My broad areas of research interests are marine ecology, where I use transdisciplinary methods to understand the effects of anthropogenic pollution, habitat disturbances and climate change related effects on the coastal ecosystems. I mostly use seagrass ecosystems as a model to study and understand these effects. However, I have recently expanded my model organisms towards saltmarsh plants, seaweeds and mangroves to understand the influence of seascape connectivity in influencing various ecosystem processes and functions.
In climate change related research, I am more interested in how coastal ecosystems such as seagrass, saltmarsh and mangroves can be leveraged as Nature-based Solutions (NbS) for climate change mitigation through their carbon sequestration potential, i.e., blue carbon stocks and their socioeconomics. Similarly, I am also interested to assess the role of seascape connectivity in increasing climate change adaptation for these coastal ecosystems and associated biodiversity and ecosystem services. I am also trying to quantify various ecosystem services of these ecosystems to achieve various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framed by the United Nations SDGs.
However, I am interested to explore any aspect of marine ecology using the above ecosystems as models.
Keywords; Seagrass, Saltmarsh, mangroves, climate change, Blue carbon, Ocean acidification, trace metals, coastal pollution, Seascape connectivity, Sustainable Development Goals, Nature Based Solution, Wetland Restoration,