John G. Robinson

(PhD, Zoology, University of North Carolina, 1977) Senior Vice-President and Director, International Conservation, the Wildlife Conservation Society; Adjunct Professor, City University of New York, PhD Program in Anthropology; Courtesy Professor, Department of Wildlife Conservation, University of Florida; Affiliate Associate Curator, Florida Museum of Natural History.

Fields of Study: Conservation biology; tropical forest conservation; ethnozoology; primate sociobiology and ecology (especially Cebidae); evolutionary biology; wildlife hunting and trading.

Current Research Interests

My interests are in the application of ecological and behavioral theory to conservation planning. My research has focused on neotropical forestry, with an increasing emphasis on the consequences of forest fragmentation and subsistence hunting on wildlife populations. This has led me to evaluate the mutual dependencies of humans and the natural world, and specifically to analyze the concept of sustainable use. Primates in particular are vulnerable to human induced disturbance, both directly and through landscape changes. My primatological research focuses on the determinants of reproductive success in primates, and relies on long-term field studies of primates in Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil.

Selected Publications

• 2001 "Using sustainable use approaches to conserve exploited species," in Conservation of Exploited Species, J. Reynolds, G.A. Mace, K.H. Redford, and J.G. Robinson, eds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• 2000 "Calculating maximum sustainable harvests and sustainable offtakes," pp. 521-524 in Hunting for Sustainability in Tropical Forests, J.G. Robinson and E.L. Bennett, eds. New York: Columbia University Press.
• 1999 "Towards wildlife management in tropical forests" [with R.E. Bodmer], Journal of Wildlife Management, 63:1-13.
• 1999 "Mechanisms of female dispersal in a female-bonded species" [with X. Valderrama and D.J. Melnick], Amer. J. Phys. Anthrop.
• 1998 Foreword to The Ecotraveller's Wildlife Guides by Les Beletsky. London and New York: Academic Press.
• 1994 "Measuring the sustainability of hunting in tropical forests" [with K.H. Redford], Oryx, 28:249-256.
• 1993 "The limits to caring: Sustainable living and the loss of biodiversity," Conservation Biology 7:20-28.
• 1991 Neotropical Wildlife Use and Conservation [co-author K.H. Redford]. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• 1991 "Adjustment in birth sex ratio in wedge-capped capuchin monkeys" [with T.G. O'Brien], American Naturalist 138:1173-1186.
• 1988 "Group size in wedge-capped capuchin monkeys (Cebus olivaceus) and the reproductive success of males and female," Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology 23:187-197.
• 1988 "Demography and group structure in wedge-capped capuchin monkeys, Cebus olivaceus," Behaviour 104:202-232.
• 1986 "Seasonal variation in the use of time and space by the wedge-capped monkey Cebus olivaceus: Implications for foraging theory," Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, 431:1-60.

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