Panama is home to many different ecosystems and has an amazing amount of biodiversity. Biodiversity refers to all the different types of living things (plants, animals, etc.) in a certain area. In Panama, a few hectares (the size of about a couple of soccer fields) may be home to more species of plants, fungi, animals and microorganisms than all the U.S. and Canada combined! Why do you think Panama has so much biodiversity? Well, over three million years ago, Panama rose up through volcanic activity and created a bridge between North America and South America. This allowed land and marine life to migrate from north to south and south to north! For this reason, many people call Panama the “biological corridor”. In Panama City, there is a whole museum dedicated to the biodiversity in Panama called Biomuseo. A couple common ecosystems in Panama are tropical islands, tropical dry forests and tropical mountain forests. There is plenty of wildlife both on land in and in the water. Let’s start with the islands!
Two of my favorite island regions in Panama are San Blas and Bocas del Toro. These are both found on the Caribbean side of the country and have beautiful clear water, white sand, palm trees and lots of marine life!
