most diverse, underexplored ecosystems on the planet.
It always pays to think outside of the box. Rachel Collin decided to look further afield to find the adult form that matched a larvae from a plankton sample in Panama and was surprised by the result.
The first time Dumas Gálvez saw the ant species Ectatomma ruidum under a microscope, he was just a little boy. He was immediately fascinated. A few decades later, as a postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), a professor in the entomology department at the University of Panama and a mentor to young scientists, he does research on that same ant species. Listen to him narrate every step of his academic journey: his experiences, mentors, mistakes and lessons learned.
The disproportionate extinction of South American mammals when the Americas collided is still evident today
The novel ribbon worm was found as part of STRI’s Training in Tropical Taxonomy program and represents the first species of its genus from the Caribbean
Beneficial partnerships between diverse marine organisms are often favorable to the health of marine ecosystems as well. Listen to STRI postdoctoral fellow and marine and evolutionary biologist Matthieu Leray describe how mutualistic relationships among coral reefs and small marine species or microorganisms may help them cope with climate change.
Through their foraging behavior across the diverse topography of the African savanna, megaherbivores may be unknowingly influencing the growth and survival of vegetation on valleys and plateaus, while preserving steep slopes as habitat refugia.
Anthropologist Fernando Santos-Granero has pieced together the story of a change agent whose life spanned an important period in South American history in his book, Slavery and Utopia , now available in English and Spanish.
These maps dramatically illustrate how rising sea levels completely altered the shape of Panama’s coastline, creating islands and submerging large areas of land.
