Barro Colorado Island

The island was set aside as a nature reserve on April 17, 1923, by the U.S. Government.{{cite journal|author=Ira Rubinoff and Nicholas Smythe|title=A jungle kept for study |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LuqMOAKz0_kC&pg=PA495|access-date=21 February 2011|date=19 August 1982|journal=New Scientist|pages=495–|issn=0262-4079}} Initially administered by the Panama Canal Company under the direction of James Zetek,{{Cite web |url=http://www.stri.si.edu/english/about_stri/history.php |title=History of Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute |access-date=2011-02-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130618142901/http://www.stri.si.edu/english/about_stri/history.php |archive-date=2013-06-18 |url-status=dead }} since 1946 Barro Colorado Island has been administered by the Smithsonian, together with five adjacent peninsulas, as the Barro Colorado Nature Monument. This Monument has an area of {{convert|54|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}.{{cite web |author=Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute |date=n.d. |title=Barro Colorado Island |url=http://www.stri.org/english/research/facilities/terrestrial/barro_colorado/index.php |work=Terrestrial Research Facilities |publisher=STRI |access-date=2009-10-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204101304/http://www.stri.org/english/research/facilities/terrestrial/barro_colorado/index.php |archive-date=2008-12-04 |url-status=dead }} It is among the most-studied areas of tropical forest in the world.{{cite book|author=Elizabeth Royte|title=The Tapir's Morning Bath: Mysteries of the Tropical Rain Forest and the Scientists Who Are Trying to Solve Them|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aJlTB8PZS80C&pg=PA42|access-date=21 February 2011|date=4 November 2002|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn=978-0-618-25758-4|pages=42–}} The Nature Monument has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International.{{cite web |url= https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/barro-colorado-nature-monument-iba-panama |title= Barro Colorado Nature Monument|author= |date=2024|website= BirdLife Data Zone|publisher= BirdLife International|access-date= 2024-09-22}}

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) has a permanent research center on the island, dedicated to studying tropical forest ecosystems. Because the Island's diverse ecosystem has been very little altered by humans, Barro Colorado has been studied for over eighty years within a great variety of biological disciplines. Only the larger fauna disappeared from Barro Colorado after the lake was flooded in 1914. Many scientific studies have been conducted to document the changes in the species composition of the island. Hundreds of scientists conduct research projects on Barro Colorado Island every year.

In 1978, Thomas Croat published his Flora of Barro Colorado Island documenting the plant species on the island. In 1999, Egbert Giles Leigh, who first visited the island in 1966, and now spends half his week there, published Tropical Forest Ecology : A View from Barro Colorado Island.{{cite book |author=Leigh, Egbert Giles |year=1999 |title=Tropical Forest Ecology : A View from Barro Colorado Island |location=Oxford and New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-509602-9 |oclc=36768102}}Royte p.40 In 2002 The Tapir's Morning Bath by Elizabeth Royte was published, chronicling the lives and work of scientists working on the island.

National Geographic produced a documentary featuring the Barro Colorado Island titled World's Last Great Places: Rain Forests released in 2007. The first selection, titled Panama Wild: Rain Forest of Life features scientists from the Smithsonian's Tropical Research Institute and also highlights the battles for survival and partnerships among species within this rich ecosystem.

In 1980, a {{Convert|50|ha|acre|adj=on}} forest dynamics plot was established on Barro Colorado Island by researchers from STRI and Princeton University. The first census was conducted in 1982 and recorded every free-standing tree and shrub in the plot of more than 1 cm dbh, totalling approximately 240,000 stems of 303 different species. It has been recensused every five years since 1985, allowing scientists to study the normal dynamics of the forest, as well as extreme events, such as El Niño.{{cite web |url=http://www.ctfs.si.edu/site/Barro+Colorado+Island |title=Barro Colorado Island |publisher=Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute |access-date=2011-02-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110221185438/http://www.ctfs.si.edu/site/Barro+Colorado+Island |archive-date=2011-02-21 |url-status=dead }} Another 50-ha plot was later established in the Pasoh Forest Reserve, Malaysia in 1987, allowing the dynamics of two distinct tropical forests to be compared.{{Cite journal

| last1 = Condit | first1 = R.

| last2 = Ashton | first2 = P. S.

| last3 = Manokaran | first3 = N.

| last4 = Lafrankie | first4 = J. V.

| last5 = Hubbell | first5 = S. P.

| last6 = Foster | first6 = R. B.

| doi = 10.1098/rstb.1999.0517

| title = Dynamics of the forest communities at Pasoh and Barro Colorado: comparing two 50-ha plots

| journal = Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

| volume = 354

| issue = 1391

| pages = 1739–48

| year = 1999

| pmid = 11605618

| pmc =1692684

}}

Visitors are allowed on Barro Colorado Island. Access is, however, regulated by STRI. To visit the island, people must make a reservation with the staff and arrange for a tour. Tours generally include transportation to and from the island (often by boat from Gamboa), a 2–3 hour guided hike, lunch, and a visit to the museum. Hikes through the island offer the opportunity to spot several animals including monkeys, anteaters, birds and insects.{{cite web|title=Visiting Barro Colorado Island|url=http://www.anywherepanama.com/attractions/national-park/barro-colorado}}

U.S. federal law states that the natural features of the island shall "be left in their natural state for scientific observation and investigation", "except in event of declared national emergency."{{Cite web|url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/20/79|title=20 U.S. Code § 79|website=LII / Legal Information Institute|language=en|access-date=2020-03-15}}

U.S. federal law no longer applies, as the Panama Canal Zone was incorporated back into Panama in 1979.

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• {{cite journal |author=Ventocilla, Jorge |date=April 2008 |title=Celebrating the 85th Anniversary of Barro Colorado Island |url=http://stri.si.edu/luna_llena/PDFs/lunallenabril2008eng.pdf |format=PDF online facsimile |journal=Luna Llena: Barro Colorado Nature Monument Visitors Program Newsletter |location=Panama |publisher=Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute |volume=21 |issue=Special Edition |pages=1–2 |access-date=2009-10-10 }}{{Dead link|date=November 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

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• {{Commons category-inline}}
• {{cite web |title=The First 100 Years of Research on Barro Colorado : Plant and Ecosystem Science (Volumes 1 and 2) |url=https://scholarlypress.si.edu/store/all/the-first-100-years-of-research-on-barro-colorado-plant-and-ecosystem-science-volumes-1-and-2/ |website=Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press}}
• {{cite news |url=https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2024/07/03/the-worlds-most-studied-rainforest-is-still-yielding-new-insights |title=The world's most studied rainforest is still yielding new insights |newspaper=The Economist |date=2024-07-03 |access-date=2024-07-27}}

{{National parks of Panama}}

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Category:Biological research institutes

Category:Nature reserves

Category:Important Bird Areas of Panama

Category:Lake islands of Panama