Fortuitous discovery
Accidental tree wound reveals novel symbiotic behavior
January 07, 2022
A group of high school students describe how Azteca alfari ants respond to damage to their host plant
A group of high school students describe how Azteca alfari ants respond to damage to their host plant
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.
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.
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.
Over half a century ago, a group of manatees from Bocas del Toro was flown into the artificial Gatun Lake to control the abundance of aquatic plants and for public health reasons. Where are they now?
Eavesdropping behavior in the canopy may answer questions about how acoustic interplay among animals has developed over millions of years in the forest
Females may also be prone to predation as they move toward a mating call
Just as humans with their babies, adult female bats change their vocalizations when interacting with “babbling” pups, which could be interpreted as positive feedback to their offspring during vocal practice
How does a tree escape or resist disease?
Joshua Tewksbury, director of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, explains how the development of a global standard measure of forest carbon will jumpstart the carbon economy.