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 (0502)

Socio-Economic Objectives

• Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity (9608)

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

• Alamgir M, Campbell M, Sloan S, Suhardiman A, Supriatna J and Laurance W (2019) High-risk infrastructure projects pose imminent threats to forests in Indonesian Borneo. Scientific Reports, 9. pp. 1-10
• Mukul S, Alamgir M, Sohel M, Pert P, Herbohn J, Turton S, Khan M, Munim S, Reza A and Laurance W (2019) Combined effects of climate change and sea-level rise project dramatic habitat loss of the globally endangered Bengal tiger in the Bangladesh Sundarbans. Science of the Total Environment, 663. pp. 830-840
• Pirrota V, Grech A, Jonsen I, Laurance W and Harcourt R (2019) Consequences of global shipping traffic for marine giants. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 17 (1). pp. 39-47
• Sloan S, Campbell M, Alamgir M, Egerton J, Ishida Y, Senn N, Huther J and Laurance W (2019) Hidden challenges for conservation and development along the Trans-Papuan economic corridor. Environmental Science & Policy, 92. pp. 98-106
• Bastin J, Rutishauser E, Kellner J, Saatchi S, Pélissier R, Hérault B, Slik F, Bogaert J, De Cannière C, Marshall A, Poulsen J, Alvarez-Loyayza P, Andrade A, Angbonga-Basia A, Araujo-murakami A, Arroyo L, Ayyappan N, de Azevedo C, Banki O, Barbier N, Barroso J, Beeckman H, Bitariho R, Boeckx P, Boehning-Gaese K, Brandão H, Brearley F, Breuer Ndoundou Hockemba M, Brienen R, Camargo J, Campos-Arceiz A, Cassart B, Chave J, Chazdon R, Chuyong G, Clark D, Clark C, Condit R, Honorio Coronado E, Davidar P, de Haulleville T, Descroix L, Doucet J, Dourdain A, Droissart V, Duncan T, Silva Espejo J, Espinosa S, Farwig N, Fayolle A, Feldpausch T, Ferraz A, Fletcher C, Gajapersad K, Gillet J, Amaral I, Gonmadje C, Grogan J, Harris D, Herzog S, Homeier J, Hubau W, Hubbell S, Hufkens K, Hurtado J, Kamdem N, Kearsley E, Kenfack D, Kessler M, Labrière N, Laumonier Y, Laurance S, Laurance W, Lewis S, Libalah M, Ligot G, Lloyd J, Lovejoy T, Malhi Y, Marimon B, Marimon Junior B, Martin E, Matius P, Meyer V, Mendoza Bautista C, Monteagudo-Mendoza A, Mtui A, Neill D, Parada Gutierrez G, Pardo G, Parren M, Parthasarathy N, Phillips O, Pitman N, Ploton P, Ponette Q, Ramesh B, Razafimahaimodison J, Réjou-Méchain M, Rolim S, Saltos H, Rossi L, Spironello W, Rovero F, Saner P, Sasaki D, Schulze M, Silveira M, Singh J, Sist P, Sonké B, Soto J, de Souza C, Stropp J, Sullivan M, Swanepoel B, Steege H, Terborgh J, Texier N, Toma T, Valencia R, Valenzuela L, Valle Ferreira L, Cornejo Valverde F, Van Andel T, Vásquez R, Verbeeck H, Vivek P, Vleminckx J, Vos V, Wagner F, Warsudi P, Wortel V, Zagt R and Zebaze D (in press) Pan-tropical prediction of forest structure from the largest trees. Global Ecology and Biogeography,
• Campbell M, Edwards W, Magrach A, Alamgir M, Porolak G, Mohandass D and Laurance W (2018) Edge disturbance drives liana abundance increase and alteration of liana–host tree interactions in tropical forest fragments. Ecology and Evolution, 8 (8). pp. 4237-4251
• Clements G, Abdul Aziz S, Bulan R, Giam X, Bentraupperbaumer J, Goosem M, Laurance S and Laurance W (2018) Not everyone wants roads: assessing Indigenous people’s support for roads in a globally important tiger conservation landscape. Human Ecology, 46 (6). pp. 909-915
• de Oliveira Roque F, Menezes J, Northfield T, Ochoa-quintero J, Campbell M and Laurance W (2018) Warning signals of biodiversity collapse across gradients of tropical forest loss. Scientific Reports, 8.
• Esquivel‐Muelbert A, Baker T, Dexter K, Lewis S, Brienen R, Feldpausch T, Lloyd J, Monteagudo‐Mendoza A, Arroyo L, Álvarez‐Dávila E, Higuchi N, Marimon B, Marimon-Junior B, Silveira M, Vilanova E, Gloor E, Malhi Y, Chave J, Barlow J, Bonal D, Cardozo N, Erwin T, Fauset S, Hérault B, Laurance S, Poorter L, Qie L, Stahl C, Sullivan M, Ter Steege H, Vos V, Zuidema P, Almeida E, De Oliveira E, Andrade A, Vieira S, Aragão L, Araujo‐Murakami A, Arets E, Aymard C. G, Camargo P, Barroso J, Bongers F, Boot R, Camargo J, Castro W, Moscoso V, Comiskey J, Valverde F, Lola Da Costa A, Pasquel J, Di Fiore T, Duque L, Elias F, Engel J, Llampazo G, Galbraith D, Fernández R, Honorio Coronado E, Hubau W, Jiménez-Rojas E, Lima A, Umetsu R, Laurance W, López-González G, Lovejoy T, Cruz O, Morandi P, Neill D, Núñez Vargas P, Pallqui N, Gutierrez A, Pardo G, Peacock J, Peña‐Claros M, Peñuela-Mora M, Petronelli P, Pickavance G, Pitman N, Prieto A, Quesada C, Ramírez-Angulo H, Réjou‐Méchain M, Correa Z, Roopsind A, Rudas A, Salamão R, Silva N, Silva J, Singh J, Stropp J, Terborgh J, Thomas R, Toledo M, Torres-Lezama A, Gamarra L, van de Meer P, van der Heijden G, van der Hout P, Vásquez Martinez R, Vela C, Vieira I and Phillips O (in press) Compositional response of Amazon forests to climate change. Global Change Biology,
