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DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20220713T093000
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UID:31722-1657704600-1657708200@www.ashoka.edu.in
SUMMARY:EVS Talk: A Landscape-scale Approach to Conserving Wildlife | Dr Divya Vasudev
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: Species exist in a world where resources and risks are heterogeneously distributed across space. This is especially so in the current Anthropocene\, where animals have to navigate an increasingly complex and dynamic world. Consequently\, species conservation has zoomed out to focus on landscapes\, rather than individual habitats or protected areas. Conservation at this scale requires considering landscape-scale ecological processes\, in particular\, connectivity or the movement of animals between habitats. She will discuss her work towards science-based conservation of species and natural ecosystems in such landscapes\, and specifically speak to contributions in the field of connectivity. She draws upon theoretical advancements in the field of dispersal ecology and views connectivity as a consequence of animal behavioural responses to the landscape while dispersing. While dispersal has traditionally been a difficult subject of study\, She demonstrates how empirical data can be successfully merged with advancements in movement modelling to predict connectivity at scale. Conservation at the scale of landscapes is naturally interdisciplinary\, and hence\, She also discusses our understanding of human–wildlife relationships. While these questions are applicable to landscapes across the globe\, the majority of her work is focussed on two flagship and contrasting species\, the Asian elephant—a wide-ranging megaherbivore that frequently comes into conflict with people—and the western hoolock gibbon—a canopy dwelling ape closely linked with wet forests—in Northeast India. Conservation of wildlife and natural ecosystems is linked to our wellbeing\, but today’s landscapes are complex\, heterogenous and dynamic. Her work helps address critical conservation problems in these landscapes. \n  \nBio: Dr. Divya Vasudev is a conservation scientist. She co-founded and co-leads Conservation Initiatives\, a Northeast India based conservation NGO\, dedicated to science-based conservation of wildlife\, capacity building in the region\, and sustenance of positive human–nature relationships into the future. She is interested in improving ways of organically moving from knowledge (science) to conservation action. Divya obtained her Master's in Wildlife Biology and Conservation from the National Centre for Biological Sciences\, and PhD in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation from the University of Florida. She was Associate Director–Conservation Science and headed the Northeast India program at Wildlife Conservation Society India Program between 2014 and 2019. She is a recipient of the Department of Science and Technology–INSPIRE Faculty Award. She is a member of policy groups such as the IUCN–Connectivity Conservation Specialist Groups; Councillor\, Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation; and Handling Editor\, Conservation Biology. She teaches as visiting faculty at the Wildlife program at the National Centre for Biological Sciences\, and at Ashoka University.
URL:https://www.ashoka.edu.in/event/evs-talk-a-landscapescale-approach-to-conserving-wildlife-dr-divya-vasudev/
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DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20220713T104500
DTEND;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20220713T114500
DTSTAMP:20220707T000834Z
CREATED:20220707T000834Z
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UID:31724-1657709100-1657712700@www.ashoka.edu.in
SUMMARY:EVS TALK | Dr. Hansraj Gautam | 13 July 2022 | 10:45- 11:30 AM
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: The massive dietary requirement of megaherbivores shapes their ecology\, behaviour\, and their functional roles such as herbivory\, seed dispersal\, disturbance\, etc. which influence ecosystem processes. While their generalist diet allows feeding on low-quality food\, the competition-induced constraints on group size and a tight time-budget dominated by foraging-related activities poses challenges to the maintenance of social bonds. In this talk\, He will first present his past research on the socioecology of female Asian elephants in Kabini\, southern India. Using field observations\, he examined some hypotheses from the socioecological theory that links resource distribution with competitive relationships in female-bonded groups. Specifically\, he explores whether patchy food intensifies contest competition and results in strongly differentiated dominance structure. He found the lack of a clear link between resource distribution\, contest competition and dominance. Further\, inter-population comparison suggests that female Asian elephant societies have a more egalitarian structure than the more differentiated relationships in African savannah elephants who face greater predation risk and environmental unpredictability. These findings offer a mixed support to socioecological theory. \nSecondly\, He will present his proposal to study the functional roles of megaherbivores in the ecosystems of India and the ecological consequences of their extinctions. Using classical herbivore-exclusion experiments along a gradient of body size\, his aim is to understand how the decline in megaherbivore diversity affects vegetation dynamics. Further\, he will investigate how megaherbivore functional diversity is linked with vegetation structure/composition at coarse scales. Mapping the historical distribution of megaherbivores will further inform about the ecological consequences of their local extinctions. \nBio: Dr. Hansraj is currently a SERB National Postdoctoral Fellow at NCBS\, Bengaluru\, and his primary research interests are in animal behaviour\, ecology\, and biodiversity in a changing world. Specifically\, He is interested in the socioecology of group-living animals\, the functional roles of megaherbivores in shaping vegetation and ecosystems\, and vegetation monitoring using remote sensing tools.  