Barro Colorado Island & the Panama Canal
The first day of our week started early at Barro Colorado Island or BCI. This is one of the most important research stations in the Neotropics, and definitively one of the oldest ones. For the past 86 years in BCI, scientists from all over the world have been talking about “unraveling ecosystems.” They have tried to learn about them in the field by using mist nets, light traps, metal traps, bird banding, radio collaring mammals, using formalin, tweezers, plastic bags, tupper-wares, and many other technological trinkets. But, why would we want to unravel the mysteries of the forests? Why would anyone want to learn about the tropical rainforest, or any forest for that matter?
The following is a quote from David Quammen’s book The Song of the Dodo: “An ecosystem is a tapestry of species and relationships. Chop away a section, isolate that section, and there arises the problem of unraveling.”
There also arises the problem of interfering with nature’s balance. In the rainforests, more than any other ecosystem on land, every organism, be it mammal, insect, plant, or fungus, is related to each other. More than that, some of them are so dependent on others that coevolution occurs; as we try to learn from them in every aspect, we come to understand the world that we live in, ourselves, and why we must respect and learn to tolerate the differences between each other and different species.
Today we had the chance to walk the trails that scientist like Carpenter, Zetek, Leigh, and many other well-known researchers have walked on. We could see howler monkeys, guayacan trees in bloom, canopy trees and understory trees, giant ants and spiders, and all of them unravel a story that is no longer a mystery for us…
Later this afternoon, we headed towards the second half of the Panama Canal crossing: Pedro Miguel and Miraflores Locks, the Culebra Cut, the Miraflores Lake, the Centennial and the Americas bridges, lowering us into the never-ending Pacific Ocean, which will be our host for the rest of our week on board the M.V. Sea Voyager.
The first day of our week started early at Barro Colorado Island or BCI. This is one of the most important research stations in the Neotropics, and definitively one of the oldest ones. For the past 86 years in BCI, scientists from all over the world have been talking about “unraveling ecosystems.” They have tried to learn about them in the field by using mist nets, light traps, metal traps, bird banding, radio collaring mammals, using formalin, tweezers, plastic bags, tupper-wares, and many other technological trinkets. But, why would we want to unravel the mysteries of the forests? Why would anyone want to learn about the tropical rainforest, or any forest for that matter?
The following is a quote from David Quammen’s book The Song of the Dodo: “An ecosystem is a tapestry of species and relationships. Chop away a section, isolate that section, and there arises the problem of unraveling.”
There also arises the problem of interfering with nature’s balance. In the rainforests, more than any other ecosystem on land, every organism, be it mammal, insect, plant, or fungus, is related to each other. More than that, some of them are so dependent on others that coevolution occurs; as we try to learn from them in every aspect, we come to understand the world that we live in, ourselves, and why we must respect and learn to tolerate the differences between each other and different species.
Today we had the chance to walk the trails that scientist like Carpenter, Zetek, Leigh, and many other well-known researchers have walked on. We could see howler monkeys, guayacan trees in bloom, canopy trees and understory trees, giant ants and spiders, and all of them unravel a story that is no longer a mystery for us…
Later this afternoon, we headed towards the second half of the Panama Canal crossing: Pedro Miguel and Miraflores Locks, the Culebra Cut, the Miraflores Lake, the Centennial and the Americas bridges, lowering us into the never-ending Pacific Ocean, which will be our host for the rest of our week on board the M.V. Sea Voyager.
