Just a little respect
Bocas dolphins may be more sociable while we shelter in place
April 13, 2020
A study of dolphin behavior in the presence of tourist boats informs conservation efforts.
A study of dolphin behavior in the presence of tourist boats informs conservation efforts.
Three decades after the largest recorded oil spill near coastal habitats in Panama, scientists look at how coral reefs recover from acute contamination over time
A trip to Jicarón Island during the Coiba Bioblitz led to a published bird checklist.
By evaluating the diet choices of this species in a semi-natural environment, scientists could improve predictions of how it might affect newly invaded communities
Between 1944 and 1966, Dr. Alexander Wetmore, a legendary ornithologist and Sixth Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, investigated the avifauna of the Isthmus of Panama. This became the basis of his four-volume ‘The Birds of the Republic of Panama’. In this webinar, STRI anthropologist Dr. Stanley Heckadon-Moreno takes us for a historical and photographic journey across Dr. Wetmore’s expeditions in Panama, with the support of Dr. Pamela Henson, director of Institutional History at the Smithsonian Institution Archives.
As the Earth’s surface transforms, entire ecosystems come and go. The anatomy of fossil plants growing in the Andean Altiplano region 10 million years ago calls current paleoclimate models into question, suggesting that the area was more humid than models predict.
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.
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.
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.
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