John Terborgh, Ph.D.
Co-Director

Duke University
Box 90381
Durham, NC 27708

CONTACT US

Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences

My current research focuses on understanding how disturbances, either natural (i.e. treefalls, ecosystem engineers) or anthropogenic (i.e. habitat destruction, overhunting) affect the population dynamics and species richness of mammals and plants in the Amazon. For instance, the dramatic impact of peccaries (a pig-like creature) on the forest ecology is apparent to anyone who has watched a 300-strong herd of these animals thunder through the understory (animal mediated disturbance). But because of habitat destruction and hunting (anthropogenic disturbance), the species has been driven to local extinction and a new generation of trees is maturing without the massive seed predation, dispersal (mammal-plant interactions), soil disturbance, or physical damage wrought by peccaries. To test some of these hypotheses, I have set up several long-term experiments in Cocha Cashu and Los Amigos, two sites within the Peruvian Amazon. Furthermore, in collaboration with colleagues from the IUCN Tapir Specialists Group, we are currently testing the impact of tapir disturbances on the seedling and sapling communities using hundreds of exclosures across five Neotropical countries and in Malaysia.

Another “hot topic” in my lab is to quantify the role of ecosystem engineers. These species physically modify and create new habitats and thereby control the availability of resources to species. However, unlike most mammalian ecosystem engineers (i.e. beavers), I posit that peccaries have two distinct engineering mechanisms. First, while foraging for below-ground resources they “bulldoze” through the soil, creating germination sites for “leaf litter-gap dependent” plant species, and thus potentially increasing plant richness. Second, peccaries can function as ecosystem engineers by creating and maintaining wallows that may be critical habitats for aquatic species. Since 2003 I have been studying the effects of peccaries as ecosystem engineers.

Other research projects include experiments on different mechanisms of seed dispersal, predation by peccaries and tapirs. Results from these studies are crucial for understanding the role of mammals within their ecosystem, and help us to develop new conservation and management strategies.