aravind

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Profile

Fellow

Education

  • Ph. D. (Applied Zoology). Ecology of Land Snails of the Western Ghats, Mangalore University, 2007.
  • M. Sc. (Biosciences) Dept. of Biosciences, Mangalore University, 1998.
  • B. Sc. (Botany,Zoology,Chemistry) Poornaprajna College, Udupi, Mangalore University, 1996

Honours

  • Fellow, Linnean Society, London
  • Member, IUCN Mollusc Specialist Group

Research Interests

  • Ecology of birds, butterfly, Amphibians and Non-marine (Freshwater molluscs and land snails) molluscs of Western Ghats.
  • Urban Ecology
  • Use of GIS and Niche modeling in Ecology and Management.
  • Painting and nature photography.

Projects

Current Projects:

  • Darwin Initiative Grant from DEFRA, Govt. of UK. "Capacity building in Taxonomy of Land snails of south and south east Asia".
  • March February 2008 to January 2001. DST fast track Research Grant from Dept. of Science and Technology, Govt of India. "Freshwater Mollusc of the Western Ghats: Status and Distribution".

Previous Projects:

  • Worked on a project entitled "Assessing the impact of anthropogenic pressures on biodiversity of a tropical forest ecosystem in India". Funded by Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR- www.cigar.org/cifor). October 1998 to March 2000.
  • Worked on a project entitled "Impact of invasive species on the diversity, health and productivity of ecosystems: A study in the tropical forests of south India". Funded by Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR-www.cigar.org/cifor). April 2000 to August 2001.
  • Worked on "Mapping of birds and butterfly diversity of Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary".
  • Co-investigator, project entitled "Assessment of biodiversity of lesser-known and functionally important groups in Nagarahole National park". Funded by World Bank through Karnataka Forest Department. March, 2001 to December 2002
  • "Role of Forest fruits in sustaining livelihood of forest fringe communities in South India". Department for International Development, UK. June 2001-March 2002.
  • "Mapping of rare, endangered and threatened medicinal plant resources in medicinal plant conservation areas (MPCAs), Karnataka". Funded by Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT-www.frlht.org.in) Bangalore. February 2001 to February 2004.
  • "Impact of land-use change on land snail assemblage in Western Ghats, India" Funded by International Foundation for Science (IFS-www.ifs.se), Sweden. April 2003 to March 2004.
  • "Inventorying biodiversity in and around Myristica swamps in Western Ghats, India" Funded by Rainforest Concern, United Kingdom. September 2003 to August 2004.

Field Experience

  • Worked in Western Ghats Biodiversity Inventory Program in the Poornaprajna College Unit under Prof. Madhav Gadgil, Center for Ecological Sciences, IISc. Bangalore for two years 1994 to 1996.
  • Participated as an Instructor in the nature camp held at Kollur (Karnataka) conducted by General Thimmaiah National Academy of Adventure Dec. 1992.
  • Participated as an Instructor in the nature camp held at Mutthodi (Karnataka) conducted by General Thimmaiah National Academy of Adventure, June 1993.
  • 15 years experience in the survey and sampling of birds, butterflies, plants. And 5 years experience in fresh water molluscan ecology of Western Ghats.

Fellowships

  • Awarded Indian Academy of Sciences Summer Fellowship for the year 1995 to study Bird Communities of Western Ghats under Prof. Madhav Gadgil, Center for Ecological Sciences, IISc. Bangalore (first student to get fellowship).
  • Awarded Indian Academy of Sciences Summer Fellowship for the year 1997 to study Oviposition preference in Drosophila melanogaster under Dr. Amitabh Joshi, JNCASR, Bangalore.

