Interests

Invasive species ecology, butterflies, lantana

Current Work

I am broadly interested in understanding butterfly-environment relationships and how our knowledge of butterflies' ecology can be used to explain their response to various habitat change drivers and predict their diversity and distribution under various scenarios. Currently I am looking at the impact of invasive plant Lantana camara on butterflies in a tropical moist deciduous forest. I am also working on functional morphological diversity in butterflies and how species' traits can be used to better understand their response to habitat disturbances.

Past Work

In the past, I have worked on inbreeding in captive tigers at Nandankanan Zoological Park at Bhubaneshwar and for my Master's dissertation, I looked at the attitude of various stakeholders towards "eco-tourism" at Corbett Tiger Reserve in Uttarakhand.

Future Interests

Though I am working on a specific system at present, my interest in ecology is very broad, from ecosystems ecology to community and population ecology and the interface between ecology and evolution. Other areas of interest include philosophy of science, "sustainable development" and biodiversity conservation. In future I would like to carry on interdisciplinary research applying principles of ecology/evolution and social sciences for the conserving biodiversity in a just and scientific manner.