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Welcome!

 

The unifying goal of the senior scientists, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate students at the Center for Tropical Research (CTR) is to understand the biotic processes that underlie and maintain the diversity of life in the tropics and to advance conservation efforts that protect endangered species and habitats.

 

 




Research News

The Fall 2011 CTR Newsletter features an article by Kristen Ruegg on a study to connect the wintering and breeding sites of migratory songbirds using new genetic and isotopic methods. Stephanie Steele reports on the ecological and genetric role of seed dispersal for a tropical tree in Ecuador. See our News & Updates section.

Kristen Ruegg conducting field studies on migratory songbirds. Wilson’s warbler is one of the target taxa in CTR's study of migratory movements of birds. One-month-old seedlings germinating in a greenhouse located at the Bilsa Biological Research Station, Ecuador.

 


CTR Spotlight

CTR Avian Influenza Virus Research and Surveillance Projects in North, Central, and South America, Cameroon, and Vietnam In 2006, CTR was awarded a four-year grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases entitled “Effects of Avian Migration and Anthropogenic Change on the Distribution and Transmission Risks of Avian Influenza.” CTR researchers are working in the field and the laboratory to determine the role that North American migratory passerines play in the dispersion of avian influenza virus (AIV) strains. Collaborators have collected more than 36,000 cloacal and tracheal bird samples to screen for AIV. CTR researchers are also monitoring wild and domestic birds for AIV in Cameroon and Vietnam. For more information, click here.

International Research and Training Center in Ecuador Jordan Karubian, Director of the IRTC program in Ecuador, coordinates research, training, and education programs in the Chocó rainforest. Read more and view video about the Ecuador IRTC.

Video on Heron Island SummitCTR Director Tom Smith was a keynote speaker at the Applied Evolution Summit, “Interdisciplinary Solutions to Evolutionary Challenges in Food, Health and the Environment,” held on Heron Island, Australia, January 4-8, 2010. Click here to view the summit video, Evolution Island -  Sustainable Solutions to Global Challenges.

Current CTR Projects Learn about current CTR projects on West Nile virus, mosquitoes and avian malaria, endangered and threatened plant and animal populations, rainforest restoration, lizard and bird behavior, species distribution modeling, and more on the Research page.
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