staff

John W. Terborgh is a James B. Duke Professor of Environmental Science and is Co-Director of the Center for Tropical Conservation at Duke University. He is a member of the National Academy of Science, and for the past thirty-five years, he has been actively involved in tropical ecology and conservation issues. An authority on avian and mammalian ecology in neotropical forests, Dr. Terborgh has published numerous articles and books on conservation themes. Since 1973 he has operated a field station in Peru's Manu National Park where he has overseen the research of more than 100 investigators. Dr. Terborgh earlier served on the faculties of the University of Maryland and Princeton University. In June 1992 he was awarded a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship in recognition of his distinguished work in tropical ecology, and in April 1996 he was awarded the National Academy of Science Daniel Giraud Elliot medal for his research, and for his book Diversity and the Tropical Rainforest. He serves on several boards and advisory committees related to conservation, including the Wildlands Project, Cultural Survival, The Nature Conservancy, The World Wildlife Fund and both the Primate and Ecology Specialist Groups of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

Harald Beck is a research associate at the CTC. His primary research interest has been experimentally testing ecological questions in Neotropical ecosystems and employing the results for conservation strategies. He is interested in understanding how natural and anthropogenic forest disturbances affect the population dynamics and species richness of animal and plant species. In addition, he is working on plant-frugivore interactions and test a newly developed conceptual model including seed dispersal, predation and ecosystem engineering by white-lipped peccaries (Tayassu pecari, a pig-like creature).

Lisa C. Davenport holds a Master of Environmental Management from the Duke University School of the Environment, and is a Research Associate with the Center for Tropical Conservation. Ms. Davenport’s research interests lie in tropical forest ecology, sustainable development, protected area management, and ecotourism’s role in effecting conservation in the tropics. She has consulted for the World Bank and for private wildlife refuges, analyzing tourism development strategies and implementing visitor impact management plans. Since 1989 she has conducted or assisted with research in Zimbabwe, Costa Rica, Tanzania, Australia, Venezuela, and Peru.

Nigel Pitman, a research associate with the CTC since 2000, holds a Ph.D. from the Duke Department of Botany. He is currently Science Director of the Amazon Conservation Association, and based at the Los Amigos research station in southeastern Peru. His research focuses on large-scale patterns of distribution and diversity in the South American flora, with a special emphasis on Amazonian trees. He recently finished co-editing two books describing the ecology and conservation of Peru's Yavarí and Alto Purús rivers.

Maria Renata Pereira Leite-Pitman holds a Master's Degree in Forest Science and is a Doctor in Veterinary Medicine at the Federal University of Parana, Brazil. She is an expert in mammalian ecology, notably carnivores' populations in South America. In her Master's thesis she investigated the competition between local people, jaguars and pumas in three protected areas of Brazil's Atlantic Coastal Forest. Since 1986 she has conducted research all over Brazil, as well in the Southeastern U.S., Northern India, Southern Nepal, and she is currently working in Southeastern Peru, at the Los Amigos research station.

Patricia Alvarez is a research associate with the Center for Tropical Conservation, and holds a Master's Degree in Forestry from West Virginia University. She worked as a research assistant with ParksWatch, in 2002 and spent most of 2003 at Cocha Cashu Biological station, where she willl return in 2004 to continue research.

Martha Martinez obtained a Master's Degree on Sustainable Development and Conservation Biology at the University of Maryland. In her previous job at Conservation International in Washington, D.C., she coordinated a study on the impacts of unsustainable logging of Mahogany in South America. She also worked for seven years at The Nature Conservancy, managing projects related to the status of plant species and as a conservation planner. In both organizations, her job stressed a strong collaboration with scientists and partners from Canada to South America. Martha is the program director for ParksWatch.

Melissa Fisch is the office manager for the Center for Tropical Conservation.