For the TN Khoshoo Memorial Lecture, ATREE takes pains to bring to the audience a speaker with insight, and with new ideas to share on the subject of the environment. This year's speaker at the Memorial Lecture was His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. His Holiness, who has made his concern for the environment evident over years past, made a philosophical address on Sacred Values and Conservation, in which he spoke about the ways we choose to live and relate to one another and to the world around us. Lending to the Himalaya theme was the exhibit and sale of coffee table book, Himalaya: Mountains of Life, by Dr Kamal Bawa, founder trustee, ATREE and photographer, Sandesh Kadur.

Research

The browning of tropical mountains

Climate warming in recent decades, largely attributed to human activities, is affecting vegetation in tropical mountain regions of the world. Scientists report this from a joint study conducted at ATREE, the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) at Kolkata, and CIFOR Indonesia, and published in the journal Global Change Biology.

Tropical mountain ecosystems are important for biodiversity and ecosystem services. They are also sentinels of global change, including climate change. Researchers used satellite data from 1982-2006 for tropical mountain regions in five continents ranging from the tropical Andes to the Himalayas and South East Asia. They measured changes in Naturalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), an index of greenness-a measure of photosynthetic activity-

and then compared these changes with trends in temperature and rainfall. The scientists first examined maximum greenness attained at any site in each year on record, which is the maximum foliar biomass attained. They found that tropical mountain forests first became greener with time, and then suddenly reversed to become browner, starting in the mid-1990s, in all tropical mountain regions of the earth. Browning indicates a reduction in photosynthetic activity. During the same period, four of the five regions became significantly warmer, but rainfall trends were less obvious and patterns were more complicated. They also found that the index of greenness was responding negatively to temperature in some regions, and in regions such as the Himalayas this negative response to warming intensified over the study period.

In the 1990s, other scientists had reported that increased temperatures and reduced input of moisture from decreased frequency of misty days were causing a drought-like conditions in the mountains of Central America. The new findings on vegetation changes suggest that such climate change phenomena may be more widespread in all tropical mountain regions. The scientists also realized that after they had accounted for the effects of temperature and precipitation, there

was residual greening and browning evident in these mountain regions, suggesting that other regional and global environmental changes such as pollution, aerosols, nutrient deposition or increased photosynthetic activity due to enhanced CO2 could be driving vegetation response in tropical mountains.

The research paper cautions, “The decline of biodiversity in species-rich mountain ecosystems could have adverse impacts on ecosystem function and decrease ecosystem services on which millions of people are dependent.” Mountain ecosystems, known to be particularly ecologically sensitive and vulnerable to climate change, should be placed in “high priority in global conservation strategies,” it adds.

Jagdish Krishnaswamy, Convenor, Suri Sehgal Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation

Angling: is it good or bad?

Vidyadhar Atkore, PhD batch 2009, attended a workshop on Western Ghats Freshwater Fish Conservation: Strategy and Action in August, in Kochi, Kerala. Vidyadhar expresses his views on angling, shared with other delegates.

'On ethical grounds, I strongly feel, angling should not be allowed for the following reasons: there are no standard protocols for guiding anglers on catching fish for sport; there are no guidelines for type and size of fish caught; no guidelines for appropriate size of bait or hooks.

Even for fish that are caught and released, how do we know what kind of post release stress and injuries occur? How do we know whether such sport affects breeding? How does one ensure that gravid females are not caught? The Mahseer is a sport fish because it fights back. But both, the Himalayan (Tor putitora) or Deccan mahseer (Tor khudree), are also listed as threatened under the IUCN Red List. So given all the

things we do not know about post catch trauma, does it make sense to target them for angling?

I agree angling generates revenue which, maybe, promotes barefoot conservation efforts. But should we not be thinking of the wellbeing of the animals? Experts from taxonomy, behaviour, ecology, physiology should engage to find wise solutions to the human activity of sport fishing. Perhaps, a few river stretches could be identified merely for 'fish watching'! Learning about fish natural history associated with culture and mythology through images could also aid conservation in a better sense.'

