Title:
Biologists Flock to Panama to a Century-Old Tropical
Research Institute
Description: This is
a VOA Special English General News Report.
See text below
Text:
Light barely reaches the ground of the dense rain
forest on Barro Colorado Island in Panama. In the
early morning hours, two researchers are looking for
monkeys. Anthropology professor Stephanie Ramirez is
an expert on spider monkeys.
STEPHANIE RAMIREZ: "... I'm interested in is how
fruit affects their reproductive potential, because
spider monkeys mostly consume fruit. And we've
noticed that during times when fruit is not abundant
or available they can't conceive."
There are only thirty-nine spider monkey on the
island. Eight have radio transmitters around their
necks.
Stephanie Ramirez and Lauren Mills are using a radio
receiver to follow the movement of the animals. But
they are not alone. Tony Coates is with the
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama.
TONY COATES: "The Smithsonian Tropical Research
Institute here in Panama is something of a mecca for
all biologists in the world who are interested in
the tropics and in tropical biology."
The Institute was started there 100 years ago. Abby
Bruning came from South Dakota to study ants.
ABBY BRUNING: "We manipulate their diets. So either
they will be on a high carbohydrate or a high
protein diet and at the end we run analyses to see
how well they fight off infection, death rates and
things like that."
Bruning studies a single species of ant. High above
the ants, pink flowered almendro trees brighten the
forest's canopy. Worker ants carry the flowers to
their home.
An Azteca ant colony is a big structure that takes
more than a year to build. The ants they shelter are
the favorite meal of ant eaters.
Scientists say there are about 100 kinds of mammals
and nearly as many reptiles on the island.
Tony Coates says tropical areas are a sea of life.
TONY COATES: "The vast majority of all species of
plants and animals live in the tropics. The vast
majority of all the technical knowhow, political
will, education and financing is in the temperate
world. How to get those two realms together is one
of the great issues facing global conservation."
The headquarters of the Smithsonian Tropical
Research Institute is in Panama City. Its library on
tropical biology is considered one of the world's
best.
TONY COATES: "It follows the same system as the
Library of Congress."
In nearby Culebra, a Smithsonian educational center
is open to the public.
Thousands of children visit each year.
TONY COATES: "That is our biggest educational
contribution to our host country, Panama."
The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in
Panama is celebrating its hundredth year. It is also
launching a new research center in Gamboa.
Private donors want the institute to study subjects
of growing concern today. These include how forest's
control erosion and capture carbon from the air.
They also want to know how to protect this important
ecosystem.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
