David Wilcove

About

David Wilcove is the Henry W. Putnam Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the High Meadows Institute, as well as a Professor of Public Affairs at Princeton University. His research team, known as The Drongos, focuses on how to best protect biodiversity in an increasingly hot, hungry, and crowded world. Their work draws from conservation biology, ecology, and social sciences to address pressing issues related to threatened species and ecosystems. The team has conducted fieldwork across every continent except Antarctica, studying a wide range of organisms including birds, reptiles, mammals, fish, coral, dung beetles, and plants, with a focus on understanding biodiversity and conservation strategies.

Research topics

• Biology
• Ecology
• Geography
• Environmental resource management
• Environmental science
• Computer Science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Engineering
• Cartography
• Environmental planning

Selected publications

• The past and future role of conservation science in saving biodiversity

  Conservation Letters · 2020 · 140 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Abstract Global biodiversity losses continue despite tremendous growth in the volume of conservation science and many local successes. Research that can achieve conservation science's aims—arresting declines in biodiversity and preventing extinctions—is therefore of ever greater importance. Here, we ask whether conservation science, as currently performed, is progressing in such a way as to maximize its impact. We present a simple framework for how effective conservation research could progress,…

  DOI

• Biological Earth observation with animal sensors

  Trends in Ecology & Evolution · 2022 · 129 citations

  Space-based tracking technology using low-cost miniature tags is now delivering data on fine-scale animal movement at near-global scale. Linked with remotely sensed environmental data, this offers a biological lens on habitat integrity and connectivity for conservation and human health; a global network of animal sentinels of environmental change.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Global shortfalls in documented actions to conserve biodiversity

  Nature · 2024-06-05 · 65 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract Threatened species are by definition species that are in need of assistance. In the absence of suitable conservation interventions, they are likely to disappear soon 1 . There is limited understanding of how and where conservation interventions are applied globally, or how well they work 2,3 . Here, using information from the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List and other global databases, we find that for species at risk from three of the biggest drivers of biodivers…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Impacts of rural to urban migration, urbanization, and generational change on consumption of wild animals in the Amazon

  Conservation Biology · 2020 · 47 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  For the first time in history, more people live in urban areas than in rural areas. This trend is likely to continue, driven largely by rural-to-urban migration. We investigated how rural-to-urban migration, urbanization, and generational change affect the consumption of wild animals. We used chelonian (tortoises and freshwater turtles), one of the most hunted taxa in the Amazon, as a model. We surveyed 1356 households and 2776 school children across 10 urban areas of the Brazilian Amazon (6 sma…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Global biodiversity loss from outsourced deforestation

  Nature · 2025-02-12 · 39 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Martin Wikelski

  University of Konstanz

  121 shared

• Marilyn Ramenofsky

  101 shared

• Susanne Åkesson

  101 shared

• Nir Sapir

  University of Haifa

  101 shared

• Peter P. Marra

  Wayne State University

  101 shared

• Anders Hedenström

  Lund University

  101 shared

• Judy Shamoun‐Baranes

  University of Amsterdam

  101 shared

• Thomas Kunz

  Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology

  100 shared

Similar researchers at Princeton University

• C. Jessica E. Metcalfh-78
• Jonathan Levineh-75
• Lars Hedinh-74