STRI news
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panam?               www.stri.org        July 23, 2004
New facilities at Fortuna
EGE Fortuna invited STRI officials to the
inauguration of their new Tropical Biodiversity
Research and Conservation Center inside
Fortuna Forest Reserve in the Chiriqu? high-
lands, on Friday, July 16. New facilities include
two new houses and remodeling of the Tropi-
cal Research Center Jorge L. Arauz. The ?B?
house is for the use of STRI researchers with a
capacity of eight people. STRI can also use the
?A? house (eight additional beds) and the
Arauz Center (two beds) depending on avail-
ability. On June 6, 2001 an agreement was
signed between STRI director Ira Rubinoff and
EGE Fortuna director Jacques Lapage for
technical and scientific collaboration and the
better understanding of the biological and hy-
drological resources at La Fortuna. This rela-
tionship have helped to consolidate Fortuna as
a solid platform for research activities by na-
tional and international scientists. Studies cover
such fields as bees, orchids, beetles, amphibi-
ans, fresh water fishes, bird and plant invento-
ries and pollens. STRI produced a bibliography
of scientific contributions result from research
done at Fortuna for the event. Interested in
conducting research in Fortuna should contact
STRI's Visitor's Office at the Tupper Center.
EGE Fortuna invit? a funcionarios de STRI a la
inauguraci?n de las nuevas instalaciones de su
Centro para la Investigaci?n y Conservaci?n de la
Biodiversidad Tropical: Reserva Forestal de For-
tuna el viernes, 16 de julio. Las nuevas instalacio-
nes incluyen dos casas nuevas y la remodelaci?n
del Centro de Investigaciones Tropicales Jorge L.
Arauz. La casa ?B? es para el uso de investigado-
res de STRI, con una capacidad de ocho personas.
STRI tambi?n puede utilizar la casa ?A? (con
ocho camas adicionales) y el Centro Arauz (otras
dos camas) dependiendo de la disponibilidad. El 6
de junio de 2001 el director de STRI, Ira Rubinoff
y Jacques Lapage, director de EGE Fortuna, fir-
maron un acuerdo de colaboraci?n cient?fica para
conocer mejor los recursos biol?gicos e hidrol?-
gicos de Fortuna. Esta relaci?n ha ayudado a con-
solidar, en Fortuna, una plataforma s?lida para los
esfuerzos de cient?ficos nacionales e internaciona-
les. Se han realizado estudios de abejas, orqu?deas,
escarabajos, anfibios, peces de agua dulce, aves e
inventarios de plantas y p?lenes. STRI produjo
una bibliograf?a de contribuciones cient?ficas de
STRI resultado de investigaciones en Fortuna para
este evento. Aquellos interesados en llevar a cabo
investigaciones en Fortuna deben ponerse en
contacto con la Oficina de Visitantes de STRI.
Tupper seminar
Tuesday, July 27, noon
seminar speaker will be Noris
Salazar Allen, STRI and the
University of Panama
Tropical bryophytes,
biosystematics and floristic
Bambi seminar
Thursday, July 29, Bambi
seminar speaker will be
Emma Sayer, Cambridge
University
Title to be announced
Arrivals
Maria Berger, University of
Montana, July 26 - Nov 14, to
work with Christine Miller,
on BCI.
Gregory Pauly, University of
Texas at Austin, Jul 26 - Aug
29, to assist A. Stanley Rand
and Mike Ryan on the
T?ngara Project, in Gamboa.
Anna Lacey and Gabrielle
Lambrick, Cambridge
University, Jul 27 - Sep 23, to
work with Stephen Taerum at
Bocas del Toro.
Robert Lessnau, Wildlife
Conservation Society,
Georgia, Jul 27 - Aug 5, to
work with Margaret Crofoot,
on BCI.
27 Jennifer Boothby, US, Jul
27 - Aug 5, to work with
Margaret Crofoot, on BCI.
Esther Collinetti and Marcela
Liljesthrom, Smithsonian
Environmental Research
Center (SERC), Jul 27 - Aug
3, to study invasive species in
marine ecosystems: network
analysis of fouling and wood-
boring communities, at Bocas
and Galeta.
