Sunday, July 1, 2018

Day 3- Part 1: Barro Colorado Island Smithsonian Tropical Research Station


Our day began with a boat ride to Barro Colorado Island in Gatun Lake, and the most intensely studied tropical forest in the world.


This is the largest forested island in the Panama Canal waterway, and has been administered by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute since 1923. Research projects on the island are providing valuable information about sustainability, interactions within ecosystems, and how changes in climate impact fragile ecosystems locally and globally. “Barro Colorado Island is to scientists as Disney World is to kids.”


More than 13,000 scientific articles have stemmed from research projects at this facility. You can read more about the research at BC STRI and its history at: https://stri.si.edu/facility/barro-colorado.


We met our guides, Vincente and Lovisa for a slide presentation on biodiversity followed by a  hike on the BC trails to observe and learn about the biodiversity and see sites in the forest where scientists are doing research. Lovisa is a doctoral student from Germany studying the relationship between figs and the fig wasp.

                                    Vincente and Lovisa






Quotes from our group:

I was impressed that since the facility opened in 1923, over 10,000 scientific articles have been published - Caroline B.

I was struck by how difficult it must have been to construct the trails - how the structures were built and blended into the terrain. - Scott C.

We appreciated interacting with the research associates who were our guides (Vincente and Lovisa). Their presentations prepared us visually and auditorially so we knew what to look for and listen for on our hike - JIm M. And Scott C.













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