William Laurance is a Distinguished Research Professor at James Cook University in Cairns, Australia, and holds an Australian Laureate Fellowship, one of Australia’s highest scientific awards. He also holds the Prince Bernhard Chair in International Nature Conservation at Utrecht University, Netherlands. 

Laurance received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1989.  His research focuses on the impacts of intensive land-uses, such as habitat fragmentation, logging, hunting and wildfires, on tropical forests and their biodiversity.  He is also interested in protected areas, climatic change, the impacts of roads and other infrastructure on biodiversity, and conservation policy.  His research over the past 35 years spans the tropical world, including the Amazon, Africa and Asia-Pacific regions.  To date he has published eight books and over 400 scientific and popular articles. 

A leading voice for conservation, Laurance believes that scientists must actively engage policy makers and the general public, as well as other scientists.  He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and former president of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation. 

Laurance has received many scientific honors including the BBVA Frontiers in Ecology and Conservation Biology Award, a Distinguished Service Award from the Society for Conservation Biology, and the Heineken Environment Prize.  He is also founder and director of ALERT—the Alliance of Leading Environmental Researchers & Thinkers, a group that advocates for environmental sustainability.

Research Disciplines

• Environmental Science and Management

Socio-Economic Objectives

• Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles

• Baker TR, Pennington R, Magallon RToby, Gloor EU, Laurance WF, Alexiades M, Alvarez E, Araujo A, Arets SL, Aymard G, Alves de Oliveira A, Amaral I, Arroyo L, Bonal D, Brienen EJM, Chave J, Dexter AA, Di Fiore A, Eler E, Feldpausch TR, Ferreira L, López-gonzález G, Van Der Heijden G, Higuchi N, Honorio E, Huamantupa I, Killeen TJ, Laurance S, Leaño TJ, Lewis SL, Malhi Y, Marimon BS, Marimon Junior BS, Monteagudo A, Neill DA, Peñuela MC, Pitman NCA, Prieto A, Quesada CA, Ramírez F, Ramírez-angulo H, Rudas A, Ruschel A, Salomão AR, Segalin de Andrade RP, Silva AS, Silveira M, Simon M, Spironello MF, Ter Steege H, Terborgh J, Toledo M, Torres-lezama A, Vásquez R, Vieira I, Vilanova IC, Vos V and Phillips OL (2014) Fast demographic traits promote high diversification rates of Amazonian trees. Ecology Letters, 17 (5). pp. 527-536
• Butt N, Malhi Y, New M, Macia MJ, Lewis SL, López-gonzález G, Laurance WF, Laurance S, Luizão RCC, Andrade A, Baker TR, Almeida S and Phillips OL (2014) Shifting dynamics of climate-functional groups in old-growth Amazonian forests. Plant Ecology and Diversity, 7 (1-2). pp. 267-279
• Edwards DP, Tobias JA, Sheil D, Meijaard E and Laurance WF (2014) Maintaining ecosystem function and services in logged tropical forests. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 29 (9). pp. 511-520
• Edwards DP, Gilroy JJ, Woodcock P, Edwards FA, Larsen TH, Andrews DJR, Derhé MA, Docherty TDS, Hsu WW, Mitchell SL, Ota T, Williams LJ, Laurance WF, Hamer KC and Wilcove DS (2014) Land-sharing versus land-sparing logging: reconciling timber extraction with biodiversity conservation. Global Change Biology, 20 (1). pp. 183-191
• Edwards DP, Sloan S, Weng L, Dirks PHG, Sayer JA and Laurance WF (2014) Mining and the African environment. Conservation Letters, 7 (3). pp. 302-311
• Laurance WF, Andrade A, Magrach Gonzalez A, Camargo JLC, Campbell MJ, Fearnside PM, Edwards WJ, Valsko JJ, Lovejoy TE and Laurance S (2014) Apparent environmental synergism drives the dynamics of Amazonian forest fragments. Ecology, 95 (11). pp. 3018-3026
• Laurance WF, Andrade A, Magrach Gonzalez A, Camargo JLC, Valsko JJ, Campbell MJ, Fearnside PM, Edwards WJ, Lovejoy TE and Laurance S (2014) Long-term changes in liana abundance and forest dynamics in undisturbed Amazonian forests. Ecology, 95 (6). pp. 1604-1611
• Magrach Gonzalez A, Rodríguez-Pérez J, Campbell MJ and Laurance WF (2014) Edge effects shape the spatial distribution of lianas and epiphytic ferns in Australian tropical rain forest fragments. Applied Vegetation Science, 17 (4). pp. 754-764
• Magrach Gonzalez A, Laurance WF, Larrinaga AR and Santamaria L (2014) Meta-analysis of the effects of forest fragmentation on interspecific interactions. Conservation Biology, 28 (5). pp. 1342-1348
• Mitchard ETA, Feldpausch TR, Brienen RJW, López-gonzález G, Monteagudo A, Baker TR, Lewis SL, Lloyd JJ, Quesada CA, Gloor M, Ter Steege H, Meir P, Alvarez E, Araujo-Murakami A, Aragão LEO, Arroyo L, Aymard G, Banki O, Bonal D, Brown S, Brown F, Cerón C, Chama Moscoso V, Chave J, Comiskey J, Cornejo F, Corrales Medina FRC, Da Costa L, Costa F, Di Fiore A, Domingues TF, Erwin T, Frederickson ENH, Higuchi N, Honorio Coronado WF, Killeen TJ, Laurance WF, Levis C, Magnusson WE, Marimon BS, Marimon Junior B, Mendoza Polo I, Mishra P, Nascimento MT, Neill DA, Núñez Vargas P, Palacios GP, Parada A, Pardo Molina G, Peña-Claros M, Pitman NCA, Peres C, Poorter L, Prieto A, Ramírez-angulo H, Restrepo Correa KH, Roopsind A, Roucoux RP, Rudas A, Salomão R, Schietti PF, Silveira M, de Souza P, Steininger M, Stropp J, Terborgh J, Thomas R, Toledo TR, Torres-lezama A, van Andel T, Van Der Heijden G, Vieira ICG, Vieira S, Vilanova-Torre E, Vos VA, Wang O, Zartman C, Malhi Y and Phillips OL (2014) Markedly divergent estimates of Amazon forest carbon density from ground plots and satellites. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 23 (8). pp. 935-946
• Pettorelli N, Laurance WF, O'Brien TG, Wegmann M, Nagendra H and Turner W (2014) Satellite remote sensing for applied ecologists: opportunities and challenges. Journal of Applied Ecology, 51 (4). pp. 839-848
• Santos BA, Tabarelli M, Melo F, Camargo JLC, Andrade A, Laurance S and Laurance WF (2014) Phylogenetic impoverishment of Amazonian tree communities in an experimentally fragmented forest landscape. PLoS ONE, 9 (11). pp. 1-7

