PhD Students

Abhishek Gopal

Joined Evol-Eco Lab: October 2020

Abhishek is an engineer turned ecologist, keen on plant-animal interaction and plant community ecology. He has a Master's degree in Wildlife Biology and Conservation from the National Centre for Biological Sciences (2016-2018), for which he examined frugivory and seed predation in the forest fragments of the Anamalais. He has been working with Nature Conservation Foundation since 2018, examining the carbon stock, the magnitude, and the stability of carbon capture of different natural vegetation types compared to monoculture plantations in the Anamalais. Following this, he briefly worked in Narcondam Island, focussing on plant-animal interaction and plant diversity on the island. For his PhD, he is exploring the community assembly of plants in the Western Ghats from an ecology-evolutionary perspective. He has a soft spot for Ficus and large old trees and plans to work towards forest restoration. You can read more about his work here and here.

Aditi Sinha

Joined Evol-Eco Lab: April 2021

Aditi is an agricultural sciences graduate cum microbiologist who has a keen interest in animal venoms. For her master's (Indian Agricultural Research Institute, PUSA New Delhi), she tried to assess the molecular interactions in soyabean- Bradyrhizobium symbiosis using RNA seq data in response to different Nitrogen levels in the soil. Currently, at the evolutionary ecology lab, she is trying to understand and document the venom diversity in the centipedes of Peninsular India using multiple approaches, such as venom proteomics and venom gland transcriptomics. She is also interested in understanding the role of ecological drivers such as diet in governing the overall evolution of animal venoms. When not doing the “venom” work in the lab, one can surely find her cooking, exploring regional cuisines, public speaking, acting and reading Hindi poetry.

Pragyadeep Roy

Joined Evol-Eco Lab: December 2020

My interests lie in understanding the pattern and process of biological diversification, i.e. balance between speciation and extinction. Largely, my work involves integrating molecular data with ecological, geological, morphological and paleontological information to trace the dynamics of traits, distribution and diversity of organisms across evolutionary time. We recently published a meta-analysis in Ecology Letters on understanding the pace, patterns and predictors of in-situ diversification in the peninsular Indian plate. Currently, I am addressing questions pertaining to macroevolution using the endemic millipede lineages of peninsular India. My earlier research focused on using multiple lines of evidence (molecular and morphological) to delimit blindsnakes of peninsular India. Apart from research, I like writing and making music

Karunakar Majhi

Joined Evol-Eco Lab: September 2024

Life on earth is incredibly diverse, and somehow studying this diversity, be it on the lines of variation in the molecules or the major macroevolutionary phenomenon, has always been my interest. For my master's at the National Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhubaneswar, I conducted a comparative study about the performance of different species delimitation tools across seven genera. Currently, I am a junior research fellow at the evolutionary ecology lab under the guidance of Dr. Jahnavi Joshi. In this project, I will examine how species diversity differs across space throughout the Western and Eastern Ghats. I am also fascinated by the idea of speciation and the drivers of it. In my free time, I love to write works of fiction and watch films.

Nivedita Pattanaik

Joined Evol-Eco Lab: August 2025

I am a Zoologist with a keen interest in community ecology, global change ecology, systematics and invertebrates. I have completed my master’s degree in Zoology, with specialisation in Entomology from Banaras Hindu University. I am deeply fascinated by the diversity in nature, and I wish to delve into its solved and unsolved mysteries. My earlier research involved biodiversity assessment, and insects (especially moths and butterflies) in central India. I have been particularly intrigued by the functional mechanisms within the tiny biological systems of the critters, how these processes allow them to interact with other organisms, and the evolutionary adaptations that have aided them to persist and thrive in a dynamic environment, making this phenomenon compelling to investigate further. Diving deeper at the Evolutionary Ecology Lab, I plan to explore the genomic underpinnings of adaptations in soil arthropods such as centipedes. Apart from being a researcher, I am a budding wildlife artist/illustrator, and I love to bridge the gap between science and art through strokes and colours. I am an ardent bird watcher, and I like spending time in nature.

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