In his Ph.D. research on the socioecology of Asian elephants in Kabini\, southern India\, he investigated the link between food distribution\, within- and between-clan contest competition\, and feeding consequences of dominance in female elephant societies. His plan is to expand to cross- taxon examinations to further understand the causes and consequences of group-living in animals. Currently\, he is pursuing my interest in the roles of megaherbivores in shaping vegetation dynamics and ecosystem processes. His current postdoc project is on examining the role of elephants in seed dispersal and plant community assembly. His other ongoing project involves mapping the long-term invasion patterns of woody shrubs and their impact on native vegetation and herbivore food plants\, in Nagarahole\, southern India. In future\, He wants to investigate how local extinctions of megaherbivores and the consequent decline in their functional diversity influences vegetation in different ecosystems of India. This inter-disciplinary work will involve classical herbivore-exclusion experiments\, long-term vegetation monitoring\, remote sensing analyses\, and analysis of historical and palaeoecological records.
URL:https://www.ashoka.edu.in/event/evs-talk-dr-hansraj-gautam-13-july-2022-1045-1130-am/
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DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20220713T120000
DTEND;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20220713T130000
DTSTAMP:20220707T001551Z
CREATED:20220707T001551Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220707T001551Z
UID:31726-1657713600-1657717200@www.ashoka.edu.in
SUMMARY:EVS TALK | Social Behaviour and Reproductive Strategies in Large Mammals | Dr. Keerthipriya P.
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: Understanding animal societies has long been of interest to behavioural ecologists and has important consequences for wildlife conservation. Her past and current research examines several aspects of social behaviour\, using long-term field observations\, genetic data\, and simulations\, of a long-lived\, endangered mammal\, the Asian elephant. Using 6-8 years of data on identified Asian elephants of the Kabini elephant population (Nagarahole and Bandipur National Parks)\, She examined the effects of male age and female presence on male- male associations\, explored some aspects of musth (a rut-like mate-searching strategy) and the effect of musth on male associations\, and investigated the nature of agonistic interactions among male elephants. More recently\, She was involved in a project examining movement\, associations\, and the payoff of musth as a mate-searching strategy in male elephants\, using an agent-based model. Her future research will be informed by her experience studying mammal behaviour and working with long-term datasets\, while expanding focus to animals with different current and past relationships to humans. Goats in India are widely kept and important in poverty alleviation and rural development programmes\, and She is planning to conduct a long-term study of goat behaviour and welfare. The study would be one of the first of its kind\, benefit the animals and the communities that live with them\, while also providing a convenient system to explore many facets of mammal social organisation. She is also planning to compare behaviour of other species in different social environments such as captive and wild conditions and will talk about these ideas. \nBio:  Dr. Keerthipriya P. completed a B.Tech degree in Industrial Biotechnology from Anna University\, Chennai\, and joined the Animal Behaviour and Sociogenetics Lab at the Evolutionary and Organismal Biology Unit\, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research as a PhD student. As a PhD student\, and later as a postdoc\, she worked on the social behavior and reproductive strategies of adult and subadult male Asian elephants in Nagarahole and Bandipur National Parks. She has also contributed to projects on female elephant sociality\, elephant movement simulations\, trunk lateralisation\, and the role of kinship in elephant societies. Her research interests are broadly in the areas of animal behaviour\, cognition and welfare of animals\, and how they are affected by individual and group characteristics\, resource-risk distribution\, social networks\, and interactions with the human world. Dr. Keerthipriya is also a freelance artist\, primarily portraying the natural world.
URL:https://www.ashoka.edu.in/event/evs-talk-social-behaviour-and-reproductive-strategies-in-large-mammals-dr-keerthipriya-p/
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