DURHAM, N.C. – William F. Laurance, senior staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and past president of the Association for Tropical Biology, will give a free public talk, “Emerging Threats and Research Challenges in the Tropics,” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19, at 91.

Laurance’s talk will be held in Love Auditorium at the Levine Science Research Center on Duke’s West Campus.

Based in Balboa, Panama, Laurence is one of the science community’s most respected voices on conservation and development in the Amazon, Central America, Australia and other tropical regions worldwide. He has published more than 100 scientific articles on the topic since 2000, giving him an unparalleled perspective to comment on the future of tropical ecosystems.

There is trouble in paradise, he says. The scale and pace of logging, biofuel production, cattle farming, oil-palm plantations, and oil and gas development have escalated in tropical regions in recent decades, spurred by rapid globalization, economic growth and rising standards of living in developing nations. Climate change has emerged as a potentially serious threat. Some tropical species, such as amphibians, are being decimated by emerging pathogens. Old-growth forests are vanishing rapidly and being replaced by fragmented, secondary and logged forests. These evolving threats, Laurence says, create an urgent need for new research and conservation strategies to manage tropical ecosystems and resources.

His talk is sponsored by the Triangle Chapter of the Society for Conservation Biology and the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke.

A pre-lecture reception featuring local organic food will be held at 6 p.m. in Hug Commons, located on the first floor of the Levine Science Research Building’s ‘A’ Wing.

In addition to his scientific articles, Laurance is the author or editor of three books, “Emerging Threats to Tropical Forests,” “Stinging Trees and Wait-a-Whiles: Confessions of a Rainforest Biologist,” and “Tropical Forest Remnants: Ecology, Management and Conservation of Fragmented Communities,”

For more information about his talk at Duke, check out the Triangle Chapter of the Society for Conservation Biology Web site at , or contact Duke PhD student Ron Sutherland at rws10@duke.edu.