Vidyadhar Atkore

News from the eighth continent

The canopy, which was the last frontier-after space-to be crossed, is sometimes referred to as the 'eighth continent'. Safer techniques to access the heights (developed in the 1970s) resulted in accelerated research, but the discoveries are still coming in, and not in trickles. Combine this with the current rate of deforestation, and the urgency in stepping up our understanding of the canopy ecosystem and its relation to biophysical processes, biodiversity and human kind becomes obvious. In this scenario, we have a new book on canopy science, which urges new and innovative approaches to comprehend the role of canopy systems.

ATREE's resident canopy team of Soubadra Devy and T Ganesh, and canopy expert Meg Lowman have released a compilation of research insights, findings and discourses

presented at the 5th International Canopy Conference at Bengaluru in 2009. The edited book, Treetops at Risk, contains some of the latest science on canopy studies by the world's leading experts on canopies.

Treetops at Risk raises as many questions as it attempts to answer in sections on emerging issues; climate change; new approaches; education and outreach; and ecosystem, services and sustainability. It is a relevant book because, first, canopy science is still relatively young, and two, because of the rate at which we are losing forests/ canopies in developing and developed countries.

More...

More news on how canopies matter, even in their sparser forms, as windbreaks in tea plantations, is the subject of a new paper. The paper presents findings on the role of windbreaks in tea plantations- how they improve connectivity to plantation-edge primary forests, and thereby contribute to/ influence bird species richness and community composition. What is remarkable is that this paper has been written by undergraduate students who were part of ATREE's conservation biology certificate course in 2010. The students, guided by ATREE PhD student, Vivek Ramachandran, persevered through time and peer reviews to finally be published in PLoS ONE, a peer reviewed journal on science. To be published in PLoS ONE while an undergraduate is quite an achievement and the team is proud of the authors. Sreekar R, Mohan A, Das S, Agarwal P, Vivek R. 2013. Natural windbreaks sustain bird diversity in a tea-dominated landscape. PLoS ONE 8(7): e70379. doi:10.1371/journal. pone.0070379

New grants to push interdisciplinary research

Two major grants will help ATREE fine-tune focus on interdisciplinary research and scholarship.

The Royal Norwegian Embassy grant of Rs. 153 million (NKr 146 million), over four years, will be used to strengthen ATREE's interdisciplinary research by enabling additional resources to faculty and students, and in part by establishing academic exchanges with leading institutions in Norway. Apart from looking at outcomes from ATREE's four programmes-Ecosystems and Global Change; Ecosystem Health and Human Wellbeing; Land, Water and Livelihoods; and Forests and Governance, the grant will especially look at results pertaining to climate change incorporated as an umbrella theme across various research projects.

The USD 250,000 Oak Foundation endowment will be used to initiate a coherent programme on climate change integrated with ATREE's ongoing work on biodiversity and sustainable livelihoods issues. This funding will be used to develop clarity on biophysical and socio-economic contexts of climate change-related vulnerability in the Western Ghats and Eastern Himalaya region, specifically, to identify climate impact pathways in the agro-ecological landscape. ATREE will soon be looking at faculty recruitments with expertise on climate change.

Project grant

ATREE has received a grant of Rs. 3.7 million from UNDP for a six month scoping study of the Dal Lake. On basis of this study, ATREE will recommend a strategy and action plan for strengthening the ecological integrity of the lake. The lake, which is a shadow

of its former self, has been under stress due to pressures from release (till recently) of untreated sewage from the city and from houseboats and settlements within the Dal, reduced water inflows from feeder streams and wetlands in its catchment, increased soil erosion from its catchment area and invasive aquatic species. ATREE will review these threats on a watershed basis and in light of the livelihood requirements of the dependent population, as well as the requirements of a growing Srinagar, and provide recommendations.

Outreach

World Natural Heritage Sites: experiences and best practices from south Asia

UNESCO New Delhi Office, in association with the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, organized a two-day Regional Conference on 'Conservation and management of World Natural Heritage Sites: sharing experiences and best practices from south Asia' at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi on 17-18 September, 2013. The conference was held under the aegis of the World Heritage Biodiversity Programme – India (WHBPI) which was implemented as a UNESCO initiative in four World Natural Heritage Sites in India, namely Kaziranga, Manas, Keoladeo and Nanda Devi National Parks during 2008- 2013. ATREE was the implementing agency for the two sites of Kaziranga and Manas in Assam.

