Barro Colorado Island · Panama
A genome-enabled forest observatory
Linking community-scale genomics to one of the world’s longest and most detailed records of tropical forest change.
The foundation
More than four decades of individual tree histories
The 50-hectare ForestGEO plot on Barro Colorado Island contains more than 200,000 living trees representing approximately 300 species. Every tree above the census threshold is tagged, mapped, measured and identified.
Integrated records
Ecology observed across time and scale
BCI EDGE builds on an unusually rich set of long-term observations.
- Nine censuses spanning approximately 45 years
- Seed, seedling, flower and fruit monitoring
- Measurements of climate, soil and the upper forest canopy layer
- Functional traits and leaf chemistry
- Regional rainfall gradients across the Isthmus of Panama
The opportunity
From ecological observatory to evolutionary observatory
Adding genomes to known individual life histories makes it possible to ask how selection, gene flow and species interactions change genetic variation through space, time and life stages.