Dr. Aravind Madhyastha

Full Name: Neelvara Ananthram Aravind Madhyastha Present Address: N. A. Aravind, Suri Sehgal Centre for Conservation Science, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Royal Enclave, Sriramapura, Jakkur PO, Bangalore- 560 0624, India. Email: aravind@atree.org, Web: www.atree.org/aravindna.html

Academic Qualification

*'Ecology of land snails of Western Ghats'. Thesis submitted to Mangalore University, Mangalore.

Current Position

Fellow: January 2012- Till date with Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bangalore.

Previous Position

Research Associate: September 1998 to March 2001, with Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bangalore. Senior Research Associate: April 2001 to December 2006, with Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bangalore. Post Doctoral Fellow: 1st January 2007- 30th July, 2009, with Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bangalore. Fellow and Coordinator: August 2009- December 2011 with Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bangalore. Fellow: January 2012- till date with Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bangalore.

Research Interests

My research interests are broad and I use tools such as molecular, ecological, phylogenetics and ENM to address both basic and applied research questions. The following are broad thematic areas of research I am currently engaged with

1. Biogeography and phylogeography of amphibians and non-marine molluscs: I aim at understanding the pattern in the distribution of non-marine molluscs and amphibians of India. I am also involved in trying to address historical biogeographic patterns in non-marine molluscs and amphibians using molecular tools.
2. Freshwater biology and systematics: My ongoing research in freshwater biology and systematics involves taxonomic studies of non-marine molluscs and amphibians, identifying regions of high species richness that deserve conservation and reviewing freshwater-related policies both regionally as well as nationally
3. Biodiversity documentation and digitization: My laboratory is involved in the documenting and digitization of biodiversity, particularly freshwater taxa (non-marine molluscs, amphibians, fishes, aquatic birds). This data is crowd-sourced from social and internet-based media. I use this versatile crowd-sourced “big-data” for analyzing patterns and processes in nature with respect to the taxa listed above.
4. Application of species distribution models in conservation planning: I use a variety of tools and approach such as data mining, Ecological Niche Modeling (ENM), and GIS to identify regions that merit high priority conservation in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.
5. Climate change and species distribution: Ecological Niche Modeling (ENM) is used extensively in my lab to assess species responses to climate change. The taxa used for these assessments are non-marine molluscs, frogs and invasive species.

Honours

Member: IUCN's Mollusc Specialist Group Fellow: Linnean Society of London

Fellowships/Grants/Memberships

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.

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 the 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'.
• Jan 2013 to December 2014. National Geographic Society, “A Biological Survey of the Freshwater Algae and Benthic Macro-invertebrates of Rivers of the Western Ghats, India”
• December 2013 to May 2014, UNDP, “Developing strategy and an action plan for strengthening the ecological integrity of the Dal Lake, Srinagar”
• July 2012 to June 2015. Dept. of Science and Technology, Govt. of India. “Mapping the distribution and phylogenetic analysis of land snails of the Western Ghats”
• June 2015 to May 2018. Dept. of Biotechnology, Govt. of India. "Landscape Genetics of stream-dwelling Anurans in Agriculture-forest matrix in the central Western Ghats"
• March 2017 to March 2020. July 2012 to June 2015. Dept. of Science and Technology, Govt. of India. "Phylogeny of land snails of the Western Ghats"
• April 2017 to March 2019. Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development (IBSD), Imphal "Exploration and inventories as a means to strengthen taxonomy, biodiversity science, and monitoring in Northeast India – a pilot-scale project in Manipur and Mizoram states"
• Sept. 2017 to August 2020. Dept. of Science and Technology, Govt. of India. "Modelling the distribution of globally important invasive plant species: Is there significant niche shift and range expansion during the invasion ?"
• April 2018 to March 2021. Dept. of Biotechnology, Govt. of India. "Quantitative assessment and mapping of the diversity of non-marine molluscs (land snails and freshwater molluscs) of Northeast India"
• April 2018 to March 2021. Dept. of Biotechnology, Govt. of India. "Enhancing capacity in Communication about biological resources, biodiversity science and sustainable development for societal benefits in Northeast"

Travel Grants

• July 2004. Edda G. Sehgal Foundation: Travel grant to attend the 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 the conference on 'Biodiversity Conservation in Asia: Current Status and Future Perspectives' Kathmandu, Nepal.
• May 2006. Natural History Museum, London: Travel grant to attend the 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 the conference on 'World Congress of Malacology at Antwerp, Belgium.
• July 2007. Unitas Malacologica, USA: Travel grant to attend the conference on 'World Congress of Malacology at Antwerp, Belgium.

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