July 2002
From Smithsonian Institution
Tropical biologists converge in Panama City Association for Tropical Biology Annual Meeting Panama has been a mecca for tropical biologists for more than a century, but most biologists spend their time at remote field sites studying the plants and animals of Panama's forest and ocean ecosystems. During this week, tropical biologists will flood downtown Panama City, as more than 500 people attend the 2002 Annual Meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology at the Hotel El Panama (July 30-August 2, 2002). More than 450 presentations are scheduled for the four-day meeting.Hosted by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (with headquarters in Ancon, Panama), the Center for Tropical Forest Science and the Organization for Tropical Studies, the meeting draws together researchers from many fields who share a common concern for the rapidly disappearing tropical forest environment. One hundred years from now, no tropical forest will remain if it continues to be destroyed at the current rate. Conference participants will look to the past, to understand ways people have used natural resources since the last ice age (10,000 years ago), when humans first colonized the New World, through Colombus' arrival five hundred years ago. Tropical ecologists will share observations of the marvelous interactions between plants and animals (including humans) inhabiting tropical forests. Forest biologists will present models for the future of the world's tropical forests given current information about climate and land use. Speakers include Panamanian members of ATB and a large contingent of Smithsonian guest researchers who conduct their research on Barro Colorado Island, in Parque Soberania, in Parque Natural Metropolitano and other field sites around the country and throughout tropical regions of the world. This broad perspective, spanning history and transcending political boundaries, will help conference participants to shape their future research in a way that will both improve its scientific quality and provide the information that society needs to inspire effective conservation efforts. The Association for Tropical Biology was founded in 1963 to promote research and encourage interchange of ideas about the biology of tropical environments, and publishes the quarterly bulletin, Biotr�pica. The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), with headquarters in Panama City, Panama, is one of the world's leading centers for basic research on the ecology, behavior and evolution of tropical organisms. http://www.stri.org |