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21 [[underlined]] Tropical Research Institute [[/underlined]]. The Tropical Research Institute (STRI), located in the Republic of Panama, is the nation's leading basic tropical research center. Over the next five-year period, the Institute will continue to be a logistic center for research into fundamental tropical biology by its own permanent staff of scientists, and by members of the international scientific community involved in tropical research on terrestrial and marine subjects. Present facilities of the Institute include a new, advanced sea water system at STRI's Naos Island Pacific Marine Laboratory. This system, opened in FY 1981, permits a greater variety of experimental work on marine organisms. It will be supplemented by a new addition to the Laboratory space by the end of FY 1983. This is expected to provide facilities for expanded marine studies in the Bay of Panama and in connection with the proposed Sea Level Canal. Another new facility being completed in early 1983 is the STRI Library Building which will enhance STRI's already world-famous library of tropical science. STRI expects eventually to complete the Tivoli complex by building new laboratories for terrestrial studies. In addition to the basic research, the Institute is also an innovative center promoting conservation efforts in the tropics through educational programs. Its conservation functions include the custodianship of the Barro Colorado Nature Monument (BCNM), granted to it under the terms of the Panama Canal Treaty and a hemispheric convention. The BCNM includes Barro Colorado Island (3,700 acres) and the encircling mainland areas (8,600 acres). As the only U.S. organization devoted exclusively to research, conservation, and education in the tropics, the Institute has been experiencing pressure on it facilities from the increasing numbers of requests for accommodations from the U.S., Panama, and throughout the world. The expansion of land holdings in the Nature Monument has provided the Institute with an opportunity to study ways to accommodate these increasing demands, including a possible future research/visitor complex on Frijoles Island (an area of the BCNM). The new areas have stimulated exploration and new kinds of research. STRI is developing a program with several Central American and international organizations to be implemented in these areas, whereby results of basic studies can be applied to the problem of using tropical forests for the benefit of man in a nondestructive way. Recently a major five-year grant exceeding $1,000,000 was received to begin this project. Starting in FY 1983, three facilities management goals will be nearing realization: a general improvement and upgrading of existing facilities, the consolidation of some facilities to maximize the effectiveness of the ongoing research programs, and the development of sites analyses and feasibility studies for a future master plan of facilities development. In addition to a possible complex on Frijoles Island, facilities improvements under consideration include a Barro Colorado Island dormitory/kitchen-dining room complex, laboratories and a conference center at Tivoli as part of the phased development of this site, and a mainland dormitory to provide ready accessibility to the STRI research facility. General repairs and