2004 STRI Science Symposium
STRI director Ira
Rubinoff addressed an
open letter to Allen
Herre and the crew who
organized this year?s
marathon of 31 scientific
talks presented by the
STRI community from
July 8-9. Rubinoff
describes the event as ?a
true happening?. ?The
two days of seminars
provided a clear
demonstration of the significant advances that
we have made over the past 20 years, and
glimpses of where we are likely to go in the
next twenty years, regarding our understanding
of tropical biodiversity, the origins of tropical
agriculture and cultural change in the New
World; what makes a plant, a plant (fungi of
course), experimental outcomes of the
Pliocene rise of the Panamanian isthmus
reflected in the distribution, interaction and
evolution of marine and terrestrial biota of the
Neotropics, the outing of CAM (not just a
dessert oddity),
tropical plant
community response
to increasing carbon
dioxide and the
power of a BCI idea
spawned 25 years ago
to make sense of
plant community
dynamics, phylogeny,
natural history and
the adaptive radiation
of inordinate
fondness (aka
beetles), microbes and their power to
influence sex, growth and disease, remote
sensing from space and from the lab bench of
patterns extending from regional tree
distributions to the presence of Wolbachia, the
overturn of the myth, or mythical overturn, of
a unidirectional Eastern Pacific Marine Barrier,
long-term study of bees, trees, anoles and the
loss of equilibrial innocence, the behavioral
brilliance of frog-eating bats and the biologist
who began the study of chuck-challenged frogs
not to mention the upstart red-eyed pretenders
and their 'Blues' maven, the story of chocolate,
conservation and tropical avian migrants,
primates in peril and the predictive power of
conservation theory, the conservation science
of applied reforestation with native tree
species, tropical genomics and the passion-vine
butterflies, and diverse additional subjects of
interest.?
El director Ira Rubinoff 
envi? una carta abierta a
Allen Herre y al equipo que
organiz? el marat?n de este
a?o de 31 conferencias
cient?ficas presentadas por
la comunidad cient?fica de
STRI del 8 al 9 de julio.
Rubinoff describe el
evento como un verdadero
acontecimiento. ?Los dos
d?as de seminario fueron
una clara demostraci?n de
los significativos avances
que hemos logrado en los ?ltimos 20 a?os, y
sugiere hacia d?nde iremos en los pr?ximos 20
a?os respecto a nuestro conocimiento de la
biodiversidad tropical, los or?genes de la
agricultura tropical y el cambio cultural en el
Nuevo Mundo; qu? hace que una planta sea planta
(hongos por supuesto), resultados experimentales
del surgimiento del Istmo de Panam? en el
Plioceno reflejado en la distribuci?n, interacci?n y
evoluci?n de la biota marina y terrestre de los
Neotr?picos; la exploraci?n de CAM (no s?lo una
rareza del desierto); la respuesta
de la comunidad de plantas
tropicales al aumento del
di?xido de carbono y el poder
de la idea de BCI sembrada
hace 25 a?os para aclarar la
din?mica de las comunidades,
filogenia, historia natural y la
radiaci?n de adaptaci?n del
afecto excesivo (escarabajos
aka), microbios y su poder para
influenciar el sexo, crecimiento
y muerte; sensores remotos
desde el espacio y desde el
banco del laboratorio para observar patrones que
se extienden desde distribuciones regionales de
?rboles a la presencia de Wolbachia, el
derrocamiento del mito o derrocamiento m?tico
de la Barrera Marina del Pac?fico Oriental;
estudios a largo plazo de abejas, ?rboles, anolis y la
p?rdida de la inocencia equilibrada; el brillo del
comportamiento de los murci?lagos que comen
ranas y el bi?logo que empez? el estudio de las
ranas retadas por un sonido de ?choc?, sin hablar
de los pretendientes de ojos rojos saltones y los
conocedores del ?Blues?; la historia del chocolate,
la conservaci?n y las aves migratorias del
Neotr?pico; primates en peligro y el poder de
predicci?n de la teor?a de la conservaci?n; la
ciencia de la conservaci?n de reforestaci?n
aplicada con especies de ?rboles nativos, la ciencia
del genoma tropical y las mariposas de las
pasifloras y otras ?reas diversas de inter?s.? 
Herre
Rubinoff
Stan Rand
Bill Laurance
Departures
William F. Laurance, Jul 25 -
Aug 1, to Brasilia, to attend
the Annual Scientific
Conference of the NASA
LBA Program.
Donald Windsor, Jul 29 - Sep
3, to Malaysia, to attend the
International Field Biology
Course at Lambir Hill, then to
Borneo to visit the Danam
Field Station and to Brisbane,
Australia, to present a paper at
the XX International
Entomology Congress.
Klaus Winter, July 29 - Aug 3,
to Reno, Nevada, to attend
the IV International Congress
on Crassulacean Acid
Metabolism.
Congratulations
As part of OCAPP?s efforts to
continue training for STRI
nature guides, Guido Berguido
was selected to join the
program ?Park Flight? at
Point Reyes Bird Observatory
in California. He will be
trained in bird monitoring
from Aug 19 to Oct 31.
New publications
Farris-Lopez, Krista,
Denslow, Julie S., Moser,
Barry and Passmore, Heather.
2004. "Influence of a common
palm, Oenocarpus mapora, on
seedling establishment in a
tropical moist forest in
Panama." Journal of Tropical
Ecology 20(4): 429-438.