More

ResearchOnline@JCU stores a total of 159 research outputs authored by Prof Bill Laurance from 2008 onwards.

Current and recent Research Funding is shown by funding source and project.

Advisory Accreditation: I can be on your Advisory Panel as a Primary or Secondary Advisor.

These Higher Degree Research projects are either current or by students who have completed their studies within the past 5 years at JCU. Linked titles show theses available within ResearchOnline@JCU.

Current

• The Ecological Response of Lianas to Habitat Fragmentation of the Tropical Rainforest. (PhD, Primary Advisor)
• Regeneration and Recovery Dynamics of Logged Forests in the Solomon Archipelago (PhD, Primary Advisor)
• Understanding Drivers of Hunting and Responses of Animal Populations in India. (PhD, Primary Advisor)
• Diversity and Habitat use of Mid-Large Sized Mammals Across Oil Palm Landscapes in the Plains of Colombia. (PhD, Primary Advisor)
• Quantifying the Value of Riparian Forest Corridors for Medium and Large Mammals in Indonesia's Acacia and Oil Palm Plantations. (PhD, Primary Advisor)
• Extractive Industries and Development Patterns in Africa (PhD, Associate Advisor)

Completed

• The environmental and social impacts of roads in southeast Asia (2013, PhD, Primary Advisor)

The map shows research collaborations by institution from the past 7 years.
Note: Map points are indicative of the countries or states that institutions are associated with.