Policy makers, park managers, academia, practioners and other relevant stakeholders attended the conference. Representatives from

World Natural Heritage Sites in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and India shared experiences and best practices on conservation and management from their sites. I, as the ATREE Coordinator from the Guwahati Office, presented an overview of the key outcomes and learning from the WHBPI project in Assam, outlining early impacts and sharing thoughts on the lessons derived from the experience of implementing the project over the last five years. ATREE Director, Dr Ganesan Balachander, was an invited member on the panel discussion on 'Strategy for building partnerships and resource mobilization', where he discussed ideas on tapping new constituencies and alternative sources for raising resources to support projects of this kind. It may be pertinent to mention that Dr Balachander played a key role on behalf of the Ford Foundation as a primary donor during the inception of the WHBPI Project more than five years ago.

Niraj Kakati, Guwahati

Expert group meeting on water issues in the Noyyal

ATREE and Tamil Nadu Agricultural University co-organized an expert consultation on water management in the Noyyal Basin on 24 September 2013. This was a preliminary activity of the Adapting to Climate Change in Urbanizing Watersheds (ACCUWa) project that proposes to study the response of stakeholders to water vulnerability and accessibility in urbanizing watersheds, especially as a result of climate change. The watersheds identified for this threeyear study are the Arkavathy sub-basin in Karnataka, and the Noyyal sub-basin in Tamil Nadu. ACCUWa is supported by International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada.

The workshop, held at TNAU campus in Coimbatore, saw participation from twenty experts representing civil society groups, government agencies and academic institutions working on water-related issues in the region. The ATREE-TNAU team presented an analysis of the current water management situation in the Noyyal

basin. The presentations reviewed the current state of knowledge on different dimensions-water scarcity, sustainability, equity and water quality/public health. The discussions, which lasted over three hours, helped clarify a future research agenda for the Noyyal. Look out for a situation analysis on water management in the Noyyal River basin, to be published soon as part of the Centre for Environment and Development Discussion Paper series.

Veena Srinivasan, Fellow, Centre for Environment and Development

Grantee outreach: workshops of the CEPF Western Ghats Programme

The CEPF-ATREE Western Ghats Regional Implementation Team (RIT), represented by team lead, Jagdish Krishnaswamy and Coordinator, Bhaskar Acharya, participated in the RIT Exchange Programme held in Washington DCUSA in mid-September. Thirteen RITs from across the world exchanged information on the status of their respective portfolios and the hotspots they worked in. Emphasis

was on lessons learnt, challenges faced and success achieved in maintaining the core priorities of the programme. The team also met donor, Global Environment Facility, at their headquarters, on the Western Ghats portfolio.

Other CEPF activities in India

CEPF and Foundation for Ecological Research, Advocacy and Learning (FERAL), a CEPF grantee, conducted a workshop on 'Science and practice of linking Periyar–Agasthyamalai landscape for large mammal conservation' to identify existing barriers and potential threats to connectivity at landscape and regional scale, as well as enumerate the challenges and tradeoffs in maintaining and restoring connectivity. ATREE Regional Implementation Team (RIT) member, R. Ganesan, attended the workshop, held in the first week of August.

RIT Coordination Unit team member, Cynthia Sinclair, participated in a workshop conducted by a first time grantee, Sahyadari Nisarga Mitra, working on vulture conservation in the Sahyadri-Konkan region of the Western Ghats. This served as a good opportunity for attendees to network with government establishments, the scientific community, civil society organizations and students, for vulture conservation.

Keeping busy further south, RIT member Priyadarsanan Dharma Rajan attended the Western Ghats Freshwater Fish Conservation Strategy and Action workshop held in mid-August at Kochi. It was organized by Navadarshan Public Charitable Trust (NPCT) as part of its CEPF grant activity. The objective

of the workshop was to facilitate interactions between experts from the scientific community on freshwater fish taxonomy, conservation and policy implementation.

