Tupper 4pm seminar
Tuesday, August 2, 4pm seminar speakers will be Javier Mateo-Vega and Eva Garen, STRI
The Environmental Leadership & Training Initiative and its quest to create a new cadre of conservation leaders in the tropics
BDG meeting
The Behavior Discussion Group will meet on Tuesday, August 4, 2pm, Large Meeting Room, Tupper Center, with Ioana Chiver
Insect food and nesting timing of Red-throated Ant-tanagers (H ab ia fu s c ic au d a)
Two paleo-talks
Wednesday, August 5, Paleo- talk speaker will be Kai Tao, Texas A&M University, at 4pm, CTPA, Ancon Evolution of Cenozoic climate and ocean
chemistry recorded in the chemical and isotopic composition of mollusk shells
Thursday, August 6, Paleo-talk speaker will be Orangel Aguilera, Universidad Experimental Francisco Miranda, at 4pm, CTPA Reptiles fósiles en América tropical y su significado paleobiogeográfico
Bocas talk
Thursday, August 6, the BRS invites everyone to a bilingual talk by Silvia Libro of
Northeastern University, Steve Vollmer, Carmel Norman, and Elizabeth Hemond
What’s going on with the Corals of Bocas: A case-study disease in staghorn coral
Cefati Conference Room, IPAT, 7pm, Isla Colón
STRI news
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panamá www.stri.org July 31, 2009
Sex in the Caribbean:
Environmental change drives evolutionary change—eventually
Hungry, sexual organisms replaced well-fed, clonal organisms in the Caribbean Sea as the Isthmus of Panama emerged; report STRI postdoctoral fellow Aaron O'Dea and staff scientist emeritus Jeremy Jackson in the Proceedings of the Royal Society (July 29). The fossil record shows that if a species could shift from clonal to sexual reproduction, it survived.
Closure of the Isthmus involved a sequence of volcanic and tectonic events.
Between 4.5-3.5 million years ago, the Caribbean changed from a pea soup-like environment, fed by nutrient-rich waters, into a crystal-clear, nutrient-poor environment. "As the Caribbean Sea was cut off from the Pacific Ocean, many new species appeared in the fossil record, and all reproduced sexually," said O'Dea.
Well-preserved fossils show that cupuladriid bryozoans,
Feeding colony
Colonia alimentándose
colonial animals that walk on the sea floor, reproduced either by cloning or by sex. To clone a new colony requires
immediately available energy, so when nutrients are scarce, it's better not to fragment.
O'Dea and Jackson measured the relative amount of cloning and sex occurring in species over the last ten million years in the Caribbean. "The two forms are unmistakable," explained O'Dea. "You can clearly see the first individual that founded a sexual colony, while a clonal colony preserves the fragment from the previous colony from which it cloned."
Sex
A-sex
Not everyone agreed that the extinctions which occurred 1-2 million years later were caused by the formation of the
Isthmus, but these authors have the evidence to be sure.
"It's important to distinguish between ecological
extinction-when these
O’Dea, 2005
organisms stopped being important players in the game-and actual extinction, when they disappeared from the geological record," said O'Dea.
Jackson added that "The idea that extinction may be delayed millions of years after the cause is worrisome. Today an
overwhelming number of species are being reduced in abundance. The forecast from the fossil record is that even if they survive now, the ultimate cause of their extinction may have already passed us by."
Organismos hambrientos y sexuales reemplazaron a los clonados y bien alimentados cuando emergió el Istmo de Panamá, reportan el becario postdoctoral Aaron O´Dea y el científico emérito de STRI Jeremy Jackson en Proceedings of the Royal Society. El registro fósil muestra que si una especie podía cambiar de reproducción
NEO symposium
Friday, August 7, NEO Symposium will be held from 8am-5pm. For more
information please contact Nilka Tejeira at:
Arrivals
Graham Bonnett, Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research
Organisation (CSIRO), to study the origin, diversity and ecology of wild sugarcane in Panama, at Tupper.
Sean Denny, Middlebury College, NY, to work on a telemetric study of an arboreal frog species, Agalychnis spurrelli, on BCI.
Jarrod Scott, University of Wisconsin - Madison, to study the microbial community assembly in the refuse dumps of the leaf-cutter ant, Atta colombica, at Naos, Gamboa and Tupper.
Aline Murawski and Tobias Pilz, University of Postdam, Germany, to study water, energy, and biogeochemical budgets in the humid tropics, on BCI.
Fabiany Herrera, University of Florida, to continue studies on the geology of Panama, at the CTPA.
