The STRI Tropical Forest Canopy Project submitted its 

 first report to the United Nations Environment Program 

 (UNEP) on research conducted with STRI's tower crane can- 

 opy access system. The crane, purchased with the assistance of 

 the governments of Finland, Germany and Norway through 

 UNEP and the Smithsonian National Board, has enabled a 

 major breakthrough in scientists' understanding of this 

 highly diverse habitat. The report described 25 research pro- 

 jects by scientists from 14 countries on topics including polli- 

 nation, insect biodiversity, herbivory, seed predation, and the 

 effects of carbon dioxide levels, ultraviolet light and micro- 

 climate on plant physiology. 



Dolores Piperno of the STRI staff and Deborah Pearsall co- 

 authored the book: Current Research in Phytolith Analysis: Appli- 

 cations and Paleoecology. This book presents the latest use of 

 phytolith analysis to document the earliest cultural landscapes 

 in the tropics and to date cultural strata. 



A generous one million dollar contribution from Glenn O. 

 Tupper to the Earl S. Tupper Fund will continue to support 

 scientific research at STRI. A new grant from the Andrew W. 

 Mellon Foundation in the amount of $900,000, over a period 

 of three years, will finance a program of ecological research. 

 Among the projects the grant will support are the installation 

 of a large-scale forest dynamics project in Amazonian Ecu- 

 ador; studies in botanical paleoecology; research in canopy 

 biology using STRI's canopy access system; research in plant 

 physiological ecology; and studies in molecular biology of ma- 

 rine algae. 



STRI's Center for Tropical Forest Science (CTFS) received a 

 $300,000 grant from the Southern Corporation of Georgia. 

 These funds will support socioeconomic forest valuation of 

 studies associated with the various 50-hectare plots. Their 

 work will be conducted in collaboration with Harvard's Insti- 

 tute for International Development. 



Another grant of $520,000 from the National Institutes of 

 Health will enable the CTFS to initiate a 50-hectare forest dy- 

 namics plot in Korup National Park, in the Central African 

 country of Cameroon. 



During October 20—24 scientists from 10 Latin American 

 nations met at the STRI Tupper Center for the meetings of 

 the Organization for the Flora Neotropica (OFN). This non- 

 governmental organization aims to publish a complete flora of 

 tropical America. 



Another international workshop held at the STRI Tupper 

 Center, March 14-18, gathered sixty participants from 15 coun- 

 tries to discuss long-term research on tropical forests in Latin 

 America. The workshop was organized by the STRI Center for 

 Tropical Forest Science. 



This year STRI received support from members of 

 Panama's business community and individual donors to de- 

 velop a series of public exhibits at the Culebra Island Marine 

 Education Center. Located near STRI's major marine facility 

 on Naos Island, Culebra features a microcosm of Panama's 

 near-shore environments and a spectacular view of the Bay of 

 Panama and the entrance to the Canal. It is an ideal site for 



general audiences to increase their understanding of Panama's 

 marine environments and the importance of their conserva- 

 tion. STRI's Office of Education currently conducts an en- 

 viornmental education program at this site for use by students 

 of all ages. 



Another major outreach effort this year was the completion 

 of a Guided Interpretive Trail at Cerro Campana and accompa- 

 nying educational materials, by botanists Mireya Correa and 

 Noris Salazar from STRI and the University of Panama, with 

 botanist Claudia Peralta from the University of Panama. In ad- 

 dition to preparing the interpretive materials, a training semi- 

 nar was offered to the gamewardens and other interested 

 guides. This outreach project was made possible by a grant 

 from the Smithsonian Women's Committee. 



The STRI Office of Education in collaboration with 

 Panama's Ministry of Education, the Institute of Natural Re- 

 newable Resources, the Peace Corps and several non-govern- 

 mental organizations, organized the second environmental 

 seminar for teachers from the coastal region of Bocas del Toro. 

 This project aims to involve local teachers in the production 

 of environmental education materials that are adapted to local 

 situations and multicultural audiences of Bocas. 



STRI continued its international activities signing an agree- 

 ment with the Honduras Coral Reef Fund to provide advice 

 on the management and protection of the Los Cochinos Archi- 

 pelago, a group of small islands off the Caribbean coast with a 

 well-developed reef system of considerable scientific interest. 

 STRI will design a research and biological monitoring pro- 

 gram for the area. In July, Hector Guzman, coral reef ecolo- 

 gist, joined the STRI scientific staff to be in charge of this 

 project. 



The first facilities for researchers at the Mpala Research 

 Center in Kenya opened this year and were dedicated to the 

 memory of STRI scientist Alan P. Smith "a noted tropical 

 ecologist and a founding visionary of the Mpala Research Cen- 

 ter." Mpala Research Center is operated by a consortium in- 

 cluding the Smithsonian Intitution, Princeton University, the 

 National Museums of Kenya and the Kenya Wildlife Trust. 



STRI's itinerant photographic exhibit "Parting the Green 

 Curtain" continued its tour through Latin America. The ex- 

 hibit opened in October for six months at the Fundacion Casa 

 Museo de Histona Natural in Caracas, Venezuela and in July 

 at the Natural History Museum in La Paz, Bolivia. 



STRI's scientific staff was further diversified with the addi- 

 tion of Luis D'Croz, professor of marine biology and oceanog- 

 raphy at the University of Panama, and Fernando 

 Santos-Granero, a human ecologist, formerly at the Facultad 

 Latinoamencana de Ciencias Sociales in Quito, Ecuador. E. 

 Allen Herre, a former Smithsonian postdoctoral fellow, and 

 William Wcislo, previously at Cornell Universiry, also joined 

 the scientific staff. Herre will continue his studies of the 

 coevolution of figs and their pollinator wasps and general host- 

 parasite evolution. Wcislo will conduct behavioral studies on 

 learning and perception as it relates to social, sexual and para- 

 sitic behavior in bees and wasps. 



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