We are a collective of researchers driven by deep curiosity about the natural world, working at the confluence of biodiversity, behavioural ecology, and evolutionary biology. Based at the National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Bhubaneswar, our lab investigates how biotic interactions shape biodiversity across nested biological scales—from landscapes and ecological communities to individual phenotypes and gut microbial ecosystems.

Insects serve as our primary model systems, enabling us to bridge community ecology, behaviour, evolution, neurobiology, and microbial symbiosis. This scale-compressed approach integrates disparate levels of biological organisation and applies community ecological frameworks—typically reserved for macro-level systems—to the microcosms within individual organisms.

Insects are uniquely powerful for ecological inquiry: they represent the most diverse animal group on Earth, occupy nearly every conceivable niche, and play pivotal roles in pollination, decomposition, trophic dynamics, and signalling networks.

To address our questions, we integrate fieldwork, controlled experiments, genomics, neuroethology, and computational approaches—including machine learning—into a cohesive research program that spans molecules to ecosystems.