Jonathan Losos, Harvard University, to study why mainland anoles are different:
An ecomorphological perspective, on BCI.
Rebecca Brandt, Lisa-Marie Schulze, Carmen Begerock, Franziska Faul, Celia Eileen Krauthausen, and
Sophie-Juliane Ittner,
University of Postdam, to join the Agua Salud Project.
NEO symposium
Friday, August 7, NEO Symposium will be held from 8am-5pm. For more
information please contact Nilka Tejeira at:
Arrivals
Graham Bonnett, Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research
Organisation (CSIRO), to study the origin, diversity and ecology of wild sugarcane in Panama, at Tupper.
Sean Denny, Middlebury College, NY, to work in a telemetry study on an arboreal frog species, Agalychnis spurrelli, on BCI.
Jarrod Scott, University of Wisconsin - Madison, to study the microbial community assembly in the refuse dumps of the leaf-cutter ant, Atta colombica, at Naos, Gamboa and Tupper.
Aline Murawski and Tobias Pilz, University of Postdam, Germany, to study water, energy, and biogeochemical budgets in the humid tropics, on BCI.
Fabiany Herrera, University of Florida, to continue studies on the geology of Panama, at the CTPA.
Jonathan Losos, Harvard University, to study why mainland anoles are different:
An ecomorphological perspective, on BCI.
Rebecca Brandt, Lisa-Marie Schulze, Carmen Begerock, Franziska Faul, Celia Eileen Krauthausen, and
Sophie-Juliane Ittner,
University of Postdam, to join the Agua Salud Project.
clonada a sexual, podía sobrevivir.
El cierre del Istmo incluyó una secuencia de eventos volcánicos y tectónicos. Entre 4.5 y 3.5 millones de años atrás, el Caribe cambió de ser un ambiente parecido a una sopa de arvejas, alimentado por aguas ricas en nutrientes, a un ambiente claro cristalino, pobre en nutrientes.
“Cuando el Mar Caribe y el Océano Pacífico se separaron, muchas especies nuevas
aparecieron en el registro fósil, y todas se reproducían
sexualmente” asegura O´Dea.
Fósiles bien preservados de briozoarios cupuládridos, animales que viven en colonias y caminan en el lecho marino, se reproducían por clonación o
sexualmente. Para que una colonia se clone se requiere de energía inmediatamente disponible, así que si los
nutrientes son escasos, es mejor no fragmentarse.
O'Dea y Jackson midieron la cantidad relativa de clonación y sexo en las especies en los últimos diez millones de años en el Caribe. “Es imposible no detectar la dos formas,” explica O´Dea. “Se puede ver
claramente al primer individuo que fundó una colonia sexual, mientras que la colonia clonada preserve el fragmento de la colonia previa de la cual se clonó.”
Aunque no todo el mundo estaba de acuerdo en que las extinciones que se dieron entre uno a dos millones de años
después fueron causadas por la fomación del Istmo, estos autores tienen la evidencia que lo asegura. Es importante distinguier entre extinción ecológica— cuando estos organismos dejaron de ser actores importantes en el juego— y extinción real, cuando desaparecieron del registro geológico, explica O´Dea.
Jackson añadió que “La idea de que esta extinción haya
demorado millones de años después de la causa, es
preocupante. Hoy día, hay una enorme cantidad de especies cuyas poblaciones se están reduciendo en abundancia. El pronóstico que resulta del registro de fósiles es que aún si hoy día están sobreviviendo, la verdadera causa de su extinción ya ocurrió y no lo notamos.”
System of rice intensification conference
A one-day conference on low-input rice production, known as the system of rice intensification (SRI), will be held at STRI on August 3, 2009 at the Tupper Conference Hall.
Simultaneous translation will be available. The SRI system, developed originally in Madagascar, involves
modifications to management practices in order to reduce water and fertilizer demands while sustaining rice yields. The meeting will feature
presentations by Norman Uphoff, former director of Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development (left, in the photo), other international SRI experts, and Panamanian experts on rice research and rural agricultural development.
