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Department of Plant Sciences

 

Research Group

Tropical Ecology and Conservation

Research Overview

I am interested in the conservation of tropical forests and biodiversity, and am the founding Director of the Centre for Global Wood Security. My group uses intensive field study, remote sensing, global mapping, land-use modelling, and environmental economics to tackle key questions in forest ecology, management, and conservation, with a focus on issues of global policy significance. I have worked extensively across tropical forest ecosystems, including the Andes, Amazon, West Africa, African miombo, Himalaya, Indochina, and insular South-east Asia. I am particularly interested in understanding the most effective ways of managing timber production and restoration to enhance biodiversity protection and the sustainable delivery of associated ecosystem functions and services. I work closely with conservation practitioners, government, and industry in developing my group’s research and translating it into applied solutions.

Previous Positions

2018 to 2023 - Professor of Conservation Science - University of Sheffield, U.K.
2016 to 2018 - Senior Lecturer in Conservation Science - University of Sheffield, U.K.
2013 to 2016 - Lecturer in Conservation Science - University of Sheffield, U.K.
2011 to 2013 - Postdoctoral Researcher - James Cook University, Cairns, Australia.
2010 to 2011 - STEP Postdoctoral Fellow - Princeton University, U.S.A. 
2007 to 2010 - Postdoctoral Researcher - University of Leeds, U.K.

Qualifications

2001 to 2005 - PhD - University of East Anglia, U.K.

1997 to 2000 - BSc - University of East Anglia, U.K.

Key Publications

'Climate change will exacerbate land conflict between agriculture and timber production', (2024) Nature Climate Change.

'Substantial and increasing global losses of timber-producing forest due to wildfires', (2023) Nature Geosciences.

'Global wildlife trade across the tree of life', (2019) Science.

'Conservation of tropical forests in the Anthropocene', (2019) Current Biology.

'How should beta-diversity inform biodiversity conservation?', (2016) Trends in Ecology and Evolution.
 

• Professor of Plant Ecology
• Head of Tropical Ecology and Conservation Group
David Edwards

Contact Details

Email address: 
David Attenborough Building
Pembroke Street
Cambridge
CB2 3QZ
01223 748982