Why Study the Tropics?

The Tropics refers to the equatorial region of Earth that extends across five continents, including parts of Central and South America, Africa, Asia, and Australia, and includes marine ecosystems between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. Tropical ecosystems are synonymous with biodiversity. Nearly two-thirds of all known species inhabit these dense rain forests, tropical savannas, coastal mangroves, and rich coral reefs.

Ecosystem Health in the Tropics

The health of tropical ecosystems is being impacted by multiple stressors ranging from deforestation and the degradation of habitats to climate change. The conservation of these ecosystems is one of the greatest ecological challenges the global community will face in the coming decades. BRI and the Tropical Program contribute to this effort through participation in collaborative research and conservation initiatives designed to identify new and emerging stressors and to inform stakeholders and policymakers about our science.

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Highlighted Research Areas

Mesoamerican Barrier Reef

Mexico

Neotropical Connections

Tropical Research at BRI

BRI’s Tropical Program is involved in a wide variety of research and conservation initiatives intended to improve our understanding of how environmental contaminants impact ecosystem health in the tropics. Many of these initiatives are interdisciplinary in nature and include collaborators from national agencies within tropical countries as well as local and international conservation organizations.

Fish and Human Health

Fish consumption is a known pathway humans become exposed to mercury. BRI’s Tropical Program works with local researchers in multiple countries to identify ‘hotspots’ of mercury.

Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining

Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is the largest single source of mercury emissions in the world, representing nearly 40 percent of all global emissions.

Bats as an Indicator of Ecosystem Health

Research with tropical bats explores the utility of bats as bioindicators of contamination in tropical ecosystems.

Publications

BRI’s Tropical Program is expanding its footprint in Africa. One of the key projects is our collaboration with the Biodiversity for Life (B4Life) Facility of the European Commission (EC) to revise their Strategic Approach for Africa, a project called Larger than Elephants. This is the first revision of the EC’s series of strategic approaches that includes Asia (Larger than Tigers) as well as Latin America and the Caribbean (Larger than Jaguars).