John Terborgh

31.4k total citations · 9 hit papers
126 papers, 12.9k citations indexed

About

John Terborgh is a scholar working on Nature and Landscape Conservation, Ecology and Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics. According to data from OpenAlex, John Terborgh has authored 126 papers receiving a total of 12.9k indexed citations (citations by other indexed papers that have themselves been cited), including 65 papers in Nature and Landscape Conservation, 58 papers in Ecology and 44 papers in Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics. Recurrent topics in John Terborgh's work include Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies (57 papers), Plant and animal studies (35 papers) and Wildlife Ecology and Conservation (28 papers). John Terborgh is often cited by papers focused on Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies (57 papers), Plant and animal studies (35 papers) and Wildlife Ecology and Conservation (28 papers). John Terborgh collaborates with scholars based in United States, Peru and Australia. John Terborgh's co-authors include S. Joseph Wright‬, Carel P. van Schaik, Scott K. Robinson, Charles A. Munn, Percy Núñez, John S. Weske, Charles H. Janson, Lawrence Lopez, Anne W. Goldizen and John Faaborg and has published in prestigious journals such as Science, PLoS ONE and Ecology.

In The Last Decade

John Terborgh

125 papers receiving 11.5k citations

Hit Papers

5 papers align trajectories

What are hit papers?

Hit papers significantly outperform the citation benchmark for their cohort. A paper qualifies if it has ≥500 total citations, achieves ≥1.5× the top-1% citation threshold for papers in the same subfield and year (this is the minimum needed to enter the top 1%, not the average within it), or reaches the top citation threshold in at least one of its specific research topics.

Ecological Meltdown in Predator-Free Forest Fragments

2001 1.1k citations John Terborgh, Gabriela Orihuela et al. profile →
The Phenology of Tropical Forests: Adaptive Significance and Consequences for Primary Consumers

1993 980 citations John Terborgh, S. Joseph Wright‬ et al. profile →
Five New World Primates: A Study in Comparative Ecology

1984 957 citations John Terborgh profile →
Oddity and the ‘confusion effect’ in predation

1986 574 citations John Terborgh et al. profile →
Structure and Organization of an Amazonian Forest Bird Community

1990 552 citations John Terborgh, Scott K. Robinson et al. profile →
Five New World Primates

1984 431 citations John Terborgh profile →
Bird Species Diversity on an Andean Elevational Gradient

1977 424 citations John Terborgh Ecology profile →
Distribution on Environmental Gradients: Theory and a Preliminary Interpretation of Distributional Patterns in the Avifauna of the Cordillera Vilcabamba, Peru

1971 366 citations John Terborgh Ecology profile →
Continental Conservation: scientific foundations of regional reserve networks

1999 307 citations Michael E. Soulé, John Terborgh et al. profile →

Peers — A (Enhanced Table)

Peers by citation overlap · career bar shows stage (early→late) cites · hero ref

Name	h						Papers	Cites
John Terborgh United States	53	6.4k	6.1k	5.6k	2.6k	2.5k	126	12.9k
H. Ronald Pulliam United States	37	10.4k 1.6×	6.9k 1.1×	6.3k 1.1×	1.1k 0.4×	3.2k 1.3×	58	17.3k
Daniel Sol Spain	49	5.5k 0.9×	2.5k 0.4×	7.1k 1.3×	2.8k 1.1×	1.9k 0.8×	128	12.1k
Mauro Galetti Brazil	61	9.5k 1.5×	8.9k 1.5×	6.4k 1.1×	2.1k 0.8×	3.3k 1.3×	255	18.4k
Stan Boutin Canada	77	16.4k 2.6×	4.7k 0.8×	6.1k 1.1×	1.4k 0.5×	3.3k 1.3×	383	21.0k
Truman P. Young United States	63	4.7k 0.7×	5.0k 0.8×	3.8k 0.7×	1.0k 0.4×	2.2k 0.9×	192	10.3k
Phillip Cassey Australia	53	8.2k 1.3×	4.7k 0.8×	4.7k 0.8×	722 0.3×	1.9k 0.8×	288	13.3k
Michael L. McKinney United States	39	6.3k 1.0×	5.4k 0.9×	3.9k 0.7×	731 0.3×	4.6k 1.8×	110	14.5k
Nick J. B. Isaac United Kingdom	43	5.3k 0.8×	4.2k 0.7×	4.2k 0.7×	1.2k 0.5×	2.4k 0.9×	114	11.9k
John R. Poulsen United States	32	4.7k 0.7×	3.6k 0.6×	3.4k 0.6×	1.2k 0.5×	2.2k 0.9×	85	10.2k
John M. Marzluff United States	51	6.1k 0.9×	2.3k 0.4×	2.5k 0.4×	858 0.3×	3.4k 1.4×	172	10.3k

Countries citing papers authored by John Terborgh

Since Specialization

Citations

This map shows the geographic impact of John Terborgh's research. It shows the number of citations coming from papers published by authors working in each country. You can also color the map by specialization and compare the number of citations received by John Terborgh with the expected number of citations based on a country's size and research output (numbers larger than one mean the country cites John Terborgh more than expected).

Fields of papers citing papers by John Terborgh

Since Specialization

Physical SciencesHealth SciencesLife SciencesSocial Sciences

This network shows the impact of papers produced by John Terborgh. Nodes represent research fields, and links connect fields that are likely to share authors. Colored nodes show fields that tend to cite the papers produced by John Terborgh. The network helps show where John Terborgh may publish in the future.