This conference is being organized by Marie-Soleil Turmel of McGill University (right, in the photo) who is currently working in Ben
Turner’s Soil Lab conducting her PhD research on SRI in Panama. If you are interested in attending or would like more information, please contact Marie-Soleil at
[email protected] cgill.ca
El lunes, 3 de agosto, se llevará a cabo una conferencia de un día sobre producción de arroz de bajo insumo, conocido como Sistema de
intensificación de arroz (SRI, por sus siglas en inglés). El SRI, desarrollado
originalmente en Madagascar, incluye modificaciones en las prácticas de manejo para reducir la demanda de agua y
fertilizantes mientras se mantienen los campos de cultivo. La reunión ofrecerá presentaciones por Norman Uphoff, ex-director de Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development (a la izquierda, en la foto), otros expertos de SRI y especialistas panameños en investigaciones sobre arroz y desarrollo de la
agricultura rural. Esta
conferencia la está organizando Marie-Soleil Turmel de la Universidad de McGill (a la derecha en la foto) quien actualmente trabaja en el Laboratorio de Suelos de Ben Turner y lleva a cabo sus estudios de doctorado en SRI en Panamá. Si está interesado en asistir a la conferencia, u
obtener mayor información, comuníquese con Marie-Soleil:
[email protected] gill.ca
Read the second issue of the ST RI´s s e e d lin g s starting on page 4.
Lea el segundo número de ST RI´s s e e d lin g s a partir de la página 4.
More arrivals
Maryna Lesoway, McGill University, to study the evolution of calyptraeid development, at Naos.
Kelly Andersen, STRI postdoctoral fellow, to study soil nitrogen partitioning in tropical montane forests, in Fortuna and Tupper.
Diego Ramírez, Escuela de Administración, Finanzas y Tecnología (EAFIT University), Colombia, to study the geology of Panama, at the CTPA.
Marietta Marroquin Close, Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, to study the natural history of turtles in Las Perlas Archipelago.
Stephanie Bohlman, Princeton University, to continue aerial photo mapping of species distributions and tree mortality, on BCI.
Brendan Biggs, Florida State University, to study the influence of competition, mutualism, and physical environment on patterns of sponge diversity and co-occurence on Caribbean coral reefs and mangroves, on Bocas del Toro.
New publications
Guzman, Hector M. and Breedy, Odalisca. 2008.
Distribución de la diversidad y estado de conservación de los arrecifes coralinos y comunidades coralinas del Pacífico occidental de Panamá (Punta Mala - Punta Burica) (First ed.). Arlington, Virginia: The Nature
Conservancy.
O'Dea, Aaron and Jackson, Jeremy B.C. 2009.
"Environmental change drove macroevolution in cupuladriid bryozoans." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Online.
TNC publishes book on coral reefs on the Panamanian Pacific by Guzman and Breedy
The Nature Conservancy has published a 40-page book - page book Distribución de la diversidad y estado de conservación de los arrecifes coralinos y comunidades coralinas del Pacífico Occidental de Panamá (Punta Mala - Punta Burica) [Diversity distribution and conservation conditions of coral reefs and coral
communities of the
Panamanian West Pacific (Mala Point-Burica Point)] (2008) published by The Nature Conservancy in May 2009.
“The Republic of Panama, with its 2,988.3 kilometers of coast, hosts, within the sea, the same or more diversity than in its 75,517 km2. of land. This underwater biodiversity, the one we do not see, is abundant, fragile and unique... This book is the result of intense
collaborative work, including hard and applied science for the management of our marine diversity. Four years of
scientific data collected on coral reefs and coral
communities in the Panamanian west Pacific (2004-2008) served as the basis for this
publication.”
The Nature Conservancy thanked Guzmán and his team for the countless hours of diving which have made it possible for everyone to now have high quality information, beautifully illustrated and explained. The book will be donated, and its distribution will be coordinated by STRI.
El científico de STRI, Héctor M. Guzmán y su colega
Odalisca Breedy, son los autores de un libro de 40 páginas, Distribución de la diversidad y estado de conservación de los arrecifes coralinos y comunidades coralinas del Pacífico Occidental de Panamá (Punta Mala - Punta Burica) (2008), publicado por Nature Conservancy en mayo de 2009.
“La República de Panamá, con sus 2,988.3 kilómetros de costa, guarda en el mar, tanta o más
diversidad, que en los 75,517 km2 de territorio. Esta
biodiversidad sumergida, que no vemos, es abundante, única y frágil... Cuatro años de datos científicos de arrecifes de coral y comunidades coralinas en el Pacífico Occidental de Panamá (2004-2008) constituyen la base de la presente publicación.”
“The Nature Conservancy agradece a Guzmán y a su equipo, las incontables horas de buceo, que ahora se traducen en información de la mejor calidad, bellamente ilustrada y explicada al alcance de todos.
El libro será donado, y su distribución será coordinado por STRI.
There is downcycling and upcycling
Eco-Hero: Those who make the difference
STRI’s seedlings 2009
Courtesy
of Monica Alvarado
If the world could understand this important formula, we'd waste a lot less energy and other resources.
It’s pretty simple. You start with a higher quality product and reuse it in successively lower quality products. This type of recycling is known as downcycling, and it allows material to be reused more often and takes less energy to do it.
