STRI newsletter October 29, 1993 SMITHSONIAN TROPICAL RESEARCH INS1TI1.ITE • Apartado 20?2, Balboa, Panama No.C -• •• --•••• P4riicipants of the "Flora NeotropiclJ" Muting ht.ld at the Earl S. Tupper Ctnter on October 20-24, and organiud locally by Mireya Correll and Noris Salazar Allen ••• Los participantes de Ia Reuni6n "Flora Neotr6pica" lfevada a cabo en Panam4 en el Centro Earl S. Tupper del 20-24 de odubre, se reunieron paTa una toto de grupa con las organizadoras '~ftS de la reuni6n , Mireya COrTeD y Noris SalllZar. (folo: A . MOIIIMlltr) TUPPER CENTER SEMINARS Mon, Nov 1, noon seminar speaker will be Heather Proctor, animal behaviorist candidate. Trembling Malu and Grasping Ftnudes -Male Water Mites C4pit/diu on Female AdRptations for PredAtion AbstrRCt ¥ale Neumania pap#iptOT water mU~~pr,oouce vibrational signals during courtship that appear to in'd.uce predatory re'S:ponses in females. Using behavioral and phylogenetic methods, I test this sensory exploitation hypothesis for the origin of male trembling, as well as several ideas about how males might benefit hom mim- icking prey. Reminder ••• &corderis Wednesday, November 3 is Panama's lndependence Day and a holiday lor STRI ••• £1 mitrcoles 3 de nwiembre sc cddmJ el d(Q tk lndtpaulenda de Panamd, y no hay tralxlio en STRI. 1 Tue, Nov 2, seminar speaker will be Lisa Kealhofer, post'"iioctoral fellow, at 5:00pm. Holocene Environments and Cul- tural Impact: The Phytolith Evi- dence from Central TIrailand Abstract Phytolith evidence from Central Thai- land. documents human activities and enviI'ol\IJ\Cntal change for the last 8OClO years. Rice was found in the early se- quences suggesting a expanded. origin to the south of the progenitors of Oryza sativa or that rice was being grown there by 6000 Be. Thu. Nov 4, noon seminar speaker will be David B. McDonald, animal behaviorist candidate from the University of Florida. Male-Mlll£ Cooperation in a Manakin: Genetic .rut IJdun>WmI R"",lts Abstract Lek-mating male long-talled Manaltins perform joint courtship but only ~. one mates. There are not related and .thus the behavior appears to be unique. Naturally, cooperators do get long- delayed benefits. This manakin has a relatively large hippocampus which may be related to mapping food loca- tions which in tum, results -in an in- creased ability to discriminate between males. Other nianald:ns in other- envi- ronments ought not to have this' en- larged hippocampus, nor thts courtship. VieIka Vetgel to Retire by Ira Rubinolf Vie1ka Verge1 began working for STRI in 1968 as a Clerk Steno at the budding marine laboratory developing in the facilities originally under US. Army and Navy control as World War I Fort Amador Canal protection fortifications. She helped develop the marine programs at Naos, Caleta and the San Blas, always alert to the competing forces that were anxious to acquire or feaaJ.uire the facili- ties on which -the worki's first bi--ocean- ic marine research program was based- October 29, 1993 SMITHSONIAN TROPICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE, Apartado 21m,. Balboa, Panama No." for more "important" or "ambitious" programs like storing munitions, building hotels, or chasing drug dealers. She helped a very great number of todays successful marine biologists launch their careers in biology by guiding them through the bureaucrades of the Smithsonian Institution.. STRL the U.s. military, the Panamanian Defense Forces, and the rules of a country foreign, but always benevolent to the "inocent students" from abroad. I am fortunate to have worked with her and to have benefited by her extreme loyalty to this organization through the thick and thin of relations between the U.s. and Panama. We owe her a lot and wish her the best of fortune in the future. I'EOl'LE Arrivals • Neil Davis, Graduate Student Fellow from the Univer- Sity College, London, Oct 31-Dec, to cany out field studies, breeding experiments and molecular analysis of a butterfly hybrid zone, at Thpper and Naos. • Astrid Ferret;. Ckt 1, to work with Gregory Gilbert, on OCL • Heinrich Krause, Short-Term Visitor from the Univer- sity if Dusseldorf, Gennany, Oct 2-10 Dec, to