Memberhips

  1. Society for Conservation Biology (Washington, USA)- 2002- Present
  2. Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (Washington, USA)- 2002- Present
  3. Society for Applied Ornithology (Hyderabad, India)- 2002-2003
  4. Focal Foto Club® (Udupi, India)- 1995-Present
  5. Artist's Forum® (Udupi, India)- 1994-1998
  6. Bombay Natural History Society (Mumbai, India)- 2003- Present
  7. International Bird Conservation Network (IBCN, Mumbai, India)- 2003- Present
  8. Unitas Malacologica, USA. 2007- Present
  9. Ecological Society of America (Washington, USA)- 2009- Present

Grants

Research Grants

  • March 2001-December 2002. World Bank through Karnataka Forest Department. "Assessment of Lesser known and functionally important taxa in Nagarahole National Park" in collaboration with others.
  • April 2003- March 2004. International Foundation for Science, Sweden. "Impact of land-use change on land snail assemblage in Western Ghats, India".
  • May 2006 to March 2009. Darwin Initiative Grant from DEFRA, Govt. of UK. "Capacity building in Taxonomy of Land snails of south and south east Asia".
  • March February 2008 to January 2011. DST fast track Research Grant from Dept. of Science and Technology, Govt of India. "Freshwater Mollusc of the Western Ghats: Status and Distribution".

Travel Grants

  • July 2004. Edda G. Sehgal Foundation: Travel grant to attend Conference on "World Congress of Malacology: Molluscan diversity- Land Freshwater and Marine", Perth, Australia
  • November 2005. Society for Conservation Biology, USA: Travel grant to attend Conference on "Biodiversity Conservation in Asia: Current Status and Future Perspectives" Kathmandu, Nepal.
  • May 2006. Natural History Museum, London: Travel grant to attend Workshop on "Capacity building in Taxonomy of Land snails of south and south east Asia" at Bangkok, Thailand.
  • July 2007. Edda G. Sehgal Foundation: Travel grant to attend Conference on "World Congress of Malacology at Antwerp, Belgium.
  • July 2007. Unitas Malacologica, USA: Travel grant to attend Conference on "World Congress of Malacology at Antwerp, Belgium.