Co-authorship network of co-authors of John Terborgh

This figure shows the co-authorship network connecting the top 25 collaborators of John Terborgh. A scholar is included among the top collaborators of John Terborgh based on the total number of citations received by their joint publications. Widths of edges represent the number of papers authors have co-authored together. Node borders signify the number of papers an author published with John Terborgh. John Terborgh is excluded from the visualization to improve readability, since they are connected to all nodes in the network.

All Works

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20 of 20 papers shown

Terborgh, John, et al.. (2025). Release of tree species diversity follows loss of elephants from evergreen tropical forests. Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences. 292(2044). 20242026–20242026. 2 indexed citations

Terborgh, John, et al.. (2024). Stem breaks as an indirect measure of megafaunal herbivory in tropical forests: An experimental study. Biotropica. 56(3). 1 indexed citations

Swamy, Varun, Patricia Álvarez-Loayza, Simon A. Queenborough, et al.. (2023). Multiscale phenological niches of seed fall in diverse Amazonian plant communities. Ecology. 104(5). e4022–e4022. 2 indexed citations

Terborgh, John. (2022). The ‘island syndrome’ is an alternative state. Journal of Biogeography. 50(3). 467–475. 10 indexed citations

Steege, Hans ter, R.W. Verburg, Daniel Sabatier, et al.. (2022). Relationships between species richness and ecosystem services in Amazonian forests strongly influenced by biogeographical strata and forest types. Scientific Reports. 12(1). 5960–5960. 7 indexed citations

Johns, David, John Terborgh, Karen Beazley, et al.. (2017). We Need a Biologically Sound North American Conservation Plan. BioScience. 67(8). 685–686. 1 indexed citations

Orihuela, Gabriela, et al.. (2014). When Top-Down Becomes Bottom Up: Behaviour of Hyperdense Howler Monkeys (Alouatta seniculus) Trapped on a 0.6 Ha Island. PLoS ONE. 9(4). e82197–e82197. 10 indexed citations

Swamy, Varun, John Terborgh, Kyle G. Dexter, et al.. (2010). Are all seeds equal? Spatially explicit comparisons of seed fall and sapling recruitment in a tropical forest. Ecology Letters. 14(2). 195–201. 77 indexed citations

Terborgh, John, Gabriela Núñez-Iturri, Nigel C. A. Pitman, et al.. (2008). TREE RECRUITMENT IN AN EMPTY FOREST. Ecology. 89(6). 1757–1768. 354 indexed citations

10.

Lewis, Simon L., Oliver L. Phillips, Timothy R. Baker, et al.. (2004). Concerted changes in tropical forest structure and dynamics: evidence from 50 South American long-term plots. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences. 359(1443). 421–436. 232 indexed citations

11.

Russo, Sabrina E., Scott K. Robinson, & John Terborgh. (2003). Size‐Abundance Relationships in an Amazonian Bird Community: Implications for the Energetic Equivalence Rule. The American Naturalist. 161(2). 267–283. 65 indexed citations

12.

Terborgh, John, et al.. (2003). Comprehensive protected areas system composition and monitoring. Socio-Environmental Systems Modeling. 21 indexed citations

13.

Beck, Harald & John Terborgh. (2002). Groves versus isolates: how spatial aggregation of Astrocaryum murumuru palms affects seed removal. Journal of Tropical Ecology. 18(2). 275–288. 45 indexed citations

14.

Brandon, Katrina, et al.. (2002). Putting the right parks in the right places.. 443–467. 18 indexed citations

15.

Cintra, Renato J. & John Terborgh. (2000). Forest microspatial heterogeneity and seed and seedling survival of the palm Astrocaryum murumuru and the legume Dipteryx micrantha in an Amazonian forest.. 6(1). 77–88. 8 indexed citations

16.

Terborgh, John. (2000). In the Company of Humans: Sometimes wild animals are attracted to people. They seem to weigh the risks of associating with us and conclude that under certain circumstances, hanging out with Homo sapiens is the safest thing to do.. Natural history. 109(4). 54–63. 1 indexed citations

17.

Soulé, Michael E., et al.. (1999). Continental Conservation: scientific foundations of regional reserve networks. 307 indexed citations breakdown →

18.

Robinson, Scott K. & John Terborgh. (1997). Bird Community Dynamics along Primary Successional Gradients of an Amazonian Whitewater River. Ornithological Monographs. 641–672. 64 indexed citations

19.

Terborgh, John & Margaret J. Stern. (1987). The Surreptitious Life of the Saddle-backed Tamarin. American Scientist. 75(3). 260–269. 39 indexed citations

20.

Terborgh, John, Louise H. Emmons, & John W. Fitzpatrick. (1984). Annotated checklist of bird and mammal species of Cocha Cashu Biological Station, Manu National Park, Peru / John W. Terborgh, John W. Fitzpatrick, Louise Emmons.. Field Museum of Natural History eBooks. 8 indexed citations

Rankless uses publication and citation data sourced from OpenAlex, an open and comprehensive bibliographic database. While OpenAlex provides broad and valuable coverage of the global research landscape, it—like all bibliographic datasets—has inherent limitations. These include incomplete records, variations in author disambiguation, differences in journal indexing, and delays in data updates. As a result, some metrics and network relationships displayed in Rankless may not fully capture the entirety of a scholar's output or impact.

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