2026 John Terborgh: Ecology and Evolution Researcher – H-Index, Publications & Awards

Discipline name	D-Index	World Ranking	Current World Ranking	National Ranking	Current National Ranking	Publications	Citations
Ecology and Evolution	106	204	191	87	81	250	61377

Research.com Recognitions

2026 - Research.com Ecology and Evolution in United States Leader Award
2025 - Research.com Ecology and Evolution in United States Leader Award
2012 - Fellow of the Ecological Society of America (ESA)
1992 - Fellow of the MacArthur Foundation
1989 - Member of the National Academy of Sciences
1987 - Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
1984 - Fellow of John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
1981 - Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Overview

John Terborgh is a researcher affiliated with Duke University in the United States. Their work primarily spans the fields of Environmental Science and Agricultural and Biological Sciences, with a focus on subfields such as Nature and Landscape Conservation, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Global and Planetary Change, Ecological Modeling, and Ecology.

The main topics of Terborgh's research include:

Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
Plant and animal studies
Species Distribution and Climate Change
Plant Diversity and Evolution
Amazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory
Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
Forest ecology and management

Terborgh has published multiple recent papers in several well-known scientific venues. These papers include:

Competition influences tree growth, but not mortality, across environmental gradients in Amazonia and tropical Africa (2020, Ecology)
Amazon tree dominance across forest strata (2021, Nature Ecology & Evolution)
Water table depth modulates productivity and biomass across Amazonian forests (2022, Global Ecology and Biogeography)
More than 10,000 pre-Columbian earthworks are still hidden throughout Amazonia (2023, Science)
Mapping density, diversity and species-richness of the Amazon tree flora (2023, Communications Biology)

Frequent publication venues for Terborgh's work include:

Nature Ecology & Evolution
Communications Biology
Ecology
Global Ecology and Biogeography
Journal of Biogeography

Terborgh has collaborated frequently with fellow researchers, with notable co-authors including:

Oliver L. Phillips
Nigel C. A. Pitman
Ted R. Feldpausch
Beatriz Schwantes Marimon
Ben Hur Marimon

Over the course of their career, Terborgh has received recognition through several awards and fellowships, including:

Fellow of the Ecological Society of America (ESA) in 2012
Fellow of the MacArthur Foundation in 1992
Member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1989
Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1987
Fellow of John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in 1984
Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 1981

Best Publications

Trophic Downgrading of Planet Earth

James A. Estes;John Terborgh;Justin S. Brashares;Mary E. Power

4587
Citations
Five New World primates

John Terborgh

2415
Citations
Five New World Primates: A Study in Comparative Ecology

John Terborgh

2354
Citations
Drought sensitivity of the Amazon rainforest.

Oliver L. Phillips;Luiz E. O. C. Aragão;Simon L. Lewis;Joshua B. Fisher

2086
Citations
Ecological Meltdown in Predator-Free Forest Fragments

John Terborgh;Lawrence Lopez;Percy Nuñez;Madhu Rao;Madhu Rao

1966
Citations
The Phenology of Tropical Forests: Adaptive Significance and Consequences for Primary Consumers*

Carel P. van Schaik;John W. Terborgh;S. Joseph Wright

1774
Citations
Beta-Diversity in Tropical Forest Trees

Richard Condit;Nigel Pitman;Egbert G. Leigh;Jérôme Chave

1731
Citations
Hyperdominance in the Amazonian Tree Flora

Hans Ter Steege;Hans Ter Steege;Nigel C.A. Pitman;Daniel Sabatier;Christopher Baraloto

1579
Citations
Averting biodiversity collapse in tropical forest protected areas

William F. Laurance;William F. Laurance;D. Carolina Useche;Julio Rendeiro;Margareta Kalka

1396
Citations
Requiem for Nature

John Terborgh

1270
Citations
Long-term decline of the Amazon carbon sink

R J W Brienen;O L Phillips;T R Feldpausch;T R Feldpausch;E Gloor

1268
Citations
Collapse of the world's largest herbivores.

William J Ripple;Thomas M Newsome;Thomas M Newsome;Christopher Wolf;Rodolfo Dirzo

1219
Citations
Structure and Organization of an Amazonian Forest Bird Community

John Terborgh;Scott K. Robinson;Theodore A. Parker;Charles A. Munn

981
Citations
Where Have All the Birds Gone? Essays on the Biology and Conservation of Birds That Migrate to the American Tropics

John Terborgh

976
Citations
Oddity and the ‘confusion effect’ in predation

Laurie Landeau;John Terborgh

885
Citations
Bird Species Diversity on an Andean Elevational Gradient

John Terborgh

811
Citations
DOMINANCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF TREE SPECIES IN UPPER AMAZONIAN TERRA FIRME FORESTS

Nigel C. A. Pitman;John W. Terborgh;Miles R. Silman;V Percy Nunez

804
Citations
The regional variation of aboveground live biomass in old‐growth Amazonian forests

Yadvinder Malhi;Yadvinder Malhi;Daniel Wood;Timothy R. Baker;James Wright

803
Citations
Basin-wide variations in Amazon forest structure and function are mediated by both soils and climate

C. A. Quesada;C. A. Quesada;O. L. Phillips;M. Schwarz;C. I. Czimczik

729
Citations
Preservation of Natural Diversity: The Problem of Extinction Prone Species

John Terborgh

714
Citations
Plot Data from: "Long-term decline of the Amazon carbon sink."

Roel J. W. Brienen;Oliver L. Phillips;Ted R. Feldpausch;Emanuel Gloor

4
Citations

Frequent Co-Authors

Nigel C. A. Pitman Field Museum of Natural History

Simon L. Lewis University College London

Yadvinder Malhi University of Oxford

Timothy R. Baker University of Leeds

William F. Laurance James Cook University

Oliver L. Phillips University of Leeds

David A. Neill Missouri Botanical Garden

Hans ter Steege Naturalis Biodiversity Center

Ted R. Feldpausch University of Exeter

Marcos Silveira Universidade Federal do Acre

External Links

Wikipedia of John Terborgh

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