Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Blog

Smithsonian Voices

How Even the Smallest Organisms Can Shape Entire Ecosystems and Inspire Lasting Change

From sonic tomographies to global biodiversity negotiations, this journey through research, resilience, and connection reveals how small organisms, death and decay bring about new life

Valerie Lenis | March 25, 2025

Bezos Earth Fund Gives $2 Million Grant to Launch Groundbreaking Amphibian Conservation Project Across Latin America

A grant from the Bezos Earth Fund to help save 25 frog species through conservation, rewilding and disease prevention efforts

Vanessa Crooks | March 20, 2025

A New Course by ForestGEO Experts Teaches the Biodiversity of Panamanian Forests

Through a course in dendrology, the study of the taxonomy of woody plants in the absence of flowers or fruits, two experts in forest diversity seek to leave a legacy of knowledge for future generations

Vanessa Crooks | March 19, 2025

Bat Salad: First Record of Bats Eating Entire Leaves and Not Spitting Them Out

Bats are known to chew and spit out leaves, like humans chew and spit out tobacco or coca, but this is the first continuous recording of a bat eating entire leaves

Elisabeth King | March 7, 2025

Spix's disk-winged bats inside their leaf tube

Listen Up! Hungry Bats Emit Food Calls to Family and Friends

Spix’s disc-winged bats shrieked when they were first shown mealworms, a new food for them. Were they alarmed, or were they communicating their excitement to their fellow bats?

Elisabeth King | February 21, 2025

A Lifelong Passion for Tropical Insects Leads to Generous Support

A fund set up by STRI staff scientist Annette Aiello intends to provide long-term funding for the preservation and management of the insect collection at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, highlighting the importance of reference collections for the advancement of science

Vanessa Crooks | February 5, 2025

Between Pasture and Forest: The Crusade to Protect the Jaguar in Panama

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.

Leila Nilipour | July 23, 2024

Coatis-Credit Christian Ziegler-Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior.jpg

Smarter Foragers Do Not Forage Smarter

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.

Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior and STRI | May 29, 2024

Indigenous Marine Scientist Studies Fish Feeding Evolution in Panama

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.

Leila Nilipour | April 19, 2024

Red Flags: I'm Not the Bug for You

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.

Leila Nilipour | April 3, 2024

Following the Swarm: Making a Documentary Short Film In Panama’s Tropical Forest

At the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, researchers track swarms of carnivorous army ants and the birds that follow them. A new documentary reveals a glimpse of life, and research, in the Neotropics

Olivia Milloway | April 3, 2024

Rare Shark Spotted for the First Time in Panama’s Eastern Pacific

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

Leila Nilipour | March 9, 2024

Why Are There Suddenly So Many Bleached Corals Along the Caribbean Coast of Panama?

A massive coral bleaching event in Panama’s Guna Yala islands along the eastern Caribbean coast signals a major problem with rising ocean temperatures and their long-term effects

Vanessa Crooks | March 7, 2024

A 17-Year Study Reveals How Dead Leaves Are a Tropical Forest Lifeline

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.

Leila Nilipour | February 22, 2024

Why the World Needs a Standard Measure for Counting Carbon

To jumpstart the carbon economy, scientists around the globe need to be aligned in how they analyze the solutions to the climate crisis

Joshua Tewksbury | December 13, 2023

Drink Coffee, Eat Chocolate, Save Birds!

A new initiative will make it easier for regional coffee and chocolate industries in Latin America to join the global movement to produce sustainable food.

Elisabeth King | October 4, 2023