William F.
Laurance grew up in the western US, in
Oregon and
Idaho.[5] He initially aspired to direct his own zoo, but later turned to ecology and conservation biology.[5]
Since he was interested in nature conservation, he decided in the early 1980s to study imperiled
tropical forests for his PhD. During this time, he also became involved in some heated conservation issues[6] in Australia and elsewhere.
Professional career
Laurance has published eight books and over 700 scientific and popular articles.[7] These include two edited volumes,[8][9] as well as analyses of conservation-policy challenges in the Brazilian Amazon,[10] Gabon,[11] Southeast Asia,[12] and New Guinea.[13] He has also synthesized changing trends,[14] new initiatives,[15] and major debates[16] in tropical conservation science and policy.
He is among the most highly cited scientists globally in the fields of
ecology and
environmental science.[17] His works have been cited more than 87,000 times, and his Hirsch's h index of 145 [17] (as per December 2022) is the highest of any environmental scientist or ecologist in Australia and ranked number 6 globally.[17] He has published more than three dozen papers to date in Science[18] and Nature.
In his long-term studies of
habitat fragmentation in the Amazon Basin, he introduced concepts, including "biomass collapse",[19] the "hyperdynamism hypothesis",[20] the "landscape-divergence hypothesis",[21] the large spatial scale of some edge effects,[22] the key role of matrix tolerance in determining species'[23] responses to fragmentation, and the importance of synergisms between fragmentation and other environmental insults.[24]
Laurance has also studied the drivers of
global amphibian declines;[31] quantifying the threats to tropical protected areas;[32] evaluating potential effects of global atmospheric changes on the
species composition, dynamics;[33] and carbon storage of intact tropical forests;[34] and understanding how droughts affect tropical tree communities.[35]
Laurance is also involved with the Environmental Leadership and Training Initiative,[36] a $15 million program run by
Yale University and the Smithsonian Institution to train environmental decision-makers across Latin America and Southeast Asia. Laurance also writes in popular magazines about environmental policies in the tropics.[37][38]
Awards and honours
His awards include the 2008 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Ecology and Conservation Biology (co-winner with Thomas Lovejoy), the Heineken Environment Prize, and a Distinguished Service Award from the
Society for Conservation Biology.
Cassowary Prize for Tropical Research and Conservation, 2018
Elected
Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, 2015.[2]
Outstanding Contributions to Nature Conservation, Zoological Society of London, 2015.[39]
Outstanding Paper of the Year, International Association of Landscape Ecologists, 2006 [48]
Fellowships and councils
President-elect, President, and Past-president, Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, 2005–2007[49]
Honorary Fellow of the World Innovation Foundation, 2005
John A. Erskine Fellow, University of Canterbury, New Zealand, 2005
Executive Council, Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, 2004–2005
Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2003
Executive Council, Australian Mammal Society, 1994–1996
Conservation and public outreach
In 2013 Laurance founded ALERT—the Alliance of Leading Environmental Researchers & Thinkers. This organization, which Laurance leads, is engaged in scientific and conservation advocacy and currently reaches 1-2 million readers[citation needed] each week using a range of social-media platforms. Laurance has also been involved in scores of conservation initiatives via his involvement with professional scientific societies, including the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, Society for Conservation Biology, and American Society of Mammalogists. These include his efforts to:
Oppose new roads and oil projects inside Ecuadorian protected areas[50]
Reduce illegal gold mining in the Guiana Shield of northern South America[51]
^Queenborough, Simon A.; Ira R. Cooke (2011). "The Habits of Successful Ecologists, or Does Facebook count as 'outreach'?". Bulletin of the British Ecological Society. 42 (1): 40–42.
^Laurance, W. (1998). "A crisis in the making: Responses of Amazonian forests to land use and climate change". Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 13 (10): 411–415.
doi:
10.1016/S0169-5347(98)01433-5.
PMID21238369.
^Laurance, W. F.; Alonso, A.; Lee, M.; Campbell, P. (2006). "Challenges for forest conservation in Gabon, Central Africa". Futures. 38 (4): 454–470.
doi:
10.1016/j.futures.2005.07.012.
^Laurance, W. F.; Kakul, T.; Keenan, R. J.; Sayer, J.; Passingan, S.; Clements, G. R.; Villegas, F.; Sodhi, N. S. (2011). "Predatory corporations, failing governance, and the fate of forests in Papua New Guinea". Conservation Letters. 4 (2): 95–100.
Bibcode:
2011ConL....4...95L.
doi:
10.1111/j.1755-263X.2010.00156.x.
S2CID30932205.