Publications

    Peer reviewed

  • Aravind, N. A., Dinesh Rao, Ganeshaiah, K. N., R. Uma Shaanker, and J. G. Poulsen. 2010. Impact of Lantana camara on bird assemblage at Malé Mahadeshwara reserve forest, South India. Tropical Ecology, 51: 325-338.
  • Soubadra Devy, M., Savitha, S. and N. A. Aravind. 2009. Building biodiversity in City Parks, home gardens, avenues and traffic islands in urban landscapes: making ordinary nature attractive through co-management by multiple actors and stakeholders. Economic and Political Weekly, 44: 25-27.
  • Aravind, N. A., K. P. Rajashekhar and N. A. Madhyastha. 2008. Micro mollusks of the Western Ghats: Distribution and Threats. Zoosymposia, 1: 281-294.
  • Prathapan, K. D. Priyadarsanan Dharma Rajan, T. C. Narendran, C. A. Viraktamath, K. A. Subramanian, N. A. Aravind and J. Poorani. 2008. Death sentence on taxonomy in India. Current Science, 94: 170-171.
  • Dolia, J., M. Soubadra Devy, N. A. Aravind and Ajith Kumar. 2008. Butterfly communities in coffee plantations around a protected area in the Western Ghats, India. Animal Conservation, 11: 26-34.
  • Aravind, N. A., K. P. Rajashekhar and N. A. Madhyastha. 2008. Micro mollusks of the Western Ghats: Distribution and Threats. Zoosymposia, 1: 281-294.
  • Aravind N. A., B. Tambat, G. Ravikanth, K.N. Ganeshaiah and R. Uma Shaanker. 2007. Patterns of species discovery in the Western Ghats, a megadiversity hot spot in India. Journal of Biosciences 32:781-790.
  • Gururaja, K. V., N. A. Aravind, Sameer Ali, T. V. Ramachandra, T. P. Velavan, V. Krishnakumar and R. K. Aggarwal. 2007. Morphogenetic description of a new frog species from the central Western Ghats of India: an indicator species of forest fragmentation. Zoological Science 24: 525-534.
  • Aravind N.A., K.P. Rajshekhar and N.A. Madhaystha. 2006. Land snails of Western Ghats: Diversity, Distribution and Endemicity. Sahyadri E News (http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/biodiversity/).
  • Prathapan K. D., D. R. Priyadarsanan, T. C. Narendran, C. A. Viraktamath, K. A. Subramanyan, N. A. Aravind and J. Poorani. 2006. Biological Diversity Act, 2002: Shadow of permit-raj over research. Current Science, 91: 1006-1007.
  • Aravind N. A. 2006. Organic rice cultivation- CD Review. Current Science, 91: 1413.
  • Narayani Barve, M. C. Kiran, G. Vanaraj, N. A. Aravind, Dinesh Rao, R. Uma Shaanker, K. N. Ganeshaiah, and J. G. Poulsen. 2005. Measuring and mapping human threats to a wildlife sanctuary in south India. Conservation Biology, 19: 122-139.
  • Aravind, N. A., Dinesh Rao, K. N. Ganeshaiah, R. Uma Shaanker and G. Vanaraj. 2005. A comparative analysis of red-listed medicinal and non-red listed plant species in the Western Ghats, South India: are red-listed species really threatened? Current Science, 88: 258-265.
  • Aravind, N. A., K. P. Rajashekhar and N. A. Madhyastha. 2005. Species diversity, endemism and distribution of land snails of the Western Ghats, India. Records of Western Australian Museum, Suppl. No 68: 31-38.
  • Aravind, N. A., K. N. Ganeshaiah, and R. Uma Shaanker. 2004. Croak, croak, croak: Are there more frogs to be discovered in Western Ghats? Current Science, 86: 1471-1472.
  • Uma Shaanker, R., K. N. Ganeshaiah, Smitha Krishnan, R. Ramya, C. Meera, N. A. Aravind, Arvind Kumar, Dinesh Rao, G. Vanaraj, J. Ramachandra, R. Gauthier, J. Ghazoul, N. Poole, B. V. Chinnappa Reddy. 2004. Livelihood gains and ecological costs of NTFP dependence: assessing the roles of dependence, ecological knowledge and market structure in three contrasting human and ecological settings in south India. Environmental Conservation, 31: 242-253.
  • Uma Shaanker, R., K. N. Ganeshaiah, M. Nageswara Rao and N. A. Aravind. 2004. Ecological consequences of forest use-from genes to ecosystem: a case study in the Biligiri Ranganswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary, South India. Conservation and Society, 2: 347-363.
  • Aravind, N. A. 2002. First report of Micrixalus nudis (Amphibia: Ranidae) from Karnataka, India. Hamadryad, 27: 116-117.
  • Aravind, N. A., Dinesh Rao and P. S. Madhusudan. 2001. Additions to the birds of Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary, Western Ghats, India. Zoos' Print Journal, 27: 541-547.
  • Sheeba, V., N. A. Aravind Madhyastha and A. Joshi. 1998. Oviposition preference for novel versus normal food resources in laboratory population of Drosophila melanogaster. Biosciences, 23: 93-100.
  • Aravind, N. A. and Dinesh Rao. 2002. On the Butterfly Assemblages of Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary, Western Ghats, India. Lepidoptera News. (In press).
  • Kannan, R., N. A. Aravind, Gladwin Joseph, R. Uma Shaanker and K. N. Ganeshaiah. Invasive weed aids livelihoods: Lantana as a substitute for bamboo in South India. Conservation and Society (Accepted).

