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Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

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Two Oceans, One Country and 20 Times the Sharks

Fossil shark scales from Panama’s Caribbean and Pacific coasts show that the two seas never held the same number of sharks, and that borrowing a conservation target from one ocean could be wrong by an order of magnitude

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Smithsonian And NASA Collaborate To Understand Tropical Forests On Different Continents

The effects of climate on forest biomass differs among forests on with different histories on a continental scale

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Your Photos Can Help Make Scientific Discoveries

Scientists combined iNaturalist photos and scientific observations to uncover the possible evolution of a very particular behavior: egg-caring in a group of arachnids

Ancient epidemics

Archaeologists Analyze How Diseases Impacted Indigenous Populations in the Americas During Colonial Times

A new study examines the history of smallpox epidemics brought to America by European colonists, the absence of archaeological evidence associated with those epidemics and whether ancient DNA might offer new insights

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Does Helping Your Mom Pay Off? Queen Bee Pheromones Help Daughters Decide Whether to Stay or Leave the Nest

Queen pheromones in Megalopta bees tell daughters when it's worth sacrificing their fertility to help their mom

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A Mountain Expedition in Panama to Test New Insect Monitoring Technology

A new, jungle-proof automated light trap for insect monitoring documented in Methods in Ecology and Evolution and Integrative and Comparative Biology. The Mothbox is like a mammal trail camera but designed for large-scale insect monitoring

Toby Kiers

Fungi Expert Is on a Mission to Protect Global Natural Underground Networks

The youngest woman to receive the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, evolutionary biologist Toby Kiers was also the youngest student on Barro Colorado Island when she first burrowed underground into the fascinating and complex world of fungi

Glitter and Globug

How Camera Traps at the Smithsonian’s Research Institute in Panama Inspired a New Generation of Tropical Scientists

The long-term mammal monitoring project on Barro Colorado Island is one of the most unique camera trap systems in the tropics and the first of its kind

Making Bird Friendly cocoa

Cerro La Vieja: Cocoa that Protects Nature, Chocolate that Feeds the Soul

Dedication to protecting key bird habitats and biodiversity made possible the first Bird Friendly cocoa certification in Panama, marking a milestone for conservation

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Connected Forests Favor More Diverse, Disease-Preventing Microbes

New research shows that forest connecting different types of habitats may help frogs fight a deadly amphibian fungus

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