64 



Annals of the Smithsonian Institution 2000 



NCP staff compiled and published the annual Collection 

 Statistics, which provides information on collection size, 

 growth, and activity for Smithsonian museums, archives, 

 and libraries. In addition, the office produced a number of 

 annual reports highlighting various aspects of Smithsonian 

 collections management: a summary report of collection ac- 

 tivity for the Smithsonian's budget hearing; a report on 

 deaccessioning for the Secretary and Board of Regents; a 

 summary report for the Provost of unit collections manage- 

 ment assessments that identifies collecting unit needs, 

 achievements, and concerns; and FY 2000 collection disclo- 

 sure information for the Smithsonian financial statement and 

 external audit. 



At the request of the Provost's Office, NCP agreed to 

 publish the Highlights of Smithsonian Collections and Smithson- 

 ian Annals. During the year, the Highlights were revised in 

 format and content and expanded to include photographs. 

 Work on the Annals, a sister publication to the Smithsonian 

 Institution Year, was begun and culminated in the publication 

 of the 1997 edition. 



Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute 



Ira Rubinoff, Director 



During FY 2000, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute 

 (STRI) continued its efforts to increase our understanding 

 of the world's tropics. STRI worked to realign its activities 

 to Secretary's Small's goals of conducting first-class research, 

 pursuing management excellence and financial strength, 

 while increasing public impact with a more dynamic outreach 

 strategy. 



The productivity of staff scientists, visiting researchers 

 and fellows is evidenced by numerous scholarly publications 

 including papers featured in the covers of leading scientific 

 journals such as Science and Nature, where six papers appeared 

 during FY 2000. 



STRI scientist Richard Condit was the first author in a 

 publication published in Science [2000, vol. 288(5470): 

 1414-1418] by an international team of scientists associated 

 to STRI's Center for Tropical Forest Science. This important 

 publication explains how trees of the same species tend to 

 cluster or aggregate together in a tropical forest, that may 

 contain more than a thousand species and more than 

 360,000 individual trees. Researchers have long debated 

 whether trees tended to cluster by species or are randomly 

 distributed. Findings from studies in five countries in Latin 

 America and Asia revealed that every tree species tended to 

 clump together and that these aggregations were most in- 

 tense for the rarer species. This study yields results that may 

 affect how tropical forests are managed and preserved and 

 will help in the design of forest reserves and in reforestation 

 efforts. 



One of the focuses of STRI research is the study of behav- 

 ior of tropical animals, and STRI scientists have discovered 

 novel host-parasite interactions. William Eberhard of STRI 



and the University of Costa Rica reported in Nature [2000, 

 vol. 406(6793): 255-256] what is probably the most elabo- 

 rate example of host control by an insect parasitoid reported 

 to date. The spider, Plesiometa argyra, infected with a wasp 

 larva, rather than make her usual spiral web, makes a 

 stronger web with many-stranded cables of silk, which 

 she repeats until her death, that serves as the larva's cocoon. 

 This is the first time this novel behavior was described and 

 understood. 



The Panama Canal Monitoring Project, a three-year 

 collaborative research project involving 33 scientists was 

 completed by STRI and Panama's National Environmental 

 Authority (ANAM) with funds from the U.S. Agency for In- 

 ternational Development. The results from this project were 

 published in a 120-page book La Cuenca del Canal: defor- 

 estation, urbanizaciony contamination (1999) edited by STRI 

 scientists Stanley Heckadon-Moreno and Richard Condit 

 with Roberto Ibafiez, a STRI research associate. 



STRI anthropologist Fernando Santos-Granero and collab- 

 orator Federica Barclay published two books on upper 

 Amazonia, one an English translation of a book previously 

 published in Spanish: Tamed frontiers: economy, society, and 

 civil rights in upper Amazonia, 2000, Westview Press, Boulder; 

 and a new publication: Gui'a etnogrdfica de la Alta Amazonia, 

 2000, Ediciones Abya-Yala, Quito, Peru. 



During FY 2000 STRI worked to improve its public im- 

 pact and communication strategy. STRI's bilingual Web site 

 describes the ongoing research of its staff members and in- 

 cludes two exhibitions and views of the forest canopy 

 through a camera that takes continuous shots from STRI's 

 canopy access system in Panama's Metropolitan Natural 

 Park. STRI also initiated a human resources newsletter 

 "INFORMA," and its Office of Education produced a 

 monthly newsletter on research and current activities at the 

 Barro Colorado Nature Monument called "Luna Llena" (Full 

 Moon). Another information initiative was the production of 

 news flashes on STRI ongoing research and publications 

 available on the Web (www.stri.edu). 



In FY 2000, 38 fellows and 50 interns were supported at 

 STRI, 31 percent with institutional funds and the remainder 

 from grants to scientists or to the Institute. STRI continued 

 facilitating two semester-long undergraduate programs in 

 Panama from Princeton and McGill Universities. With the 

 University of Panama, STRI also organized a yearly field 

 course for undergraduates held at its Gigante Field Station 

 from July 24 to August 6 with the participation of 12 stu- 

 dents from the University of Panama and one from rhe 

 Universidad Metropolitana in Puerto Rico. 



The STRI exhibition "Desaparecen los anfibios," the 

 Spanish version adapred to Panama of "Vanishing Amphib- 

 ians," an exhibition developed by the Smithsonian Traveling 

 Exhibitions Service, Traveled to Montevideo, Uruguay, where 

 it was on view for participants to the V Latin American 

 Congress of Herpetology. The exhibition returned to STRI's 

 Tupper Exhibit Hall to be visited by school children from 

 Panama City, as part of a STRI education program. 



STRI entered the twenty-first century with the challenge 

 of creating a specific employment program applicable to 