The opposite is upcycling, where you start with a low quality material and exert a lot of energy to clean and refine it so it can be used in a high quality product.
Recycling paper is a great example. When virgin wood fiber is made into paper it is at its strongest point. The best thing for the environment is to use it in a high quality bright product like printing paper. When that paper is
recycled the fibers have to be separated, cleaned, and reformed into a product. If that paper is downcycled into a product like a file folder where it doesn't have to be super bright white, then more of the fibers can be reused. Why?
Because recycling is not 100% efficient and there is waste. The less we waste when we recycle, the better. Letting some of the fibers that have ink on them get incorporated into the new product just makes sense.
Upcycling paper wastes about 50% of the fiber when it is recycled.
Downcycling wastes less than half that amount.
Here's an ideal way to keep a single fiber in use to help extend our forest resources: Tree û Printing paper û File Folder ûPaper Bag û Corrugated Box û Newspaper ûToilet Paper.
Almost always, downcycling trumps upcycling. But there is always a way to do successful upcycling, usually art. The photo above shows a tree made of aluminum cans, electric wire, aluminun parts and soda bottle streams, by Joao do Lixo.
The collection was supported by the HSBC Climate Partnership.
Adapted from Evolving energy use, at http://www.evolvingenergyuse.
com/2008/09/downcycling-u pcycling.html Si todo el mundo pudiera entender esta importante fórmula, usaríamos mucha menos energía y otros recursos.
Es simple. Empezamos con un material de alta calidad y lo reusamos sucesivamente en productos de menor calidad. A este tipo de reciclaje se le llama
“downcycling” y permite que el material se reuse más veces y consume menos energía al hacerlo.
Lo opuesto es
“upcycling” donde se comienza con un material de baja calidad y se usa bastante energía para limpiarlo y refinarlo para reusarlo como un material de alta calidad.
Reciclar papel es un gran ejemplo. Cuando la fibra de madera es virgen, lo mejor para el ambiente es usarlo para un producto brillante, de alta calidad, como papel para imprimir. Cuando este papel se recicla, se deben separar las fibras, limpiarlas y reformarlas para hacer, por ejemplo un cartapacio que no tiene que súper brillante, de manera que se puedan reusar más fibras. ¿Por qué? Porque el reciclaje
no es 100% eficiente y hay desperdicio. Mientras haya menos desperdicio, mejor. Permitir que algunas de las fibras con tinta se incorporen al nuevo producto, tiene sentido.
Papel mejorado
“upcycled” desperdicia 50% de las fibras una vez reciclado. “Downcycling”
desperdicia la mitad de esa cantidad. Aquí tenemos la forma ideal de mantener una sola fibra en uso para extender nuestros recursos
forestales: Árbol û papel de imprimir û
We are receiving
nominations for the ECO Hero at STRI.
Who is an ECO Hero? A STRI community
member that really makes the difference with his/her positive actions, or influence in others to either reduce our carbon emissions, or actively participate in the RR&R program.
The ECO-Heroes will receive a limited-edition cup. Send the
Cartapacio ûBolsa de papel manila û Caja corrugada û Periódico û Papel sanitario.
Casi siempre el
“downcycling” triunfa sobre el “upcycling.” Pero siempre hay una forma de
“upcycling” exitoso, usualmente el arte. La foto muestra un árbol hecho de latas de
aluminio, sobras de cable eléctrico de aluminio y cuerdas para amarrar botellas de soda. La colección del artista Joao do Lixo fue patrocinada por HSBC Climate Partnership.
nomination of your favorite ECO-Hero to Oris Avecedo.
Estamos aceptando nominaciones para ECO- Hero en STRI.
¿Quién es un ECO-Hero?
Un miembro de la comunidad de STRI que realmente hace una diferencia con sus acciones positivas o influye en otros para que reduzcan sus emisiones de carbono, o que participan activamente el programa de R, R & R.
Envíe su nominación sobre su ECO-Hero favorito a Oris Acevedo.
STRI volunteers plant trees in Agua Salud
On Saturday, July 7, STRI
“... organized a tree planting in Soberania National Park to combat the destructive effects of elephant grass. If you like pitching in and getting your hands dirty you would have loved it!
This reporter [Jim Walker] was up before dawn to have breakfast and shower (why did I bother) before getting to STRI’s Tupper Center in Ancon before 7am.
There, some 30 people piled into a variety of, mostly, four wheel drive vehicles...”
“With funding and assistance from the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) and Panama’s environmental authority (ANAM) STRI has been studying the elephant grass problem for years and has been carrying out well documented
reforestation projects for six years.