Cynthia Sinclair and Bhaskar Acharya, CEPF RIT team

News from Vembanad Community Environmental Resource Centre

Mandala plastic cleaning campaign and Ayilyam makom

The third 41-day long plastic cleaning campaign in connection with the Sabrimala Mandala season was successfully concluded on 29th December 2013 with more than 75 sacks of plastic and other nondegradables collected by fisher-folk and clam collectors. In 2011 and 2012, 45 and 70 sacks of plastic were collected, respectively. Shri SD Shibulal, CEO, Infosys was the chief guest at the valedictory function. The collected plastic has been picked for use in road construction. In the last two years, the sacks have contributed to the construction of two Panchayat roads.

Ayilyam makom is an annual ritualistic prayer for lake health. The festival was revived by ATREE a few years ago with the idea that this reverence could also persuade community practical action for ecological health of the lake. Ayilyam in Thulam (Malayalam month) coincides with heavy showers and thunderstorms of the northeast monsoon. It is regarded as breeding time for many fishes in Vembanad Lake. With all fisherfolk abstaining from fishing on that day, the ritual gains ecological significance. This year, Ayilyam makom was observed on 28 October 2013 by four different communities.

Jalapaadom news

Alappuzha-based environmentalist and long-time ATREE partner, KV Dayal, initiated seventy nine students and teachers into the basics of organic farming. He talked of preserving links in the agriculture food chain, of useful 'pests' and 'predators' in the ecosystem, with the help of which it is possible to farm without chemicals. Mr Dayal gave a tour of his home garden while explaining his experiments in organic farming practices. He also spoke of the various uses of the medicinal plants he was cultivating in his home garden.

Retired Deputy Director in Agriculture Department, Govt. of Kerala, PJ Joseph, supported this with more detail on pest management through tricho-cards and Integrated Pest Management; the use of biofertilizers like Rhizobium and Azospirillum, which build up micro-flora and improve soil health, and a DIY demo on how to prepare biofertilizer cultures. The lecture on organic pesticides and weedicides was followed by a documentary tracing the success of a farmer using integrated organic farming methods.

Sixteen schools and five colleges from Alppuzha and Kottayam districts participated in this workshop, held on 24th August. This was a Jalapaadom exercise (Jalapaadom means 'lessons in water', and is the flagship programme for schools and colleges by ATREE's Vembanad Community Environmental Resource Centre).

A teacher training workshop of the Jalapaadom programme for the academic year 2013-2014 was held earlier, on 4 July, at Alappuzha, CERC, ATREE. The group mapped out the year's plan for workshops on recycling, organic farming, waste management, as well as nature camps in wildlife sanctuaries or reserve forests of Kerala, training for research projects by schools that could be showcased in the Students' Wetland Congress, plus other activities on the annual agenda of the programme. Teachers from eighteen schools of Alappuzha and Kottayam districts participated in the workshop.

Jojo TD, Vemabanad

New

Recognitions

Srinivasan, Veena received the 2012 Water Resources Research Editor's Choice Award for paper 'The nature and causes of the global water crisis', American Geophysical Union.

People

Kavya Krishna joined as Research Assistant; Nikhil Raj, Apoorva, Nakul Mohan Heble and Kumar D joined as Research Associates. Velavan as Junior Research Fellow; Kadambari Anantaraman Senior Research Fellow in the Land Water Livelihoods team; Snehalatha Vadigi as Senior Research Associate on the Banni project; Rutuja Dhamale joined as consultant with Abi Tamim Vanak's grasslands team; Shiv Subramanya has rejoined as Web and Database Coordinator; Muneeswaran M has joined as Project Coordinator in the Ecoinformatics Lab. Lokesh D., Ramachandariah, Nagendra P., Guruswamy, Sathish and Manjunath B. K. joined as field assistants. We also have twelve new students in the 2013

PhD batch: Soumyajit Bhar, Yamini Virginia John, Sahiti Sanaka, Rahul Muralidharan, Ramya Ravi, Sony R K, Rashmi Mahajan, Rashmi Rekha Sharma, Ranjeet Kumar Sahani, Nachiket Kelkar, Hussain Ebrahim, Annesha Chowdhury.