    • Book Chapters

  • Uma Shaanker, R., Gladwin Joseph, N. A. Aravind, Ramesh Kannan and K. N. Ganeshaiah. 2010. Invasive plants in tropical human dominated landscapes: need for a paradigm shift in their management. In: Perrings, C., H. Mooney and M. Williamson (eds), Bioinvasions and Globalization: Ecology, Economics, Management, and Policy. Oxford University Press, London, pp. 202-219.
  • Arvind Kumar, N. A. Aravind, R. Uma Shaanker, K. N Ganeshaiah, Seema Purushothaman and Shyam N. Kashyap. 2009. Herbal exports from India– Trends and Implications. In: Uma Shaanker, R., Gladwin Joseph, Ankila J. Hiremath and Nitin D. Rai (Eds), Non-timber Forest Products: Conservation, Management and Policy in the Tropics. ATREE and UAS, Bangalore, pp: 129-138.
  • Aravind, N. A. and Dinesh Rao. 2006 Aves. In: Fauna of Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary, Conservation Area Series, 27: 239-258.
  • Aravind, N. A. 2006. Mammalia. In: Fauna of Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary, Conservation Area Series, 27: 259-263.
  • Ramakrishna, S. C. Mitra and N. A. Aravind. 2006. Mollusca: Gastropoda. In: Fauna of Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary, Conservation Area Series, 27: 9-12.
  • Uma Shaanker, R., N. A. Aravind and K. N. Ganeshaiah. 2004. Forest Management for Conservation. In: Burley, J., J. Youngquist and J. Evans (eds), Encyclopedia of Forest Science, Elsevier Science, United Kingdom.
  • Aravind N. A. 2004. Birds of Biligiri Rangan Hills. In: Islam, M.Z. and A. R. Rahmani (eds), Important Bird Area Network. Bombay Natural History Society and BirdLife International, UK. pp. --.
  • Aravind, N. A. and Dinesh Rao. 2001. Biodiversity: An introduction. Eds. Hosetti, B. B. and M. Venkateshwaralu. In. Current trends in wildlife Biodiversity, Conservation and Management. Vol. II. Daya Publishing House, New Delhi. Pp. 1-26.
  • Patil, R.K. and N. A. Aravind. Perturbation in the pattern of land snail diversity due to anthropogenic disturbance to wet evergreen forests of the Western Ghats, India. In: Priyadarsanan, D. R., M. S. Devy, K. A. Subramanian and N. A. Aravind (eds), Invertebrate diversity and conservation in the Western Ghats. ATREE, Bangalore. (Accepted).
  • Ganeshaiah K. N., R. Uma Shaanker and N. A. Aravind. Impact of human activities on biodiversity and ecosystem processes: Synthesis of case studies from Asia. Book Chapter to be published by CABI and CIFOR (Accepted).

    • Full Length Papers in Proceedings

  • Aravind, N. A., Dinesh Rao, G. Vanaraj, K. N. Ganeshaiah, R. Uma Shaanker, and J. G. Poulsen. 2006. Impact of Lantana camara on plant communities at Malé Mahadeshwara reserve forest, South India. In: Rai, L. C. and J. P. Gaur (eds), Invasive alien species and biodiversity in India. Banarus Hindu University, Banarus.
  • Aravind N. A., Dinesh Rao, G. Vanaraj, J. G. Poulsen, R. Uma Shaanker and K. N. Ganeshaiah. 2001. Anthropogenic pressures in a tropical forest ecosystem in Western Ghats, India: Are they sustainable? In: Ganeshaiah, K. N., R. Uma Shaanker and K. S. Bawa (eds), Tropical Ecosystems: Structure, Diversity and Function. IBH, New Delhi, Pp. 125-128.
  • Gururaja, K.V., N. A. Aravind, and Raghunath. 1993. Checklist to the birds of Shimoga and Gudavi. Eds. Vergheese, A., S. Sridhar and A. K. Chakravarthy, In: Proceedings of the First National Seminar on the Changing Scenario of Bird Ecology and Conservation.

    • Short Notes

  • Aravind N. A. and N. A. Madhyastha. 2009. Of shells and slimes. Hornbill, July-September: 26-29.
  • Raheem, D., Fred Naggs, N. A. Aravind and R. Peerce. 2009. An illustrated guide to the land snails of the Western Ghats. Natural History Museum, London.
  • Ramesh Kannan, N. A. Aravind, Gladwin Joseph, K. N. Ganeshaiah and R. Uma Shaanker. 2008. Lantana Craft: A Weed for a Need. BioTech News, 3(2): 9-11.
  • Uma Shaanker, R., Gladwin Joseph, N. A. Aravind, Ramesh Kannan and K.N. Ganeshaiah. 2007. A new use found for invasive species in the Western Ghats. Rainforest Concern, Autumn 2007.
  • Aravind N. A. 2005. Ficus pumila L.: A new host plant of Common Indian Crow (Euploea core Cramer, Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Journal of Bombay Natural History Society, 102: 129.
  • Aravind, N. A., Narayani Barve, R., Uma Shaanker, J. Poulsen and K. N. Ganeshaiah. 2002. Mapping Human Induced Threat to a Sanctuary, South India. ETFRN News, 36: 41-43.
  • Aravind Madhyastha, N. A. 1999. Vagrants of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Districts. Newsletter for Birdwatchers, 39: 66.
  • Aravind, N. A. 1995. Comments on the migration of Pratincoles. Newsletter for Birdwatchers, 33: 80.

