Barro Colorado Island

The Barro Colorado Research Station is run by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
A schematic of the Panama Canal, showing Barro Colorado Island in the middle left.

Barro Colorado Island is located in the man-made Gatun Lake in the middle of the Panama Canal. The island was formed when the waters of the Chagres River were dammed to form the lake in 1913. When the waters rose, they covered a significant part of the existing tropical forest, but certain hilltops remained as islands in the middle of the lake. It has an area of 15.6 km2 (6.0 sq mi).[1]

  1. ^ Thomas B. Croat (1978). Flora of Barro Colorado Island. Stanford University Press. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-8047-0950-7.