conduct studies on the photoinhibition in leaves of tropical plants, at Thpper. • Takvo Yakanuua, Osaka City University, Oct 2, to work with Richard Condit on data analysis and management. Departures • Carlos Te}ada, Oct 31-8 Nov, on official business to Sf, Washington D .C. • J~ Ram6n Perurena,Qd 31-15 Nov, on offidal business at SL Washington D.C., followed by a short vacation. • Francisco Rivera, Oct 31-3 Nov, to Costa Rica, to attend an Internet training course. • Nancy Knowlton, Nov 1-7, to Key West, FL, to attend the Biodiversity Workshop, and collect specimens for research projects. Wedding Bells Congratulations to Mercedes Arosemena and. Jose Antonio Denis, who tied the knot on Oct 26. TIIlNGS YOU SHOULD KNOW At the Tupper Center Man.. Nov 1 • Directors, Scientific Council and Sci- entific Support meeting, Large Meet- ing Room. 9:00am. • Noon seminar by Heather Proctor, ani- mal behavior candidate,. Auditorium. Tue, Nov 2 • Seminar by Lisa Keaihofer, post-doc- 2 toral feUow, Auditorium, Spm. There will be a late boat to Bel Thu, Nov 4 • Noon seminar by David B. McDonald. anima] behavior candidate, Auditoriwn. At the Culebra Marine Reserve Mon.. Nov 1 • Special group hom Arraijan celebrat- ing El Dfa del Niffo, 8:30-11 :3Oam. • Children from Policia de Balboa, 10:00- 12:30pm. Fri, Nov 5 • CAmara Junior de Pammui. Scheduled visit by the XXXVIII Convencion Na- dOMi de OimnrllS Junior de Pallamif. Federal Health PIans Open Season Temporada AbiertR del PIIUI Medico Federal The Federal Health Benefits Open Season runs this year from Nov 8-13 Dec. Under open season regulations, eligible employees are all the pre-treaty employees, who may enroll or change enrollment to a new Federal Employees Health Plan (FEHB), and an enrolled em- ployee may change from seU only to self and family, or any combination of these options. For more information, please contact the STRl Office of Human Resources ••• La temporada abierta JXlra el Plan Medico Federal este ario sera del 8 de nwiembre al 13 de diciembre. Los empletulos elegibles son los pre-tratado, quienes tendran la opci6n de cambwrse de plo.n solo al familwT, 0 alguna combinad6n de estas opciones. Para mayor informacion, consulte 1a Oficina de Recursos Humanos en Tivoli. ANNOUNCEMENTS A Job Well Done SI'Rl wishes to congratulate M6nic.a Alvarndo, protocol officer at the Office of External Affairs, the Visitor Services Office's staff and the Tupper Management services per50IUlel for the organization and. management of two international events hosted by SfRI during the past weeks. Both the Po!e-EqWlior-Po!e and the Flo,. Neotropica meetings were very successful, gathering more than fifty distin- guished specialists in Panama. Their comments were very positive for both their experience in Panama and STRI, and. for the scientific accomplishments at the meetings. MCUISI Credit Union STRI AFCU/SI members in Panama have expressed their satisfaction with the speed by which all transac- tions under the new administration of Judy Smith are being proceed. The AFCU administrators at STRI encourage members to keep their accounts alive and. welcome new memberships. Please contact Celideth De Le6n at TIvoli, if application forms and/or information to apply for membership is needed. October 29, 1993 SMlTIiSONIAN TROPICAL RESEARCH 1NSTITUI1;.. Apartado 2072, Balboa" Panami No." Parting the Green Curtain Tour SfRI's Office of International Affairs has continued to sponsor the Latin American tour of the bilingual exhibition Parting the Green Curtain. Elena Lombardo travelled to Caracas, Venezuela, where this exhibit opened October 7th for six-months at the fundacWn Museo de Ciendas. The Museo is located in Plaza Los Caobos in Caracas, where many other important cultural and educational institutions, such as the fa- mous Teresa Carreno Theatre, are found. For this reason, the Plaza is visited by more than five thousand people on week· ends, and at least three thousand enter the recently refurbished Fundaci6n Museo de Ciencias. Officials from the Panamanian Embassy in Caracas, members of the Museum's Board of Directors and other guests attended the opening of STRI's exhibit, which was also covered by the Venezuelan educational television and the local press. The Fundaci6n will host the STR1 exhibit at the Museo through Febru- ary 1994 after which the exhibit will gravel for four months through other important Venezuelan cities. After Venezuela, the exhibit is scheduled to travel to Bolivia, by mid 1994. NEW STRI PUBLICATIONS Brenes, Maria Majela. 