The Bocas del Toro Research Station and Caymans, Smithsonian Institute, Panama, July 2008

http://www.stri.org/english/research/facilities/marine/bocas_del_toro/ . This videoclip shows the entrance and the laboratory facilities of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) at Bocas del Toro, Caribbean Panama. Filming took place during the Tropical Field Phycology Workshop held at the Station 9-23 July 2008. http://striweb.si.edu/taxonomy_training/past_courses/2008/2008_phycology.html .

Caymans (Caiman crocodylus Linnaeus 1758) were filmed in the freshwater pond in front of STRI's Research Laboratory. In Central and South America, the alligator family is represented by five species of the genus Caiman, which differs from the alligator by the absence of a bony septum between the nostrils, and the ventral armour is composed of overlapping bony scutes, each of which is formed of two parts united by a suture. C. crocodilus, the Spectacled Caiman, has the widest distribution, from southern Mexico to the northern half of Argentina, and grows to a modest size of about 2.2 meters.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alligatoridae#Caimans .

The aim of this course was designed to orient participants to the biodiversity of tropical marine floras through field and laboratory work. Specifically, it emphasized the development or enhancement of practical skills essential for identification, characterization and preservation of tropical marine macroalgae (seaweeds). Sampling forays in diverse environments (e.g., mangrove habitats, seagrass beds, coral reefs, sponge communities) on protected and exposed shorelines throughout the Bocas del Toro Archipelago complemented morphological and molecular investigations in the laboratory.

Funding was made possible by a grant from the Smithsonian's Marine Science Network, with additional support from the National Science Foundation's Biodiversity Surveys and Inventories Program, the NSF Partnership for the Enhancement of Expertise in Taxonomy (PEET) Program, and the Smithsonian's Institution's DNA Barcode Initiative.

The Workshop was organized by Rachel Collin (STRI); lectures on barcoding were provided by Amy Driskell (Smithsonian Institution); and the Phycology lectures were given by Brian Wysor (Roger Williams University), Wilson Freshwater (University of North Carolina at Wilmington) and Suzanne Fredericq (University of Louisiana at Lafayette). Videoclip montage by S. Fredericq in Lafayette, Louisiana.

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