Cofrin Center for Biodiversity

Biodiversity and Panama

Panama means “abundance of fish and butterflies,” reflecting the extensive biodiversity and unique geography of this isthmus country. Panama is home to the largest neotropical rainforest outside the Amazon Basin, and the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans are only 80 km apart between the economically important Panama Canal.

heliconia butterfly at www.stri.org.

Panama's great biological diversity derives in part from its tropical climate and variety of habitats but also from its geographical history. More than 64 million years ago Central America was a series of volcanic islands. Movements of the Caribbean plates created a deep ocean that kept the islands and North and South America separated. Terrestrial organisms were isolated but changing sea currents occasionally allowed the movement of species between the Atlantic and Pacific. Around 11 million years ago the climate began changing as water began to accumulate in the polar ice caps. Sea levels dropped and more land was exposed creating a vast archipelago. Changes in currents probably ended transfer between the Atlantic and Pacific, but some animals such as raccoons and sloths probably began to migrate between North and South America. Around 6 million years ago erosion due to uplift in the Andes and the San Blas dumped tons of sediment thousands of meters thick, filling in the areas between the islands. By 4 million years ago the deepest ocean between the islands was probably only 50 meters, and by 3 millions years ago the area was completely filled in creating the Panamanian land bridge. The land bridge allowed the previously distinct floras and faunas of North and South America to mix as species migrated north or south, leading to incredibly rich biodiversity within the isthmus. Despite its small size of 75,900 sq. km. (about the size of S. Carolina) Panama is home to more than 10,000 varieties of plants and more than 1,000 species of birds. As emphasized by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, "This unique history offers opportunities for the study of evolutionary and ecological processes unequaled anywhere else in the world."

UW Green Bay Research in Panama

Panama Winter Interim Course

A new course at UWGB will take a group of students to Panama this winter to participate in a variety of exciting research projects with St. Norbert College, in collaboration with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Projects (still in the planning stages) will include surveying tropical birds and bats in pristine tropical rainforest, collecting fossils in the Panama Canal Zone with a team of Smithsonian paleontologists, comparing soil animals and spiders in lowland rainforest and cloud forest, and monitoring marine organisms in a Caribbean coastal ecosystem.

Student costs for the course as well as costs for equipment have been subsidized by The 1923 Fund and Dr. David Cofrin. Dr. Cofrin has been an active supporter of all 3 participating institutions and has long been interested in biodiversity related issues.

Click on the courses link for application requirements and more information.

Nephela is a common species in Panama (stri.org). Spider Diversity in Panama

Dr. Michael Draney has been awarded a sabbatical to conduct research on the spider diversity in Panama.

After many decades of research by STRI and others, many conspicuous organisms in Panama (such as most vertebrates and vascular plants) are sufficiently well understood taxonomically and biogeographically to enable more mechanistic research on their biology and ecological roles to proceed. This is not the case for less conspicuous species like spiders and millipedes. This lack of basic knowledge is particularly true of family Linyphiidae, the sheet web spiders. Linyphiidae is the second most diverse family of spiders worldwide (Platnick 2007). In addition to being very speciose, these animals are small and often live in leaf litter and other cryptic habitats. Salticidae, the jumping spiders, are by far the most diverse spider family in the world (and within the tropics; Platnick 2007). Many species of this megadiverse group have been recorded from Panama (mainly in Chickering 1946), but the sheer diversity means that the group remains poorly known.

Rapid Assessment Protocols (RAPs) enable researchers to use the quick and efficient methods of museum collectors o produce an estimate of the richness of a particular “point” or location. s In this project, we intend to implement and test a RAP that is focused on a cryptic taxon, Linyphiid spiders, and use this RAP to

Expand knowledge of the taxonomy, biogeography, and habitat distribution of Panama spiders and millipedes, especially spider family Linyphiidae and
Obtain point richness estimates for a range of habitats on STRI sites. This may be used to study spider community structure and also should serve as the first replicable set of baseline data for spiders in these habitats.

Look for more information on his research and opportunities for student participation in the near future.

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI)

The UWGB course and Dr. Draney's research are being conducted at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. STRI is located in Panama and is a part of the Smithsonian Institution that is dedicated to understanding biological diversity.

STRI began in 1923 as small field station on an island that was created when a large reservoir was flooded to maintain water levels in the Panama Canal. Barro Colorado Island has developed into one of the leading research institutions of the world. STRI now has facilities located throughout Panama that provide a unique opportunity for long-term ecological studies in the tropics, and are used extensively by some 900 visiting scientists from academic and research institutions in the United States and around the world every year. STRI's scientists have greatly increased our understanding of tropical habitats and have trained hundreds of tropical biologists.

Biodiversity Topics: Introduction . Plants . Animals . Mammals . Birds . Reptiles & Amphibians . Arthropods . Spiders . Insects