For rent
Apartment in Albrook.
2bedrooms, 1bath, great
garden, quiet neighborhood.
Partially furnished. $450 per
month. Please call Chimene
276-6621 or 674-6621.
CTFS-AA field
course
The Center for Tropical Forest Science-
Arnold Arboretum (CTFS-AA) Asia
Program annual International Field
Biology Course 2004 (July 16-Aug 16) was
opened by Datu Cheong Ek Choon
general manager of the Sarawak Forestry
Corporation (standing, left of center) at
Lambir Hills National Park, Sarawak.
Twenty graduate students from nine
countries (India, Sri Lanka, Singapore,
Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Japan,
Phillipines and the USA) are participating
in this course, focused on frontiers in
research on tropical forest biology, and
spans a diversity of fields including
taxonomy of plants and animals,
biogeography, hydrology, molecular
ecology, zoology, chemical ecology and
plant ecology. Thirty six specialists
including CTFS and STRI researchers will
serve as instructors. The course includes
field trips to neighboring national parks,
such as Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, and
independent student projects. This year's
course, hosted by Sarawak Forestry
Corporation, was organized by STRI
postdoctoral fellow Rhett Harrison.
El Curso de Biolog?a de Campo
Internacional anual del Programa de Asia
del Centro de Ciencias Forestales del
Tr?pico y el Arboreto Arnold (CTFS-AA)
de 2004 (julio 16-agosto 16) fue
inaugurado por Datu Cheong Ek Choon,
administrador general de la Corporaci?n
de Forester?a de Sarawak (de pi? a la
izquierda del centro) en el Parque
Nacional Lambir Hills, Sarawak. Veinte
estudiantes graduados de nueve pa?ses
(India, Sri Lanka, Singapur, Malasia,
Tailandia, Taiwan Jap?n, Filipinas y los
EU) est?n participando en este curso que
enfoca las fronteras en investigaci?n de
biolog?a forestal tropical y cubre una
variedad de campos incluyendo taxonom?a
de plantas y animales, biogeograf?a,
hidrolog?a, ecolog?a molecular, zoolog?a,
ecolog?a qu?mica y ecolog?a vegetal.
Treinta y seis especialistas incluyendo
investigadores del CTFS y STRI ser?n los
instructores. El curso incluye trabajo de
campo en parques nacionales cercanos
como Monte Kinabalu en Sabah y
proyectos independientes para los
estudiantes. El curso de este a?o,
patrocinado por la Corporaci?n Forestal
de Sarawak, fue coordinado por el becario
posdoctoral de STRI, Rhett Harrison.
Pledge to create
an endowed chair
in Paleontology
STRI received a pledge of $3.5 million
from the 1923 Fund to create an endowed
Chair in Paleontology, on June. This gift
allows STRI to offer an opportunity to an
outstanding scientist to work in one of the
world?s most fascinating locations for
paleontology research. The Isthmus of
Panama?as a land bridge connecting two
continents and an ocean barrier separating
Caribbean and Pacific?holds an
extraordinary and unique record
documenting the creation of two oceans;
the merger of two distinct land faunas and
floras from North and South America; the
impact of humans on tropical vegetation
as they first colonized the new world
around 15,000 years ago; and the saga of
prehistoric humans who used the isthmus
as a corridor for migration. Of special
note, this generous gift also establishes the
first endowed position in science at the
Smithsonian. We are grateful to the 1923
Fund for its extraordinary support, and
look forward to filling the position by the
end of the year.
STRI recibi? un fideicomiso por $3.5
millones del Fondo 1923 para crear una
posici?n en Paleontolog?a, el pasado mes
de junio. Este fondo permite que STRI
ofrezca una oportunidad a un cient?fico de
alta graduaci?n para trabajar en uno de los
lugares m?s fascinantes en investigaciones
paleontol?gicas. El Istmo de Panam?, un
puente natural que conecta dos
continentes y una barrera oce?nica que
separa al Caribe del Pac?fico, tiene un
registro extraordinario y ?nico que
documenta la creaci?n de dos oc?anos;
une dos faunas y floras distintas de Norte
y Suram?rica; el impacto de los primeros
seres humanos en la vegetaci?n tropical al
colonizar el nuevo mundo hace cerca de
15,000 a?os y la saga de humanos
prehist?ricos que usaron el istmo como
corredor migratorio. Como nota especial,
esta generosa donaci?n tambi?n establece
la primera posici?n dotada para ciencias
en el Smithsonian. Agradecemos al Fondo
1923 por su extraordinario apoyo y
esperamos llenar esta posici?n lo m?s
pronto posible.
Opening of the CTFS-AA field course at Lambir Hills, Sarawak, Malaysia. Apertura del
Curso de Biolog?a de Campo del CTFS-AA en Lambir Hills, Sarawak, Malasia.