John W. Terborgh is James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of Environmental Science and is Ex-Director of the Center for Tropical Conservation at Duke University. He is a member of the National Academy of Science, and for the past fifty 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 has served 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.