Large-scale patterns of large-bodied vertebrate diversity and abundance in Amazonian forests; effects of different forms on human disturbance, including hunting, habitat fragmentation, wildfires, natural regeneration, and fast-growing tree plantations on Amazonian biodiversity; population ecology and management of natural resources in tropical forests; reserve selection and design criteria in relation to regional gradients of biodiversity value and implementation costs.

Significant Publications

• Canale G.R., C.A. Peres, Guidorizzi C.E., Gatto C.A.F., Kierulff M.C.M. (2012) Pervasive defaunation of forest remnants in a tropical biodiversity hotspot pervasive defaunation of forest remnants in a tropical biodiversity hotspot. PLoS ONE 7(8): e41671. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0041671
• Pfeifer, M., V. Lefebvre, C. A. Peres, C.A., et al. "Creation of forest edges has a global impact on forest vertebrates." Nature 551, no. 7679 (2017): 187.
• Peres, Carlos A., Thaise Emilio, Juliana Schietti, Sylvain JM Desmoulière, and Taal Levi. 2016. "Dispersal limitation induces long-term biomass collapse in overhunted Amazonian forests." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113, no. 4: 892-897.
• J. Barlow, T.A. Gardner, I.S. Araujo, T.C. Ávila-Pires, A.B. Bonaldo, J.E. Costa, M.C. Esposito, L.V. Ferreira, J. Hawes, M.I.M. Hernandez, M.S. Hoogmoed, R.N. Leite, N. F. Lo-Man-Hung, J.R. Malcolm, M.B. Martins, L.A.M. Mestre, R. Miranda-Santos, A.L. Nunes-Gutjahr, W.L. Overal, L. Parry, S.L. Peters, M.A. Ribeiro-Junior, M.N.F. da Silva, C. da Silva Motta, and C.A. Peres (2007) Quantifying the biodiversity value of tropical primary, secondary and plantation forests. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0703333104
• Laurance, W.F. and C.A. Peres, editors (2006). Emerging Threats to Tropical Forests. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. 520 p. [link]

• Barlow, J and C.A. Peres. (2004). Avifaunal responses to single and recurrent wildfires in Amazonian forests. Ecological Applications 14:1358–1373.

• Peres, C.A. & Lake, I.R. (2003). Extent of nontimber resource extraction in tropical forests: accessibility to game vertebrates by hunters in the Amazon basin. Conservation Biology 17:521-535.
• Peres, C.A. et al. (2003). Demographic Threats to the Sustainability of Brazil Nut Exploitation. Science302: 2112-2114. DOI: 10.1126/science.1091698
• Peres, C.A. (2001). Synergistic effects of subsistence hunting and habitat fragmentation on Amazonian forest vertebrates. Conservation Biology 15:1490-1505. DOI: 10.1046/j.1523-1739.2001.01089.x

Publications: EPrints Digital Repository

Born in Belém, Brazil, Carlos Peres was exposed to Amazonian natural history from age seven and his father's 5,000-ha landholding in eastern Pará, consisting largely of undisturbed primary forest, became a childhood playground. For the last 25 years he has been studying wildlife community ecology in Amazonian forests, the population ecology of key tropical forest resource populations, and the biological criteria for designing large nature reserves. He currently co-directs four ecology and conservation research programs in neotropical forests, including the ecology of key timber and non-timber forest resources; patterns of vertebrate assemblage structure in Amazonian forests; the biological dynamics of hyper-disturbed and fragmented forest landscapes, and the biodiversity consequences of land-use change. He has published ~470 papers on neotropical forest ecology and conservation at scales ranging from populations to landscapes, and to entire continents. In 1995, he received a "Biodiversity Conservation Leadership Award" from the Bay and Paul Foundation (USA), and in 2000 was elected an "Environmentalist Leader for the New Millennium" by Time Magazine and CNN network. In 2023, he won the inaugural Frontiers Planet Prize as “International Champion”.  He is currently a Professor in tropical conservation ecology and divides his time between Norwich and fieldwork at multiple field sites in neotropical forests.

Career

2008 -  Professor of Tropical Conservation Ecology, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East   Anglia, Norwich, UK

2002-2008 Reader, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

1996-02 Lecturer, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

1995-96 Senior Research Associate, Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment (CSERGE), University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

1993-95 Assistant Professor, Department of Ecology, University of São Paulo, SP, Brazil

1993 Post-doctoral Fellow, Center for Tropical Conservation, Duke University, NC, USA

1991-92 Post-doctoral Fellow, Department of Zoology, Museu Goeldi, Belém, Pará, Brazil

Links:

Google Scholar:  https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?hl=en&user=D5ervmgAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate

Academia: http://eastanglia.academia.edu/CPeres

PhD Positions

Click here for current PhD opportunities in the School of Environmental Sciences. However, feel free to email me to discuss projects outside these areas and alternative sources of funding.

• Sector Head - Environmental Biology