The ATBC Honorary Fellow Award is the most prestigious and highest award given by the ATBC. Since 1963, the Council of the ATBC (then known as the ATB) established the selection of Honorary Fellows - "persons of long distinguished service to tropical biology." To date, more than 80 Honorary Fellows from over 15 countries have been elected by the ATBC Council.
This award is presented each year to two recipients who have made substantial scientific contributions and provided long distinguished service to tropical biology or conservation. ATBC Honorary Fellows do not need to be members of the ATBC, although contributions to the Association will be considered during the selection process. We seek nominations that reflect the breadth of the research conducted within the ATBC and the diversity of the Association’s membership.
ATBC Honorary Fellows are given lifetime membership to the ATBC and are invited to submit a review paper on a topic of their choice to be published in Biotropica. Past Honorary Fellows are listed below.
Any questions regarding this award can be submitted to Norbert (Nobby) Cordeiro (ncordeiro@fieldmuseum.org), the ATBC Past-President and Chair of the 2024 Honorary Fellows Committee. Please submit your nomination(s) by April 15th, 2024.
ATBC 2024 Honorary Fellows
Miguel Martínez Ramos & Pantaleo K. T. Munishi
Honorary Fellows of the ATBC
Click here to read interviews with some of the most recent Honorary Fellows.
| 2024 | Miguel Martínez Ramos | México |
| Pantaleo K. T. Munishi | Tanzania | |
| 2023 | Bette Loiselle | USA |
| Mewa Singh | India | |
| 2022 | T. Mitchell Aide | USA |
| Carlos Jaramillo | Colombia | |
| 2021 | Phyllis D. Coley | USA |
| F. Gary Stiles | Colombia | |
| 2020 | Robin Chazdon | USA |
| Mercedes Bustamante | Brazil | |
| 2019 | Steve Goodman | USA & Madagascar |
| Jonah Ratsimbazafy | Madagascar | |
| 2018 | Damayanti Buchori | Indonesia |
| 2017 | Rodolfo Dirzo | México & USA |
| Ariel Lugo | USA | |
| 2016 | C.V. Savitri Gunatilleke | Sri Lanka |
| 2015 | Dieter Mueller-Dombois | Germany |
| Jack Ewel | USA | |
| 2014 | Nigel Stork | Australia |
| John Kress | USA | |
| 2013 | Rodrigo Gámez Lobo | Costa Rica |
| Robin Foster | USA | |
| 2012 | Paulo Oliveira | Brazil |
| Richard Primack | USA | |
| 2011 | Emmanuel N. Chidumayo | Zambia |
| 2010 | Madhav Gadgil | India |
| Kuswata Kartawinata | Indonesia | |
| 2009 | Julie Sloan Denslow | USA |
| Karl-Eduard Linsenmair | Germany | |
| 2008 | Louise H. Emmons | USA |
| Ernesto Medina | Venezuela | |
| 2007 | Arturo Gomez-Pompa | Mexico |
| Ghillean T. Prance | United Kingdom | |
| 2006 | Peter Shaw Ashton | United Kingdom |
| Wu Zheng-Yi | China | |
| 2005 | Paulo Nogueira-Neto | Brazil |
| John W. Terborgh | USA | |
| 2004 | Kamaljit S Bawa | USA, India |
| 2003 | Joseph H. Connell | USA |
| Timothy C. Whitmore | United Kingdom | |
| 2002 | Daniel H. Janzen | USA |
| 2001 | P. S. Ramakrishnan | India |
| 2000 | Peter H. Raven | USA |
| 1999 | Edward O. Wilson | USA |
| 1998 | Thomas E. Lovejoy | USA |
| 1996 | José Aristeo Sarukhan Kermez | Mexico |
| 1994 | Betty Jane Meggers | USA |
| 1993 | Donald E. Stone | USA |
| 1986 | Mildred Esther Mathias | USA |
| 1983 | Paul Westmacott Richards | United Kingdom |
| 1982 | Herbert G. Baker | USA |
| 1979 | Herald Sioli | Brazil |
| 1973 | François Bourliere | France |
| Charles Sutherland Elton | USA | |
| Bassett Maguire | USA | |
| A. C. Smith | USA | |
| 1972 | Philip Jackson Jr. Darlington | USA |
| Ernst Walter Mayr | USA | |
| 1970 | Salim Ali | India |
| Edred John Henry Corner | United Kingdom | |
| Robert Kendall Enders | USA | |
| Charles Edward Hubbard | United Kingdom | |
| Joseph Lanjouw | Netherlands | |
| Edwin Louis Tyson | USA | |
| 1969 | Carlos G. Aguayo | Cuba |
| Lucy Evelyn Cheesman | United Kingdom | |
| Beatrice H. Krauss | USA | |
| Floyd Alnzo McClure | USA | |
| Alfred Sherwood Romer | USA | |
| Lyman Bradford Smith | USA | |
| Thomas Elliott Snyder | USA | |
| Harold St. John | USA | |
| Boris Petrovitch Uvarov | United Kingdom | |
| Jacobus Van der Vecht | Netherlands | |
| 1968 | Leonard John Brass | Australia |
| Martin Cárdenas | Bolivia | |
| David Daniel Keck | USA | |
| Charles Russell Metcalfe | United Kingdom | |
| Owain W. Richards | United Kingdom | |
| Waldo L.asalle Schmitt | USA | |
| 1967 | George Gaylord Simpson | USA |
| 1966 | Joseph Bequeart | USA |
| Theodore Huntington Hubbell | USA | |
| Henri Jean Humbert | France | |
| Harold Winfred Manter | USA | |
| Walter Robyns | Belgium | |
| William Randolph Taylor | USA | |
| Cornelis G.G.J. Van Steenis | Netherlands | |
| Frans Verdoorn | Netherlands | |
| 1965 | Irving Widmer Bailey | USA |
| Alexandre Curt Brade | Brazil | |
| Theodosius Dobzhansky | USA | |
| Richard Eric Holttum | United Kingdom | |
| John Hutchinson | United Kingdom | |
| Lauro Travassos | Brazil | |
| 1963 | Thomas Borgmeier | Brazil |
| Henry Isaac Burkill | United Kingdom | |
| Angelo Moreira da Costa-Lima | Brazil | |
| Henry Alan Gleason | USA | |
| Herman Johannes Lam | Netherlands | |
| Charles Herbert Lankester | Costa Rica | |
| William Henry Phelps | Venezuela | |
| Wilson Frederik Popenoe | Guatemala | |
| Alexander Wetmore | USA |