This book examines one of the most important and complex of the world's tropical rainforest regions: the greater Panama Canal Watershed. The Rio Chagres is the primary water source for operating the Canal, and supplies potable water for municipal use and electricity generation, but science has left this important national resource largely unstudied. The text promotes understanding of the physical and ecological components of an isolated and largely pristine tropical rainforest.

Zusammenfassung
This book calls the attention of the scientific community, government organizations and non-government agencies, and the general public, to arguably one of the most important and complex of the world's tropical rainforest regions the greater Panama Canal Watershed. The Río Chagres basin is the primary source for water to operate the Panama Canal, and also supplies water for electricity generation and potable water for municipal use, but this important national resource is largely unstudied from a scientific standpoint. The broad objective of the book is to characterize and understand the physical and ecological components of an isolated and largely pristine tropical rainforest and describe how the different natural components of a tropical rainforest interact with one another. The majority of the 23 papers contained in the volume are based upon presentations made at an international scientific symposium of the same title held at the Gamboá Rainforest Resort and Conference Center in Gamboá, Panama on 24-26 February 2003. In turn, most of the symposium presentations arose form research undertaken during a multidisciplinary field study conducted in the upper Río Chagres watershed in 2001 by an international group of scientists. Convened under sponsorship of the Autoridad del Canal de Panama, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Universidad Tecnológica de Panama and US Army Yuma Proving Ground Tropic Regions Test Center, this conference brought together some 50 scientists, engineers, and government officials from the international community.

Inhalt
Setting the Scene.- A Geographic Overview of Panama.- An Introduction to the Panama Canal Watershed.- Light and Shadows in the Management of the Panama Canal Watershed.- Geological Development of Panama.- The Upper Río Chagres Basin.- Igneous Geology and Geochemistry of the Upper Río Chagres Basin.- GIS-Based Stream Network Analysis for the Upper Río Chagres Basin, Panama.- Soils of the Upper Río Chagres Basin, Panama.- Hydrology of Hillslope Soils in the Upper Río Chagres Watershed, Panama.- Infiltration in the Upper Río Chagres Basin, Panama.- Runoff Production in the Upper Río Chagres Watershed, Panama.- Downstream Hydraulic Geometry along a Tropical Mountain River.- Bedrock Channel Incision along the Upper Río Chagres Basin, Panama.- Using TRMM to Explore Rainfall Variability in the Upper Río Chagres Catchment, Panama.- Tree Species Composition and Beta Diversity in the Upper Río Chagres Basin, Panama.- A Note on Amphibians and Reptiles in the Upper Río Chagres Basin, Panama.- The Regional Perspective.- High Spatial and Spectral Resolution Remote Sensing of Panama Canal Zone Watershed Forests.- Biogeographic History and the High Beta-Diversity of Rainforest Trees in Panama.- World Holdings of Avian Tissues from Panama.- Estimation of Landslide Importance in Hillslope Erosion Within the Panama Canal Watershed.- Long-Term Sediment Generation Rates for the Upper Río Chagres Basin.- Estimation of Regional Actual Evapotranspiration in the Panama Canal Watershed.- Operational Rainfall and Flow Forecasting for the Panama Canal Watershed.- Projected Land-Use Change for the Eastern Panama Canal Watershed and Its Potential Impact.