1993. 'Un Libro Dedicado a los Basques Tropicales." Ll Pnmsa Oct 20, lB. Lozhkin, A. V., Anderson. P.M., Eisner, W.R., Ravake, LG., Hopkins, D.M., Brubaker, LB., Colinvaux, PA and Miller, M.e. 1993. '1...ate Quaternary Lacustrine Pollen Records from South- western Beringia." Quaternary Research 39: 314-324. Nemtzog, Simon C. 1992. Intraspecific Variation in the Social and Mating Behavior of Caribbean Razorfishes (Pisces, Labridae). Ph.D. dissertation, State University of New York at Stony Brook. Zotz, Gedlard and Winter, Klaus. 1993. 'Short-term Photosynthesis Measure- ments Predict Leaf Carbon Balance in Tropical Rain-Forest Canopy Plants." Planta 191, 409-412. RAul and Pedro Nass, directors of tile HFundaci6" Museo de Ciel/cim;" tlud hosted the STRI exhibit "Parting the Green Curtain" in Caracas, Venezuela, which open£d Oct 7th. MISCELLANEOUS Book of Remembrances A book of remembrances on Alan Smith was started at the 51 and is now at STRl. All of Alan's friends and colleagues are wekome to come and write in this book which will be sent later to A1an's parents. The book will be at the Director's Office since Monday, November lth. Donations for the fellowship fund in his memory will also be accepted. Scientific lliustrator Barret Klein offers his services as scientific illustrator, especially in the field of entomOlogy. Presently, he is working on BCI as an assistant researcher. After Dec 15 he can be reached at 120 Cambridge, Pleasant Ridge, MI 48069, U.S.A. English as a Second Language· Inglis como Segundo Idioma The Panama Canal College (FCC) will offer a new English as a Second Language course (conversational), designed for those who would like to improve their English speaking skills. Beginning Jan 31, the course will last six weeks, Mon-TIm, 12:30-3:30pm. Interested please call PCC at 52·3107 or 52-3304 ••• EI "PtlFUlmn Canal College" ofrecerd un curso nuevo de Inglis en ... Segundo Idimrul (conV<1>OCi6n), diseffado para aque/los que deseen mejorar su inglis. EJ curso empiem eJ 31 de enero del '94, de Junes a juet>tS de 12:30-3:3Opm por stU semanas. lnleresados favor de llamar a1 "Pana.". GIna! College" al52-3107 652-3304. 3 Octo"" 29, 1993 SMITHSONIAN TROPICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE" Apartado '1ffn. Balboa, Panama No." NEW STRI BOOKLIST Ama20nla colomblana: diversidad y conflicto I Germfu\ Andrade, Adriana Hurtado G, Ricardo Torres. QH77.C7A55 1992 STRI. Amazonia urgent: five centuries of history and ecology: exhibition guide 1992 / Berta C. Ribeiro. GF532.A4R4S £1992 STRI. Arqueologla del centro·sur de Cuba I Lourdes S. Dominguez. F1769.D66 1991X STRI. Biology and conservation of the monarch butterfly / edited by Stephen B. Malcolm and Myron P. Zalucki. QI.561.D3B615 1993 STRI. Boron hazards to fish, wildlife. and invertebrates: a synoptic review / by Ronald Eisler. QH545.B6E36 1990 STRI. Cwso de introducci6n a las investigaciones de campo: del 3 at 10 de mayo de 1992, Peninsula Gigante, Monumento Natural de Barro Colorado. QH320.P2C97c 1992 STRI. The Deserts' past: a natural prehistory of the Great Basin I Donald K Grayson. QE697.GB 1993X STRI. Diccionario guayml-e;palIol.ingles / Epluaim 5.). Alphonse. Rei PM3806.A73 19B7X STRI. Ethnohistory and archaeology: approaches to postcontact change in the Americas / edited by J. Daniel Rogers and Samuel M. Wilson. E61.ES6 1993X STRI. Evolutionary patterns and processes / edited by D.R Lees and D. Edwalds. QH359.E935 1993 STRI. Free market environmentalism: a primer public policy Institutes. HCllO.E5F85 1992 STRI. From Kostenki to Clovis: upper Paleolithic Paleo-Indian adaptations / edited by Olga Soffer and N.D. Praslov. GN772.2.AIF76 1993X STRI. Handbook of African medicinal plants / Maurice M. lwu. RSI64.IS4 1993X STRl. Handbook 01 the birds 01 the world, v. 1: Ostrich to DucI