William F. Laurance

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William F. Laurance
Born (1957-10-12) 12 October 1957 (age 66)
CitizenshipJoint citizenship (US, Australia)
Alma materUniversity of California, Berkeley
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsBiologist,
conservationist
InstitutionsJames Cook University Smithsonian Institution

William F. Laurance (born 12 October 1957), also known as Bill Laurance,[1] is Distinguished Research Professor at James Cook University, Australia and has been elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.[2] He has received an Australian Laureate Fellowship from the Australian Research Council.[3] He held the Prince Bernhard Chair for International Nature Conservation at Utrecht University, Netherlands from 2010 to 2014. [4]

Early life

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.

He has conducted long-term research across the world's

Asia-Pacific region and Congo Basin
.

Laurance spotlighting for wildlife in the Congo Basin
Laurance inspecting wild elephant footprints in Peninsular Malaysia

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]

His scientific interests include assessing the impacts of

climatic change[30]
on tropical ecosystems and biodiversity.

Laurance has also studied the drivers of

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

Laurance and Thomas Lovejoy accepting the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Ecology and Environment, in Madrid, Spain in 2009.

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]
  • The Dr A.H. Heineken Prize for Environmental Sciences, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and A. H. Heineken Foundation, 2012.[40]
  • Distinguished Service Award, Society for Conservation Biology, 2011.[41]
  • Six-time recipient of the Faculty of 1000 Selection for Outstanding Articles.[42]
  • Four-time winner of Australia's Best Science Writing Prize.[43]
  • Top 50-most cited papers in Biological Conservation.[44]
  • Australian Laureate Fellowship, 2010[45]
  • Distinguished Alumni Award, Boise State University, USA, 2010.[46]
  • BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Ecology and Conservation Biology Award (co-winner with Thomas Lovejoy), 2008 [47]
  • Highly Cited Researcher Award, ISI Thompson Scientific, 2007, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
  • 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:

References

  1. ^ "Prof Bill Laurance - Research Portfolio - James Cook University".
  2. ^ a b "Fellows elected in 2015". Retrieved 27 December 2017.
  3. ^ "2010 Australian Laureate Fellows – Professor William Laurance" (PDF).
  4. ^ "Prince Bernhard Chair holders". 14 January 2015.
  5. ^
    ISBN 978-0-226-46896-9
    . rancher.
  6. ISBN 9780226468969
    .
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ Laurance, W. F.; C. A. Peres, eds. (2006). Emerging Threats to Tropical Forests. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. p. 534.
  9. ^ Laurance, W. F., and R. O. Bierregaard Jr. (1997). Tropical Forest Remnants Ecology, Management, and Conservation of Fragmented Communities. Chicago Press. p. 616.
  10. doi:10.1016/j.futures.2005.07.012
    .
  11. PMID 19922850
    .
  12. S2CID 30932205
    .
  13. ^ Laurance, W. F. (2008). "Tipping the balance". The Ecologist: 37–41.
  14. doi:10.1641/B580819
    .
  15. ^
    S2CID 84907640.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of April 2024 (link
    )
  16. ^ a b c "Citation indices for William Laurance".
  17. ^ "Papers in Science Daily".
  18. doi:10.1126/science.278.5340.1117
    .
  19. S2CID 876102
    .
  20. PMID 17925865. Open access icon
  21. S2CID 731347
    .
  22. S2CID 25867280
    .
  23. S2CID 7175589
    .
  24. S2CID 31032936
    .
  25. S2CID 83484135
    .
  26. S2CID 86382071
    .
  27. S2CID 24818895
    .
  28. PMID 15212089
    .
  29. doi:10.1046/j.1523-1739.1996.10020406.x
    .
  30. S2CID 2214915
    .
  31. PMID 15212089
    .
  32. PMID 9774263
    .
  33. S2CID 39299988
    .
  34. ^ "ELTI meeting, 2008".
  35. doi:10.1016/S0262-4079(07)62194-0
    .
  36. ^ Laurance, W. F. (2005). "Razing Amazonia". New Scientist: 34–39.
  37. ^ "Bill Laurance wins 'Outstanding Contributions to Conservation' prize, Conservation Bytes".
  38. ^ "Six new Heineken Prizes 2012 Laureates".
  39. ^ "Past SCB Award Recipients".
  40. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2012.05.012
    .
  41. ^ Laurance, W.F. (2011). "Painting the rainforests REDD". Australian Geographic Magazine: 102–103.
  42. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2008.05.011
    .
  43. ^ "JCU two join elite of researchers". James Cook University. 30 July 2012. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  44. ^ "Award from Boise State University, 2010".
  45. ^ "Winners of the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Ecology and Conservation Biology Category".
  46. PMID 17148598
    .
  47. ^ "ATBC Presidents Since 1963".
  48. ^ "Opening a Pandora's box".
  49. ^ Rhett Butler (9 November 2006). "Mining in Venezuelan Amazon threatens biodiversity, indigenous groups".
  50. S2CID 44946831
    .
  51. ^ 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.
  52. ^ "Undisputed jewels of South America".
  53. ^ "Cache of rare and undiscovered species in Panama".
  54. ^ "Experts: Borneo in need of urgent protection".
  55. S2CID 32144220
    .
  56. PMID 20184655
    .
  57. S2CID 30626208
    .
  58. ^ Laurance, W. F. (2011). "China's dubious new honour". Australian Geographic Online.
  59. ^ Laurance, W. F. (1988). "Conservacion de habitats criticos para mamiferos en el Eje Neovolcanico TransMexicano". Journal of Mammalogy. 69: 884.
  60. ^ Laurance, W. F. (2012). "Hungry dragon". Australian Geographic Magazine: 118–119.
  61. ^ Laurance, W. F. (2012). "Beware of the dragon: China's appetite for wood takes a heavy toll". Timber & Forestry E-News (204): 12–13.
  62. ^ "China's appetite for wood takes a heavy toll on forests". Yale Environment 360 Magazine. 2011.
  63. ^ Laurance, W. F. (2007). "The dragon and the rainforest". Tropinet. 18: 1–2.
  64. ^ Laurance, W. F. (2006). "The need for China to reduce illegal timber imports". Newsletter of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
  65. ^ Laurance, W. F. (2012). "Organised crime, illegal timber and Australia's role in deforestation". The Conversation.
  66. ^ Laurance, W. F. (2012). "Illegal logging takes 30 football fields a minutes: Why isn't Australia acting?". The Conversation.

External links

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