Overview
John W. Terborgh is a James B. Duke Professor of Environmental Science and is Co-Director of the Center for Tropical Conservation at Duke University. He is a member of the National Academy of Science, and for the past thirty-five years, he has been actively involved in tropical ecology and conservation issues. An authority on avian and mammalian ecology in neotropical forests, Dr. Terborgh has published numerous articles and books on conservation themes. Since 1973 he has operated a field station in Peru's Manu National Park where he has overseen the research of more than 100 investigators. Dr. Terborgh earlier served on the faculties of the University of Maryland and Princeton University. In June 1992 he was awarded a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship in recognition of his distinguished work in tropical ecology, and in April 1996 he was awarded the National Academy of Science Daniel Giraud Elliot medal for his research, and for his book Diversity and the Tropical Rainforest. He has served on several boards and advisory committees related to conservation, including the Wildlands Project, Cultural Survival, The Nature Conservancy, The World Wildlife Fund and both the Primate and Ecology Specialist Groups of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
Current Appointments & Affiliations
James B. Duke Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Environmental Sciences
·
2015 - Present
Environmental Natural Science,
Nicholas School of the Environment
Professor Emeritus in the Division of Environmental Natural Sciences
·
2025 - Present
Environmental Natural Science,
Nicholas School of the Environment
Recent Publications
Species functional traits affect regional and local dominance across western Amazonian forests
Journal Article Journal of Ecology · January 1, 2026 Several studies have documented dominance by few species in Amazonian forests. Dominant species tend to be either locally abundant (local dominants) or regionally frequent (widespread dominants) but rarely both (oligarchs). Here, we explore relationships b ... Full text CiteCenturies of compounding human influence on Amazonian forests.
Journal Article Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · November 2025 Recent evidence suggests that the ecological footprints of pre-Columbian Indigenous peoples in Amazonia persist in modern forests. Ecological impacts resulting from European colonization c. 1550 CE and the Amazonian Rubber Boom c. 1850 to 1920 CE are large ... Full text CiteIncreasing tree size across Amazonia.
Journal Article Nature plants · October 2025 Climate change and increasing availability of resources such as carbon dioxide are modifying forest functioning worldwide, but the effects of these changes on forest structure are unclear. As additional resources become available, for example, through CO Full text CiteRecent Grants
Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring at Cocha Cashu Biological Station, Manu Peru
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Conservation International · 2013 - 2017From fruit to sapling: constructing a long-term, basin-wide,community-level, ontogentically & phenomenologically integrated picture of tree recruitment in western Amazonian lowland rainforests.
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2008 - 2012DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Novel Approaches to the Study of the Community Ecology of Tropical Trees
Inst. Training Prgm or CMECo-Principal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2006 - 2009View All Grants
Education, Training & Certifications
Harvard University ·
1963
Ph.D.
Harvard University ·
1960
M.A.
Harvard University ·
1958
B.A.