• Fletcher R, Didham R, Banks-leite C, Barlow J, Ewers R, Rosindell J, Holt R, Gonzalez A, Pardini R, Damschen E, Melo F, Ries L, Prevedello J, Tscharntke T, Laurance W, Lovejoy T and Haddad N (2018) Is habitat fragmentation good for biodiversity? Biological Conservation, 226. pp. 9-15
• Gomes V, Ijff S, Raes N, Amaral I, Salamão R, Coelho L, De Almeida Matos F, Castilho C, Limo Filho D, López D, Guevara J, Magnusson W, Phillips O, Wittmann F, Veiga Carim M, Martins M, Irume M, Sabatier D, Molino J, Bánki O, da Silva Guimarães J, Pitman N, Fernandez Piedade M, Mendoza A, Luize B, Venticinque E, de Leão Novo E, Vargas P, Silva T, Manzatoo A, Terborgh J, Reis N, Montero J, Casula K, Marimon B, Marimon-junior B, Honorio Coronado N, Feldpausch T, Duque A, Zartman C, Arboleda N, Killeen T, Mostacedo B, Vásquez R, Schöngart J, Assis R, Medeiros M, Simon M, Andrade A, Laurance W, Camargo J, Demarchi L, Laurance S, de Sousa Farias E, Nascimento H, Revilla J, Quaresma A, Costa F, Vieira I, Cintra B, Castellanos H, Brienan R, Stevenson P, Feitosa Y, Duivenvoorden J, Aymard C. G, Mogollón H, Targhetta N, Comiskey J, Vicentini A, Lopes A, Damasco G, Dávila N, Garcia-Villacorta R, Levis C, Schietti J, Souza P, Emilio T, Alonso A, Neill D, Dallmeier F, Ferreira L, Araujo-Murakami A, Praia D, do Amaral D, Carvalho F, de Souza F, Feeley K, Arroyo L, Pansonato M, Gribel R, Villa B, Licona J, Fine P, Cerón C, Baraloto C, Jiménez E, Stropp J, Engel J, Silveira M, Mora M, Petronelli P, Maas P, Thomas-Caesar R, Henkel T, Daly D, Paredes M, Baker T, Fuentes A, Peres C, Chave J, Pena J, Dexter K, Silman M, Jørgensen P, Pennington T, De Fiore A, Valverde F, Phillips J, Rivas-Torres G, von Hildebrand P, van Andel T, Ruschel A, Prieto A, Rudas A, Hoffman B, Vela C, Barbosa E, Zent E, Gonzales G, Doza H, Miranda I, Guillaumet J, Pinto L, Bonates L, Silva N, Gómez R, Zent S, Gonzales T, Vos V, Malhi Y, Oliveira A, Cano A, Albuquerque B, Vriesendorp C, Correa D, Torre E, Van Der Heijden G, Ramírez-Angulo H, Ramos J, Young K, Rocha M, Nascimento M, Medina M, Tirado M, Wang O, Sierra R, Torres-Lezama A, Mendoza C, Ferreira C, Baider C, Villarroel D, Balslev H, Mesones I, Giraldo L, Casas L, Reategui M, Linares-Palomino R, Zagt R, Cárdenas S, Farfan-Rios W, Sampaio A, Pauletto D, Sandoval E, Arevalo F, Huamantupa-Chuquimaco I, Garcia-Cabrera K, Hernandez L, Gamarra L, Alexiades M, Pansini S, Cuenca W, Milliken W, Ricardo J, López-González G, Pos E and ter Steege H (2018) Species distribution modelling: contrasting presence-only models with plot abundance data. Scientific Reports, 8.

Book Chapters

• Laurance W (2018) Apes, protected areas and infrastructure in Africa. In: State of the Apes: infrastructure development and ape conservation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp. 106-135

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ResearchOnline@JCU stores 346+ research outputs authored by Prof Bill Laurance from 1999 onwards.

Current and recent Research Funding to JCU 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

• Social-ecological Impacts of Landscape Transitions in Southeast Asia (PhD , Secondary Advisor)

Completed

• Maintaining connectivity for tropical rainforest mammals in agricultural landscapes (2018, PhD , Primary Advisor)
• Foreign Investments in African Extractive Industries: a Focus on China-Africa with Case Studies in Cameroon (2015, PhD , Associate Advisor)
• The ecological response of lianas to habitat fragmentation of a tropical rainforest (2016, PhD , Primary Advisor)
• Conservation challenges of wet-tropical nature reserves in north-east India (2015, PhD , Primary Advisor)
• Diversity and habitat use of medium-large sized mammals across oil palm landscapes in the Llanos region of Colombia (2018, PhD , Primary Advisor)
• Regeneration and recovery dynamics of logged forests in the Solomon Islands (2017, 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.