Workshops organized

Abi T. Vanak. Workshop on 'Conservation of semi-arid savanna grasslands and their associated fauna'. Funded by Suri Sehgal Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation. SCCS, Bengaluru. 25 Sept 2013.

Ethics in human and animal research. Organized by Krithi Karanth, Abi T. Vanak and Kartik Shanker. Student Conference on Conservation Science (SCCS), Bengaluru. 27 Sept 2013.

Vidyadhar Atkore conducted a workshop on 'Freshwater conservation biology: concepts and techniques' on 25th September at SSCS, Bengaluru. The other instructors were Robin Kurien, Tarun Nair, and Nachiket Kelkar (of the 2013 ATREE PhD batch).

Sharad Lele and Veena Srinivasan (ATREE) and D. Suresh Kumar (TNAU). Expert consultation on Noyyal River Basin. Sponsored by IDRC Canada. Coimbatore. 24 September 2013.

Publications

Books

Lowman, M., S. Devy, T. Ganesh (Eds.). 2013. Treetops at Risk: Challenges of Global Canopy Ecology and Conservation. Springer publication. Hardcover. ISBN 978-1-4614-7160-8. ISBN 978-1-4614-7161-5 (eBook)

Papers published in edited books

Elmqvist, T., M. Fragkias, J. Goodness, B. Guneralp, R. McDonald, P. Marcotullio, R. I. McDonald, S. Parnell, M. Schewenius, M. Sandstad, K. C. Seto, C. Wilkinson, with: M. Alberti, C. Folke, N. Frantzeskaki, D. Haase, M. Katti, H. Nagendra, J. Niemelä, S. T. A. Pickett, C.L. Redman, K. Tidball, 2013. Stewardship of the biosphere in the urban era. In: Urbanization, biodiversity, and ecosystem services: challenges and opportunities (ed T. Elmqvist et al.) Pp. 719-746. Springer.

Lele, S. 2013. Environmentalisms, justices, and the limits of Ecosystems Services Frameworks. In: The justices and injustices of ecosystems services (ed T. Sikor). Pp. 119-139. Oxon, UK: Earthscan/Routledge.

Nagendra, H., H. S. Sudhira, M. Katti and M. Schewenius. 2013. Sub-regional assessment of India: effects of urbanization on land use, biodiversity and ecosystem services. In: Urbanization, biodiversity, and ecosystem services: challenges and opportunities (ed T. Elmqvist et al.) Pp. 65-74. Springer.

Purushothaman S., R. Abraham and S. Patil. 2013. Tropical farms as socio-ecological systems-Tools and assessment. In: Cultivating Diversity! A handbook of transdisciplinary approaches to agrobiodiversity research (eds Christinck A. and M. Padmanabhan). Germany: Margraf Publishers.

Ritchie, E. G., C. R. Dickman, M. Letnic, and A. T. Vanak. 2013. Dogs as predators and trophic regulators. In: Free-ranging dogs and wildlife conservation (ed Gompper, M.). UK: Oxford University Press.

Sudhira, H. S. and H. Nagendra. Local assessment of Bangalore: graying and greening in Bangalore-impacts of urbanization on ecosystems, ecosystem services and biodiversity.

In: Urbanization, biodiversity, and ecosystem services: challenges and opportunities (ed T. Elmqvist et al.) Pp. 75-91. Springer.

Vanak, A. T., C. R. Dickman, E. A. Silva- Rodriguez, and J. R. A. Butler. 2013. Top-dogs and under-dogs: Competition between dogs and sympatric predators. In: Free-ranging dogs and wildlife conservation (ed Gompper, M.). UK: Oxford University Press.

Peer reviewed articles

Aravind, N. A. 2013. Potential of social network and internet media for biodiversity mapping and conservation. Current Science 105(3): 291-293.

