In the Collin Lab we work to understand how environmental conditions, their natural variation and environmental change from the climate emergency shape marine ecosystems and biodiversity. Our current work focuses on three areas (1) Documenting the biodiversity of tropical marine invertebrates, (...
Based on clues ranging from microscopic pollen samples to massive petrified trees and larger-than-life-sized turtle and crocodile fossils, my lab pieces together millions of years of evidence to reconstruct the deep-time history of tropical ecosystems. I help to build international networks of...
As Director Emeritus of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, a unit of the Smithsonian Institution headquartered in Panama City, Panama, I retired in June, 2020 from the job of managing more than 400 employees, an annual budget of $35 million, and the institute’s research facilities ...
Since I joined STRI’s scientific staff in 1975, I have conducted field research on a broad range of topics relating to the reproductive biology, demography, population biology, behavior, community ecology, evolution and biogeography of tropical reef fishes, with an emphasis on those species that...
Exploring the tropical peoples
and ecosystems of the past
In a remote Bolivian forest, a Smithsonian researcher discovers the first beetle species that live on orchids.
A Smithsonian emeritus scientist takes a field trip to some of Panama’s most important known marine fossil deposits for a quick lesson the age of the Ithsmus of Panama.
The director of Panama’s herbaria invite visiting researchers to use these valuable resources of Panama’s astounding plant biodiversity.
Individual tree species, not forest communities, respond to changes in phosphorus levels.
