The mystery of an unusual Panamanian plant’s dispersal
Camera traps in the forest canopy document a nocturnal mammal that may help Zamia pseudoparasitica survive up in the air.
Small prey bully large predators… and win
Tiny, fruit-eating bats take over the roost of larger, carnivorous bats at the edge of Panama’s Soberanía National Park.
A bilingual book makes the unique biodiversity of Panama’s Escudo de Veraguas Island available to indigenous communities
Botanist Alicia Ibañez hopes the book, which presents new data on the tiny island’s endemic flora and fauna in both Spanish and Ngäbere, will increase awareness of the importance of preserving its biodiversity.
A decade of deep-reef exploration in the Greater Caribbean
The use of submersibles exponentially increased recorded diversity of islands’ deep-reef fish faunas .
Smelly ocelot habitats may scare off seed-dispersing rodents
An experiment in Panama’s Parque Natural Metropolitano and Gamboa revealed that agoutis were less likely to disperse and pilfer seeds in sites where ferocious felines roam.
Much more than a land bridge
Panama's deep history has been the subject of much research over many decades. "Panama, much more than a land bridge" is the first book written in Spanish and from Panama dedicated exclusively to addressing the discoveries and analyses surrounding the archeology of this territory.
We are women and girls in science…
One day each year is designated as the International Day of Women and Girls in science. Let’s make it every day!
Drones help solve tropical tree mortality mysteries
Understanding when and where trees die in vast tropical forests is a challenging first step toward understanding carbon dynamics and climate change. Researchers explained variations in tree mortality over a five-year period by analyzing drone images of one of the most-studied tropical forests in the world, Barro Colorado Island in Panama.
First “Virtual Gigante” is a success
After being taught annually for three decades, the Smithsonian Introductory Field Life Sciences Course was suspended due to the pandemic, but it made a digital comeback in 2021.