Aravind, N. A., K. N. Ganeshaiah and R. Uma Shaanker. 2013. Indian monsoons shape dispersal phenology of plants. Biology Letters 9(6): 20130675.

Belsare, A. V. and A. T. Vanak. 2013. Use of xylazine hydrochloride-ketamine hydrochloride for immobilization of Indian fox (Vulpes bengalensis) in field situations. Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine 44(3): 753-755.

Borah, J., T. Sharma, D. Das, N. Rabha, N. Kakati, A. Basumatary, M. Firoz Ahmed and J. Vattakaven. 2013. Abundance and density estimates for common leopard Panthera pardus and clouded leopard Neofelis nebulosa in Manas National Park, Assam, India. Oryx doi:10.1017/S0030605312000373.

Chetana, H. C. and T. Ganesh 2013. Reconciling natural history and species ecology: Myristica beddomei (Myristicaceae) in the Western Ghats, India. Tropical Conservation Science 6(5):663-673.

Delsink, A., A. T. Vanak, S. Ferreira and R. Slotow. 2013 Biologically relevant scales in large mammal management policies. Biological Conservation 167: 116-127. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j. biocon.2013.07.035

M. Paramesha. 2013. Interdisciplinary research: way forward for biodiversity conservation.Current Science 105(9): 1202-1203.

Harisha, R. P. and S. Padmavathy. Knowledge and use of wild edible plants in two communities in Malai Madeshwara Hills, Southern India. 2013. International Journal of Botany doi: 10.3923/IJB.2013

Jaganmohan, M., L. S. Vailshery and H. Nagendra. 2013. Patterns of insect abundance and distribution in urban domestic gardens in Bangalore, India. Diversity 5: 767-778; doi:10.3390/ d5040767

Jorge, A., A. T. Vanak, M. Thaker, C. Begg and R. Slotow. 2013. Costs and benefits of the presence of leopards to the sport-hunting industry and local communities in Niassa National Reserve, Mozambique. Conservation Biology 27(4): 832-843.

K. Abhisheka, J. Patrick David, M. B. Prashanth, K. S. Seshadri and T. Ganesh. 2013. First detailed survey of waterbirds in Tirunelveli and Tuticorin districts, Tamil Nadu, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 5(12): 4641–4652.

K. Abhisheka, N. A. Aravind and T. Ganesh. 2013. Linking kids and conservation: some thoughts on the vacation training programme. Current Science 105(11)1464.

Krishnaswamy, J., M. Bonell, B. Venkatesh, B. K. Purandara, K. N. Rakesh, S. Lele, M. C. Kiran, V. Reddy and S. Badiger. 2013. The groundwater recharge response and hydrologic services of tropical humid forest ecosystems to use and reforestation: Support for the “Infiltration-evapotranspiration tradeoff hypothesis”. Journal of Hydrology 498: 191-209.

Krishnaswamy, J., R. John and S. Joseph. 2013. Consistent response of vegetation dynamics to recent climate

change in tropical mountain regions. Global Change Biology doi: 10.1111/ gcb.12362

Lele, S. 2013. Rethinking sustainable development. Current History 112(757): 311-316.

Mairota, P., V. Leronni, W. Xi, D. Mladenoff and H. Nagendra. 2013. Using spatial simulations of habitat modification for adaptive management of protected areas: Mediterranean grassland modification by woody plant encroachment. Environmental Conservation doi:10.1017/S037 689 291 300043X.

Mandle, L. T. Ticktin, S. Nath, S. Setty and A. Varghese. 2013. A framework for considering ecological interactions for common non-timber forest product species: a case study of mountain date palm (Phoenix loureiroi Kunth) leaf harvest in South India. Ecological Processes 2:21.

Matta, J. R., R. Ghate and H. Nagendra. 2013. The sustainability of traditional community forest management systems: lessons from India. Unasylva 240: 50-56.