Our part (i.e. the volunteer’s part) was to find a cane stake, dig a small hole next to it, plant a seeding, and move to the next stake. A lot of site preparation went on before this event. The grass had been cut back multiple times starting in March and was reduced to stubble in the four hectares (ten acres) we were planting.
After an “interesting” trip on the muddy, slippery road off the highway we emerged from the corridor of high grass onto the prepped area just as the rain began.
“What?” you say. “Rain in Panama?” But, someone had thought ahead and there were tents under
which most of the crew gathered.
When the rain quit, Jefferson Hall, the STRI staff scientist in charge of the research project, took us through an explanation of how and where to plant and we were all off planting. Families and individuals worked together with a variety of digging tools, planting a mixture of different types of seedlings, all native to Panama.
There were snacks, juice, and lots of water.
Somewhat late, a tractor emerged from the elephant grass road bringing a porta potty. All was well and, as sweat mingled with dirt on our clothing, the group of fifty hardy volunteers and staff planted roughly 4,000 seedlings before noon when the topsoil began to dry.”
Adapted from “The Smithsonian plants trees in Soberania to fight elephant grass” by Jim Walker at:
http://www.playacommunity.
com/
This activity with members of the STRI community and their families was part of STRI´s Carbon Print Reduction Program.
El sábado 7 de julio, STRI “... organizó una siembra de árboles en el Parque Nacional
Soberanía, para combatir los efectos destructivos de la paja canalera. Si a usted le gusta cooperar y ensuciarse las manos, ¡lo hubiera adorado!
Este periodista [Jim Walker] se levantó antes del amanecer para desayunar y bañarse (¿por
qué me molesté en bañarme?) antes de llegar al Centro Tupper de STRI antes de las 7am.
Allí, cerca de 30 personas se apilaban en una variedad de casi todos vehículos de doble tracción...”
“Con fondos y asistencia de la Autoridad del Canal de Panamá (ACP) y la Autoridad Nacional del Ambiente (ANAM), STRI estudia el problema de la paja canalera y ha llevado a cabo proyectos de reforestación bien documentados por seis años.
Nuestra parte (i.e. la parte del voluntario) fue encontrar una estaca, hacer un pequeño hueco a su lado, sembrar un plantón y dirigirse a la siguiente estaca. Antes de este evento hubo bastante preparación. La hierba había sido cortada en múltiples ocasiones empezando en marzo y se fue reduciendo a rastrojo en las cuatro hectáreas en que plantamos.
Luego de un interesante paseo en el camino lodoso y resbaloso fuera de la carretera, salimos del corredor de paja alta a un área preparada tan pronto empezó a llover.
“¿Qué?” me dije, “¿Lluvia en Panamá?, Pero alguien había pensando en ello con anterioridad y encontramos toldas bajo las cuales la mayor parte del grupo se reunió.
Cuando la lluvia cesó, Jefferson Hall, el científico a cargo del proyecto de investigación, nos dio una explicación sobre cómo y donde plantar y empezamos todos a plantar. Familias e individuos trabajando juntos con una variedad de herramientas, sembrando diferentes tipos de plantones, todos nativos de Panamá.
Hubo comida, jugos y mucha agua. Más tarde apareció un tractor de entre la paja canalera trayendo un baño portátil.
Todo bien, mientras el sudor se mezclaba con la suciedad, el grupo de 50 voluntarios y el personal plantamos cerca de 4,000 plantones antes del mediodía, cuando la tierra empezó a secarse.”
Esta actividad con los miembros de la
comunidad de STRI y sus familias es parte del Programa de Reducción de Emisiones de Carbono de STRI.
And again!
As part of the STRI´s Carbon Print Reduction Program, we will have another planting day on Sunday, August 2. We will gather at the Tupper Center at 7am.
Transportation in STRI vehicles is full. Please bring your own 4x4 or pick-up and be prepared to share the ride with some of your co-workers.
Wear boots or sneakers.
For further information call: Ignacia Holmes at:
212-8000 or email:
[email protected] Como parte del Programa de Reducción de
Emisiones de Carbono de STRI tendremos otro día de siembra el domingo 2 de agosto en la
comunidad de Ipetí, Emberá. Nos reuniremos en el Centro Tupper a las 7am. Transporte en los vehículos de STRI está lleno. Deberá traer su propio 4x4 o pick-up y estar preparado para compartir el viaje con algún compañero de trabajo. Traiga botas o zapatillas.
Para más información llame a Ignacia Holmes al 212-8000 o e-mail a [email protected]