^Laurance, W. F. (2008). "Tipping the balance". The Ecologist: 37–41.
^Laurance, W. F.; Albernaz, A. K. M.; Schroth, G.; Fearnside, P. M.; Bergen, S.; Venticinque, E. M.; Da Costa, C. (2002). "Predictors of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon". Journal of Biogeography. 29 (5–6): 737–748.
Bibcode:
2002JBiog..29..737L.
doi:
10.1046/j.1365-2699.2002.00721.x.
S2CID31032936.
^Laurance, W. F. (2003). "Slow burn: The insidious effects of surface fires on tropical forests". Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 18 (5): 209–212.
doi:
10.1016/S0169-5347(03)00064-8.
^Laurance, W. F.; Williamson, G. B.; Delamônica, P.; Oliveira, A.; Lovejoy, T. E.; Gascon, C.; Pohl, L. (2001). "Effects of a strong drought on Amazonian forest fragments and edges". Journal of Tropical Ecology. 17 (6): 771–785.
doi:
10.1017/S0266467401001596.
S2CID39299988.
^Laurance, W. F.; Koster, H.; Grooten, M.; Anderson, A. B.; Zuidema, P. A.; Zwick, S.; Zagt, R. J.; Lynam, A. J.; Linkie, M.; Anten, N. P. R. (2012). "Making conservation research more relevant for conservation practitioners". Biological Conservation. 153: 164–168.
Bibcode:
2012BCons.153..164L.
doi:
10.1016/j.biocon.2012.05.012.
^Laurance, W.F. (2011). "Painting the rainforests REDD". Australian Geographic Magazine: 102–103.
^Laurance, W. (2008). "Theory meets reality: How habitat fragmentation research has transcended island biogeographic theory". Biological Conservation. 141 (7): 1731–1744.
Bibcode:
2008BCons.141.1731L.
doi:
10.1016/j.biocon.2008.05.011.
^Laurance, W. F. (2008). "Environmental promise and peril in the Amazon". In W. Carson; S. Schnitzer (eds.). Tropical Forest Community Ecology. Blackwell Scientific, New York. pp. 458–473.
^Laurance, W. F. (2002). "Gabon sets aside land for parks". Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 17 (10): 459.
doi:
10.1016/s0169-5347(02)02609-5.
William F.
Laurance grew up in the western US, in
Oregon and
Idaho.[5] He initially aspired to direct his own zoo, but later turned to ecology and conservation biology.[5]
Since he was interested in nature conservation, he decided in the early 1980s to study imperiled
tropical forests for his PhD. During this time, he also became involved in some heated conservation issues[6] in Australia and elsewhere.
Professional career
Laurance has published eight books and over 700 scientific and popular articles.[7] These include two edited volumes,[8][9] as well as analyses of conservation-policy challenges in the Brazilian Amazon,[10] Gabon,[11] Southeast Asia,[12] and New Guinea.[13] He has also synthesized changing trends,[14] new initiatives,[15] and major debates[16] in tropical conservation science and policy.
He is among the most highly cited scientists globally in the fields of
ecology and
environmental science.[17] His works have been cited more than 87,000 times, and his Hirsch's h index of 145 [17] (as per December 2022) is the highest of any environmental scientist or ecologist in Australia and ranked number 6 globally.[17] He has published more than three dozen papers to date in Science[18] and Nature.
In his long-term studies of
habitat fragmentation in the Amazon Basin, he introduced concepts, including "biomass collapse",[19] the "hyperdynamism hypothesis",[20] the "landscape-divergence hypothesis",[21] the large spatial scale of some edge effects,[22] the key role of matrix tolerance in determining species'[23] responses to fragmentation, and the importance of synergisms between fragmentation and other environmental insults.[24]
Laurance has also studied the drivers of
global amphibian declines;[31] quantifying the threats to tropical protected areas;[32] evaluating potential effects of global atmospheric changes on the
species composition, dynamics;[33] and carbon storage of intact tropical forests;[34] and understanding how droughts affect tropical tree communities.[35]
Laurance is also involved with the Environmental Leadership and Training Initiative,[36] a $15 million program run by
Yale University and the Smithsonian Institution to train environmental decision-makers across Latin America and Southeast Asia. Laurance also writes in popular magazines about environmental policies in the tropics.[37][38]
Awards and honours
His awards include the 2008 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Ecology and Conservation Biology (co-winner with Thomas Lovejoy), the Heineken Environment Prize, and a Distinguished Service Award from the
Society for Conservation Biology.