Mohana Kumara P., Soujanya K. N., Ravikanth G., Vasudeva R., Ganeshaiah K. N., Uma Shaanker R. 2013. Production of the chromane alkaloid, rohitukine and its attenuation in endophytic fungi isolated from Dysoxylum binectariferum Hook.f and Amoora rohituka (Roxb).Wight & Arn. Phytomedicine http://dx.doi. org/10.1016/j.phymed.2013.09.019

Nagendra, H. Unnikrishnan and S. Sen. 2014. Villages in the city: spatial and temporal heterogeneity in rurality and urbanity in Bangalore, India. Land 3: 1-18.

Nagendra, H., B. Reyers and S. Lavorel (2013). Impacts of land change on biodiversity: making the link to ecosystem services. Current Opinions in Environmental Sustainability 5: 503-508.

O. K. Remadevi, N. Sapna Bai, T. O. Sasidharan, M. Balachander and P. Dharmarajan. 2013. Attempts at controlling Teak Defoliator (Hyblaea puera Cramer, Lepidoptera, Hyblaeidae) with the entomopathogenic fungus, Metarhizium anisopliae (Metsch.): laboratory, nursery and field trials. International Journal of Pest Management 59(3): 236-242 doi: 10.1080/09670874.2013.832438

Punjabi, G. A., R. Chellam, A. T. Vanak. 2013. Importance of native grassland habitat for den-site selection of Indian foxes in a fragmented landscape . PLOS ONE 8(10): e76410.

Purushothaman, S., B. K. Thomas, R. Abraham and U. Dhar. 2013. Beyond money metrics: alternative approaches to conceptualising and assessing ecosystem services. Introduction to the INSEE special section. Conservation and Society 11(4)

Purushothaman, S., S. Patil, I. Patil, I. Francis and I. Nesheim. 2013. Policy and governance for sustaining livelihoods and natural resources in small farms-a case study in Karnataka. Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics 68(2): 240-258.

Selier, S. J., B. R. Page, A. T. Vanak, R. Slotow. 2014. Sustainability of elephant hunting across international borders in Southern Africa: a case study of the Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area. The Journal of Wildlife Management 78(1):122-132.

Shivaprakash, K. N., G. Ravikanth, N. Barve, J. Ghazoul, K. N. Ganeshaiah, R. Uma Shaanker. 2013. Do ecological niche model predictions reflect the adaptive landscape of species?: A test using Myristica malabarica Lam., an endemic tree in the Western Ghats, India. PLOS ONE 8(11): e82066. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0082066

Sreekar R., A. Mohan, S. Das, P. Agarwal, R. Vivek. 2013. Natural windbreaks sustain bird diversity in a teadominated landscape. PLOS ONE 8(7): e70379. doi:10.1371/journal. pone.0070379.

Srinivasan, V., B. K. Thomas, P. Jamwal and S. Lele. 2103. Climate vulnerability and adaptation of water provisioning in developing countries: approaches to disciplinary and research-practice integration. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 5: 378-383.

Sumangala R. C., P. Mohana Kumara, R. Uma Shaanker, R. Vasudeva and G. Ravikanth. 2013. Development and characterization of microsatellite markers for Dysoxylum binectariferum, a medicinally important tree species in Western Ghats, India. Journal of Genetics doi: 10.1007/s12041-013- 0274-7

Sumangala R. C., R. Uma Shaanker, S. Dayanandhan, R. Vasudeva and G. Ravikanth. 2013. Identification of novel microsatellite markers for Saraca asoca, a medicinally important tree species in India. Journal of Genetics doi: 10.1007/s12041-013-0277-4

Thriveni H. N., Sumangala R. C, Shivaprakash K. N, Ravikanth G, Vasudeva R and Ramesh Babu H.N 2013. Genetic structure and diversity of Coscinium fenestratum: a critically endangered liana of Western Ghats,

India. Plant Systematics and Evolution doi: 10.1007/s00606-013-0890-y

Vailshery, L. S., M. Jaganmohan and H. Nagendra. 2013. Effect of street trees on microclimate and air pollution in a tropical city. Urban Forestry and Urban Greening 12: 408-415.

Vanak, A. T., D. Fortin, M. Thaker, M. Ogden, C. Owen, S. Greatwood, and R. Slotow. 2013. Moving to stay in place: behavioral mechanisms for coexistence of African large carnivores. Ecology 94:2619-2631.

