Fundación Yaguará Panamá not only leads the protection of the largest feline in the Americas in cattle ranching areas of the country, but also promotes gender equality by actively involving women in key roles in the project, both at the scientific and community levels.
Marine conservation scientists advocate for a cultural shift in academia that fosters deeper connections with places of study and encourages collaboration with local communities to make science more relevant, equitable and meaningful.
Why do primates have big brains? In the Panamanian rainforest, scientists pitted large-brained primates against smaller-brained mammals to find out who was the smartest forager.
Through advanced isotopic analyses, Rodnyel Arosemena seeks to understand how fish in the Caribbean and the Pacific that had a common ancestor take advantage of the resources of their different environments today.
By engaging directly with community members and embracing indigenous knowledge in the Bocas del Toro archipelago, a NatGeo project led by a Smithsonian scientist highlights the necessity of inclusive approaches to safeguard critical marine ecosystems and culture for future generations.
Recent research conducted in Panama has revealed that the waving behavior exhibited by matador bugs, with their attractive hind-leg flags, are neither mating displays nor distraction tactics against predators, as previously thought.
The elusive prickly shark was observed during a submarine expedition to the depths of the Cordillera de Coiba seamounts, a biodiversity hotspot and marine protected area
A 17-year experiment in Panama revealed that the process of leaves falling and decomposing on the ground provides nutrients to the soil that help promote tree growth in otherwise infertile tropical forests.
A 13-million-year-old saber-toothed marsupial skeleton discovered during paleontological explorations in Colombia is the most complete specimen recovered in the region
New fossil mammals found in Caribbean Panama suggest ongoing marine interchange during the final stages of formation of the isthmus connecting North and South America
This initiative, backed by data from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, aims to mitigate climate change, protect the country’s deep-sea marine-mountain environments, and safeguard wildlife from human intervention
Over half a century ago, a group of manatees from Panama's Caribbean region of Bocas del Toro was flown into the Panama Canal to control the abundance of aquatic plants in its water reservoir and prevent the proliferation of disease-transmitting mosquitoes. Where are they now?
Six scientists from Panama, Costa Rica, Colombia and Ecuador spent two weeks exploring the recently expanded Cordillera de Coiba marine protected area, an unknown region to science. This is what they saw.
Despite significant movement restrictions during the first wave of the pandemic in Panama City, a group of curious high school students roamed their neighborhood drilling holes into Cecropia trees and documenting how Azteca alfari ants responded to damage to their host plant.
Long-term monitoring of the bat species Saccopteryx bilineata in their natural setting revealed that pups display babbling behavior strikingly similar to that of human infants
In the Bocas del Toro mangrove forests, in Panama’s Caribbean coast, an unexpected phenomenon may be helping stressed out corals cope with climate change.
Credit: Jorge Alemán
The Fortuna Hydrological Reserve hosts one third of Panama’s tree species, a variety of fungi waiting to be discovered and a great potential to offset global warming
The scientists advocate shifting the current value system, which is biased against women and minorities, towards a more diverse and inclusive model of science
To understand the impact of changes in land use in Northern Virginia, the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute developed the Changing Landscapes Initiative, a project that uses a scientifically rigorous yet human-centered approach to address concerns about the future of the region.
A partnership between the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) and the American Prairie Reserve (APR) aims to understand how different grazing animals and grazing regimes, whether with cows or bison, impact the distribution and abundance of grassland birds in Montana.
The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) is developing animal distribution maps as part of the Smithsonian Conservation Commons’ Working Landscapes initiative in Myanmar, helping stakeholders and decision makers make better choices regarding landscape management.
The Smithsonian Institution and Piedra de Cachimbo coffee farmers in northern Venezuela are committing to the conservation of 400 hectares of forest for traditional shade-grown organic coffee, seeking Smithsonian Bird Friendly certification of their beans. This will help protect the habitat of the red siskin, an endangered red and black finch.
For the third consecutive year, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History is organizing a Teen Earth Optimism event, which aims to involve teenagers in conversations about the challenges facing the planet and solutions that are making an impact. This year, the topic will be surrounding sustainable foods, as part of a collaboration with the Conservation Commons.
Scientists have started to notice that, like their counterparts breeding in temperate latitudes, tropical birds exhibit migratory behaviors. Now Peter Marra, director of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s (SCBI) Migratory Bird Center, and Brandt Ryder, a research ecologist at SCBI are trying to understand why, by tracking two species of Neotropical birds in Brazil: Bare-throated bellbirds and Snail kites.
The health of coral reefs in Central America is graded every two years and issued a report card. As of next year, two other coastal ecosystems that coral reefs heavily depend upon —mangrove forests and seagrass beds— will also start getting scores. This will help strengthen the everyday management strategies of these habitats, crucial to the livelihoods of over 2 million people.
By tracking rays, sharks and river herring, the Fish and Invertebrate Ecology lab at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center is working to figure out how marine migration data could help predict marine species' responses to climate change and aid in the conservation of endangered ones.
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