Cassowary Prize for Tropical Research and Conservation, 2018
Elected
Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, 2015.[2]
Outstanding Contributions to Nature Conservation, Zoological Society of London, 2015.[39]
Outstanding Paper of the Year, International Association of Landscape Ecologists, 2006 [48]
Fellowships and councils
President-elect, President, and Past-president, Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, 2005–2007[49]
Honorary Fellow of the World Innovation Foundation, 2005
John A. Erskine Fellow, University of Canterbury, New Zealand, 2005
Executive Council, Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, 2004–2005
Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2003
Executive Council, Australian Mammal Society, 1994–1996
Conservation and public outreach
In 2013 Laurance founded ALERT—the Alliance of Leading Environmental Researchers & Thinkers. This organization, which Laurance leads, is engaged in scientific and conservation advocacy and currently reaches 1-2 million readers[citation needed] each week using a range of social-media platforms. Laurance has also been involved in scores of conservation initiatives via his involvement with professional scientific societies, including the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, Society for Conservation Biology, and American Society of Mammalogists. These include his efforts to:
Oppose new roads and oil projects inside Ecuadorian protected areas[50]
Reduce illegal gold mining in the Guiana Shield of northern South America[51]
^Queenborough, Simon A.; Ira R. Cooke (2011). "The Habits of Successful Ecologists, or Does Facebook count as 'outreach'?". Bulletin of the British Ecological Society. 42 (1): 40–42.
^Laurance, W. (1998). "A crisis in the making: Responses of Amazonian forests to land use and climate change". Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 13 (10): 411–415.
doi:
10.1016/S0169-5347(98)01433-5.
PMID21238369.
^Laurance, W. F.; Alonso, A.; Lee, M.; Campbell, P. (2006). "Challenges for forest conservation in Gabon, Central Africa". Futures. 38 (4): 454–470.
doi:
10.1016/j.futures.2005.07.012.
^Laurance, W. F.; Kakul, T.; Keenan, R. J.; Sayer, J.; Passingan, S.; Clements, G. R.; Villegas, F.; Sodhi, N. S. (2011). "Predatory corporations, failing governance, and the fate of forests in Papua New Guinea". Conservation Letters. 4 (2): 95–100.
Bibcode:
2011ConL....4...95L.
doi:
10.1111/j.1755-263X.2010.00156.x.
S2CID30932205.
^Laurance, W. F. (2008). "Tipping the balance". The Ecologist: 37–41.
^Laurance, W. F.; Albernaz, A. K. M.; Schroth, G.; Fearnside, P. M.; Bergen, S.; Venticinque, E. M.; Da Costa, C. (2002). "Predictors of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon". Journal of Biogeography. 29 (5–6): 737–748.
Bibcode:
2002JBiog..29..737L.
doi:
10.1046/j.1365-2699.2002.00721.x.
S2CID31032936.
^Laurance, W. F. (2003). "Slow burn: The insidious effects of surface fires on tropical forests". Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 18 (5): 209–212.
doi:
10.1016/S0169-5347(03)00064-8.
^Laurance, W. F.; Williamson, G. B.; Delamônica, P.; Oliveira, A.; Lovejoy, T. E.; Gascon, C.; Pohl, L. (2001). "Effects of a strong drought on Amazonian forest fragments and edges". Journal of Tropical Ecology. 17 (6): 771–785.
doi:
10.1017/S0266467401001596.
S2CID39299988.
^Laurance, W. F.; Koster, H.; Grooten, M.; Anderson, A. B.; Zuidema, P. A.; Zwick, S.; Zagt, R. J.; Lynam, A. J.; Linkie, M.; Anten, N. P. R. (2012). "Making conservation research more relevant for conservation practitioners". Biological Conservation. 153: 164–168.
Bibcode:
2012BCons.153..164L.
doi:
10.1016/j.biocon.2012.05.012.
^Laurance, W.F. (2011). "Painting the rainforests REDD". Australian Geographic Magazine: 102–103.
^Laurance, W. (2008). "Theory meets reality: How habitat fragmentation research has transcended island biogeographic theory". Biological Conservation. 141 (7): 1731–1744.
Bibcode:
2008BCons.141.1731L.
doi:
10.1016/j.biocon.2008.05.011.
^Laurance, W. F. (2008). "Environmental promise and peril in the Amazon". In W. Carson; S. Schnitzer (eds.). Tropical Forest Community Ecology. Blackwell Scientific, New York. pp. 458–473.
^Laurance, W. F. (2002). "Gabon sets aside land for parks". Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 17 (10): 459.
doi:
10.1016/s0169-5347(02)02609-5.