Ruchika Sagar (MS), 2025 -
I have always been very curious about wildlife, even during my childhood, I used to wake up early to watch documentaries on the Discovery Channel before heading off to school. This fascination deepened as I pursued my bachelor’s in Zoology from Gargi College, DU, where courses in ecology, evolution and animal behaviour drew me toward the mysteries of marine life. I found myself getting captivated by how animals think and behave, fuelling my interests in both marine biology and neuroscience.
As a master’s student in the KS lab, I am excited to explore the intersection of these fields. I hope to investigate how marine species exhibit complexity of behaviours such as foraging, navigation, and social behaviours. In future, I’d like to contribute to interdisciplinary projects and ask new questions at the frontiers of marine biology, neuroscience, and evolution.
Nishanth Arvind (MS), 2024 -
During lockdown, I got distracted by a few butterflies while walking around my house. Soon I began documenting various critters on the iNaturalist portal. Being in Chennai, this led me to join the organisations YNN and MNS. Here, I connected with other young nature-enthusiasts, and we compiled a field guide for the Butterflies of Chennai. This led me to pursue my B.Sc. in Biology (minor in Climate Studies) from Azim Premji University, Banglore. For my UG thesis, I worked on chemosensation in crab spiders guided by Dr. Divya Uma.
My fields of interest include Ecology, Evolution, Climate and Environment. I am currently pursuing my M.Sc. in Life Sciences (specialisation in Ecology and Evolution) at IISC, Bangalore. Having worked on arthropods so far, I see my M.Sc. thesis as an opportunity to expand to newer taxa.
Abhirami J (MS)
Exploring sex-determining mechanisms in Indian lizards, 2024.
I have always been interested in ecology in general, and anything reptile fascinates me. I work on finding the sex determining mechanisms (SDMs) in a few Indian reptiles which will help in answering broader questions related to evolution of SDMs. Apart from academics, I like keeping myself busy with my varied interests, be it origami, playing badminton, or drowning myself in books. I also love talking to people, a good conversation to me is what coffee is to most people, a Pick-Me-Up.
Pranoy Das (BS)
Analysis of conflict in mixed species associations, 2021.
I am interested in exploring how theoretical principles from computer science, game theory, reinforcement learning and operations research can be used in conservation planning and study of ecological communities. In my dissertation project, I modelled interactions between two functionally different participant types in multi-species foraging groups, specifically gleaners and salliers in mixed-species bird flocks. I studied the stability of such groups in a situation where there is false alarm calling by salliers (to steal food, known as kleptoparasitism), both under limited and unlimited prey conditions.
Kesang Bhutia (MS)
Traits, distribution and conservation status of woody plant species of the Western Ghats, 2019.
While we know that both ecological and evolutionary factors drive the distribution of species along elevational and latitudinal gradient, their effect on the distribution of species as mediated by species-specific traits has received far less attention. Different groups with varying life histories, traits and adaptations are likely to behave differently in response to their environment. My study focused on the spatial variation of plant traits along a latitudinal gradient in the Western Ghats. Further, my study also examines how these patterns contribute to plant species richness along the gradient and how species traits influence the geographic range size of species.
I am currently a PhD student at ATREE, Bamgalore
Traits, distribution and conservation status of woody plant species of the Western Ghats