Barro Colorado Island (BCI) is located in the man-made Gatun Lake in the middle of the Panama Canal. The island was formed when the waters of the Chagres River were dammed to form the lake. When the waters rose, they covered a significant part of the existing rainforest, and the hilltops remained as islands in the middle of the lake. It has an area of 15.6 km2 (6.0 sq mi).
The island was set aside as a nature reserve on April 17, 1923 by the U.S. Government. Initially administered by the Panama Canal Company under the direction of James Zetek, since 1946 Barro Colorado Island has been administered by the Smithsonian, together with five adjacent peninsulas, as the Barro Colorado Nature Monument (BCNM). The BCNM has an area of 54 km2. It is among the most-studied areas of tropical forest in the world. The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) has a permanent research center on the island, dedicated to studying rainforest 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 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. 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 richly diverse ecosystem.
Read more about Barro Colorado Island: Forest Dynamics Plot
Famous quotes containing the words colorado and/or island:
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—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
“I candidly confess that I have ever looked on Cuba as the most interesting addition which could ever be made to our system of States. The control which, with Florida, this island would give us over the Gulf of Mexico, and the countries and isthmus bordering on it, as well as all those whose waters flow into it, would fill up the measure of our political well-being.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)