    • Submitted

  • Aravind N. A. and Dinesh Rao. Butterfly assemblages of Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary, South India. (Under Review in Zoos' Print Journal).

    • Popular articles

  • Published on Bird-life in "Tharanga" Kannada Weekly, Udhayavani Morning News, an English daily and photographs in Deccan Herald.

Meetings / Conferences / Symposiums / Workshops

  • Participated in the Basic Photographic Technique workshop conducted by Focal Foto Club® Udupi, Feb. 1990.
  • Participated in First National Seminar on Changing Scenario of Bird Ecology and Conservation. Organized by Ornithological Society of India held at Bangalore, Nov. 1993.
  • Attended meeting on Western Ghats Biodiversity Inventory Program held at Poornaprajna College, Udupi, Nov. 1994, organized by Center for Ecological Sciences, IISc. Bangalore.
  • Attended meeting on Western Ghats Biodiversity Inventory Program held at American College, Madurai, April, 1995 organized by Center for Ecological Sciences, IISc. Bangalore.
  • Attended the meeting on Documenting Biodiversity: An Experiment. At Center for Ecological Sciences, IISc. Bangalore from Oct 26 - 29,1995.
  • Attended Frontier Lecture on Recent Development in Genetics and Molecular Biology sponsored by Jawaharlal Nehru Center for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore and Dept. of Bio-sciences, Mangalore University, and Sept.1996.
  • Attended three-day workshop on the sampling of Aquatic macro invertebrates and fishes, held at Poornaprajna College, Udupi, sponsored by Dept. of Bio-technology, Govt. of India. May 1998.
  • Attended the Interaction Meeting on Biodiversity and Conservation of B. R. Hills, held at ISWT, Bangalore organized by ATREE, KFD, and VGKK, Sept. 1998.
  • Attend two-days workshop on photo journalism at MGM College, Udupi. Organized by Karnataka Patrika Academy. February 1999.
  • Attended National workshop on Conservation of Forest Genetic Resources: Research and Action plan. July 18-19, 2000, held at IWST, Bangalore. Sponsored by International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, Rome.
  • Presented a poster at National Symposium on "Problems and prospects of environment in the new millennium". Dec 15th- 17th, 2000, held at Mangalore University.
  • Attended Methodology workshop on Bio-resource mapping. January 23- 25, 2001, held at Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore. Sponsored by Dept. of Biotechnology, Govt. of India.
  • Attended International Conference on Tropical Ecosystems: Structure, Diversity and Human Welfare. Held at Bangalore from July 15th-19th, 2001. Organized by ATREE and Association of Tropical Biology, USA.
  • Participated and presented paper at National Symposium on Avian biodiversity - issues and conservation strategies. Held at ANGR Agricultural University, Hyderabad, Feb 7th-8th, 2002.
  • Presented a paper on "Geographical distribution of land snails of Western Ghats, India" at World Congress of Malacology held at University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, from July 11th-16th 2004.
  • Presented a paper on "Impact of Lantana camara invasion on plant assemblages at Male Mahadeshwara reserve forest, South India" at National workshop on "Alien invasive and biodiversity conservation in India" held at Banaras Hindu University, Banaras from August 17th to 20th 2004.
  • Presented poster on "Impact of disturbance on bird community in a tropical forest ecosystem in South India" tat First Asia Section Conference on "Biodiversity Conservation in Asia: Current Status and Future Perspectives" Kathmandu, Nepal 17th -20th November 2005.
  • Presented poster on "Impact of anthropogenic disturbances on land snail diversity of wet evergreen forests of Western Ghats, India" tat First Asia Section Conference on "Biodiversity Conservation in Asia: Current Status and Future Perspectives" Kathmandu, Nepal 17th -20th November 2005.
  • Presented a paper on "Micro mollusk of the Western Ghats, India: Status, distribution and threats" at World Congress of Malacology held at University of Antwrep, Antwrep, Belgium, from July 15th-20th 2007.

    • Contact

    aravind@atree.org


History

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