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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

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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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A New, Endemic Tree Species Discovered in an Indigenous Area is Already Threatened

Botanists from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) named the new species, Clusia nanophylla, because of the tiny size of the leaves, the smallest within the genus. This species has only been found in Panama

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Smithsonian’s Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project Releases Panama’s Critically Endangered Golden Frogs Into the Wild

After disappearing from the wild due to a deadly fungal disease, the Panamanian golden frog is being reintroduced through the Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project (PARC). In a recent trial, 100 captive-bred frogs were released to study rewilding strategies.

Ants in the spotlight

Ants in the Spotlight: The Hidden Gaps in Neotropical Ant Behavior Research

A recent study from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) reveals that, despite their outsized ecological impact, the diversity of ants in the American tropics and their behavior remain understudied

Brígida de Gracia

A New Species of Fossil Fish From Panama Named After STRI Ngäbe Researcher

An analysis of marine fossils from the Upper Miocene Chagres Formation in Panama, most belonging to the Myctophidae family, discovered four new species, one of which has been named in honor of Brigida de Gracia, the first Ngäbe marine paleontologist

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Leafcutter Ants Have Blind Spots, Just Like Truck Drivers

Scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama discovered that carrying oversized loads limits the ability to perceive the trail in leafcutter ants, akin to blind spots while we are driving

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A Comparison of Colorful Hamlets From the Caribbean Challenges Ideas About How Species Arise

Scientists have been thinking about how new species evolve since Darwin wrote On The Origin of Species in 1859. The results presented here call into question some of the most common explanations of how species originate.

Orchid bees

Nature’s Copycats: What Cryptic Insects Reveal About Tropical Biodiversity Blind Spots

A new study from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) estimates 10% of insect species on Barro Colorado Island may be cryptic, or visually indistinguishable from related species, highlighting potential gaps in scientists’ understanding of ecosystem dynamics

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Smithsonian Digitizes Pollen From 18,000 Plant Species for Paleontology Research, Allergy Medicine and More

Pollen from 18,000 tropical plants was digitized in Panama. The images will be used to train a machine-learning model to identify pollen grains, as part of the PollenGEO project

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Mutualism Under Pressure: New Research in Panama Shows a Plant's Ability to Keep Its Defender Ants Happy

Scientists discovered that swollen-thorn acacias invested more in ant rewards during a drought, suggesting that mutualistic interactions play a crucial role in the plant's survival, even during climate stress

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Frog Tadpoles That Grew Up In The City Developed Faster But Ended Up Being Smaller

Have you ever wondered how city life affects animals like frogs? A new study reveals that urban Túngara frog tadpoles develop faster —but end up being smaller — than tadpoles from forests, probably resulting in smaller adults. This might be an adaptation to warmer urban puddles with fewer predators or to constantly changing environmental conditions in the city

The forest breathes

Above the Tropical Forest Canopy, Sensors Capture the Fluxes of Gases Between the Trees and the Atmosphere

The air moving above the forest carries valuable information about how trees absorb carbon, and what may happen in the future as global temperatures rise

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