Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Smithsonian scientists first came to Panama during the construction of the Panama Canal from 1904 to 1914. The Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Charles Doolittle Walcott, reached an agreement with Federico Boyd to conduct a biological inventory of the new Canal Zone in 1910, and this survey was subsequently extended to include all of Panama. Thanks largely to their efforts, the governor of the Canal Zone declared Barro Colorado Island (BCI) a biological reserve in 1923, making it one of the earliest biological reserves in the Americas. During the 1920s and 1930s BCI, in Gatun Lake, became an outdoor laboratory for scientists from U.S. universities and the Smithsonian Institution. By 1940, when BCI was designated the Canal Zone Biological Area (CZBA), more than 300 scientific publications had described the biota of BCI. In the Government Reorganization Act of 1946, BCI became a bureau of the Smithsonian Institution. The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) was created in 1966. STRI has an average of 350 ongoing research projects and publishes more than 400 peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals every year. ==Purpose==

STRI's research facilities allow staff scientists, fellows and visiting scientists to achieve their research objectives. Most of STRI's staff scientists reside in the tropics and are encouraged to pursue their own research priorities without geographic limitations. The continuity of their long-term programs enables in-depth investigations that attract an elite group of fellows and visitors. Active support for fellows and visitors leverages resources further and attracts more than 1,200 scientists to STRI each year. ==Academic programs==

STRI hosts 10–15 university field courses every year. Participating universities include Princeton, McGill, Northeastern, Wisconsin Green Bay, Yale, Harvard, Ohio State, Arizona State, Marquette, Texas A&M Butler, Cambridge, Dartmouth College, University of Vermont and Southern Illinois. STRI also runs an intensive field course for Panamanian and Central American undergraduates. Since 1965, STRI has supported some 5,500 fellows and interns of various academic levels, from undergraduate, master and PhD students, to postdoctoral and senior researchers. ==Barro Colorado Nature Monument==

The Barro Colorado Nature Monument includes the 16 km² Barro Colorado Island, which is covered with tropical forest and boasts a nearly intact mammal fauna. It also includes 40 km² of surrounding mainland peninsulas covered by forests in various stages of succession, serving as a site for manipulative field experiments. The monument adjoins Panama's 220 km² Soberania National Park. With an unparalleled store of background information reflecting almost a century of research in a protected setting, Barro Colorado Island has become a major global center for tropical research. Barro Colorado is open for public day visits, but advance reservations must be made. ==Other research sites==

Although STRI is based in Panama, research is conducted throughout the tropics. The Smithsonian's Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO) network (formerly CTFS, Center for Tropical Forest Science) uses standard study protocols to monitor more than 70 forest plots in 28 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. The protocols were developed on BCI in the early 1980s. More than six million individual trees representing 12,000 species are being studied. STRI's Biological Diversity of Forest Fragments project created experimental forest fragments of 0.01, 0.1, and 1.0 km² to study the consequences of landscape transformation on forest integrity in the central Amazon region. STRI marine scientists are conducting a global survey of levels of genetic isolation in coral reef organisms. Facilities in Panama City STRI is headquartered at the Earl S. Tupper Research, Library and Conference Center in Ancón, Panama City. STRI has other installations around Panama City including the Center for Tropical Paleoecology and Archaeology, a Canopy Access Crane system in the Parque Natural Metropolitano (with a sister crane in the San Lorenzo National Park on Panama's Caribbean slope), and the Naos Marine and Molecular Laboratories on the Amador Causeway. The marine laboratory has a dock, wet lab and scientific diving office, facilitating research in the Gulf of Panama. The causeway, which is at the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal, is also home to STRI's visitor center, the Punta Culebra Nature Center, which is open year-round to the general public and school groups. Facilities elsewhere in Panama STRI has laboratories in the town of Gamboa, which is abutted by Soberanía National Park, the Panama Canal and the Chagres River in central Panama. The Gamboa labs facilitate research on forest ecology, animal behavior, plant physiology, evolution and other disciplines. Adjacent to Soberanía, STRI has the 700-hectare Panama Canal Watershed Experiment, which studies multiple land-use practices to determine their impact on hydrology, carbon storage and potential for reforestation. STRI has two Caribbean marine laboratories. One is the small facility of Punta Galeta Marine Laboratory near the city of Colón, at the Caribbean entrance to the Panama Canal. The other is the Bocas del Toro Research Station, a modern marine laboratory on Isla Colón within one mile of downtown Bocas del Toro. The research station has a dock, dive locker and a fleet of small research vessels that provide access to mangrove, seagrass and coral reef ecosystems. The Fortuna Field Station provides access to montane forest in western Panama. STRI has a small field station is on the island of Coibita in Coiba National Park. The station provides access to the 500-km2 Coiba Island and extensive coral reef systems of the Eastern Tropical Pacific. ==Directors==

The following served an director of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute or its predecessors, the Barro Colorado Island Biological Laboratory and the Canal Zone Biological Area: Table Notes: == Notable researchers ==

• Noris Salazar Allen, bryologist • Henk Wolda, entomologist == Controversy ==

An article released by Buzzfeed News in 2021 told the story of 16 women who experienced "a pattern of sexual misconduct by high-ranking men at the institute, one of whom acknowledged his inappropriate behavior". Incidents included verbal harassments, physical sexual assault, unwanted attention, and have resulted in the widespread call for changes within the Institute. The fallout has included the firing of employees, an internal investigation, individuals being stripped of their titles, and institutional resources being made available. However, many victims still face retaliation from the accused, including the withholding of data. A call for locks on doors where researchers slept occurred after the assault of a female scientist at the STRI by a male scientist. This was detailed in a December 9th 2020 letter to the White House Gender Policy Council (GPC), written by Laura Dunn, a victim's rights attorney and the legal representative for the victims. The STRI receives federal funding, awarded from a committee on which the US Vice President sits, which was the reason for the letter. From an article in Nature: "Tewksbury says that all bedrooms now have lockable doors, but he notes that such safeguards are impractical in field sites, where researchers sleep in tents." ==References==