Our Lab

Offices and Laboratory at Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Gamboa, Panama

“A mecca for tropical biologists, Barro Colorado Island and five surrounding peninsulas provide easy access to central Panama’s of lowland tropical forest. The 1,560 hectare island was formed when engineers dammed the Chagres River in 1914 to create Gatun Lake, the main channel of the Panama Canal.

On Barro Colorado Island, scientists study everything from lightning strikes on towering trees to the microbes and chemical cocktails that engineer mind-boggling plant and animal diversity. Nearly 100 years of climate data, four decades of environmental monitoring and the establishment of the first long-term, large-scale tropical forest monitoring plot in 1980, provide critical tools to learn how tropical forests and their inhabitants change through time.”

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

“STRI’s newest laboratory is surrounded by Panama’s Soberanía National Park, 20,000 hectares of intact lowland tropical forest that is a critical biological corridor connecting two continents. Gamboa is home to our amphibian rescue center, insectaries, experimental greenhouses, bat behavior installations, a schoolhouse for field courses and housing for visiting scientists. Postdocs and scientists with young families are especially drawn to this small community on the east bank of the Panama Canal, only 30km from Panama City and a half-hour ferry ride from Barro Colorado Island research station. “

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

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