Veríssimo, D., A. Kanagavel, K. S. Seshadri, R. Raghavan. 2013. The tragedy of the nature photography commons. Asian Journal of Conservation Biology 2(1): 1-2.

Popular press

Aditya, V, T Ganesh and G Malla. Eastern Ghats' tragedy. Sanctuary Asia, December 2013.

Basnett, S. 2103. Rhododendrons: beyond just beautiful flowers. Sanctuary Asia. December 2013.

Paramesha, M. Baduki, badukalu bidi (Live and let live). Prajavani. 11 December 2013.

Krishnaswamy, J. A warning to tropical mountains. Deccan Herald. 29 October 2013.

Harisha, R.P. The leafy option. Down to Earth. September 2013.

Prashanth, M. B., M. Mathivanan and T. Ganesh. 2013. Owls of the forest's edge. Sanctuary Asia. August 2013.

Unnikrishnan, H. 2013. Lakes in the Anthropocene. In Global Water News newsletter. A newsletter of the Global Water System Project.

Papers presented in seminars/ workshops/symposia/ conferences

Atkore, V. Poster on 'What drives fish diversity in the rainforests of the Central Western Ghats, India' at SCCS, Bengaluru. Co-authors J. Krishnaswamy and K. Shanker.

Gode, A., K. A. Razak. 2013. Characterization of forest canopy gaps caused by landslides using high density airborne laser scanning. Symposium on Geoinformation, Kuala Lampur, September 2013.

Lele, S. Seminar on 'Primary education and ecology'. Purnapramati School, Bengaluru. 1 Jan 2014.

Lele, S. Delivered the keynote and presidential address on 'Arkavathy:

from rejuvenation to governance' at public consultation on Arkavathy rejuvenation organized by Svaraj and Arkavathy Kumudvathi Nadi Punashchethana Samiti. Bengaluru. 2 July 2013.

for wildlife conservation in human dominated landscape of the Western Ghats, India. SCCS 2013, Bengaluru. 25-28 September 2013.

Setty, S. Conservation and monitoring of non-timber forest products with special reference to gooseberry and rock bees in south India. At seminar on Sustainable Management of Non-Timber Forest Products organized by Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy, Dehradun. 11-12 December 2013.

Setty, S. Sustainable harvest of Non- Timber Forest Products. Natural Resource Management course for senior IAS officers. 16-20 December 2013 at Administrative Training Institute, Mysore.

Srinivasan, V. Adapting to Climate Change in Urbanizing Watersheds (ACCUWa)-a situation analysis. IDRCCCW workshop organized by IDRC Canada. Kathmandu. 18 June 2013.

Invited lectures

Lele, S. Sustainability, environmentally sound development and the role of technology. National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru. 24 July 2013.

Nagendra. H. 2013. Deforestation and urbanization: sustainability and change in indian cities and forests. Public lecture, Macalester College, Saint Paul Minnesota. 30 October 2013. Also at Carleton College, Northfield Minnesota. 2 October 2013.

Nagendra. H. 2013. Graying and greening in Bangalore: impacts of urbanization on ecology. Department of Political Science, Carleton College, Northfield Minnesota. 2 October 2013. And at Jan Serie Center for Scholarship and Teaching, Macalester College, Saint Paul Minnesota. 28 September 2013.

Nagendra. H. 2013. Urbanization of habitats: challenges for India. In high level structured discussion (panel), Resilient Design for Sustainable Urbanization: In Celebration of World Habitat Day 2013, UN Habitat, United Nations Headquarters, New York. 30 September 2013.

Ravikanth, G. Mapping-a new tool to bioprospecting. At workshop on Bioprospecting and Bioresources: From Molecules to Products. At School of Bio Sciences and Technology (SBST), VIT University, Vellore. 21-23 October 2013 . The workshop was jointly sponsored by the Joint Science Education Programme of Academics (Indian Academy of Sciences, Bengaluru, Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi and The National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad)

Ravikanth, G. Molecular approaches in conservation and management of forest resources. At the workshop on Recent Advances in Forestry Research. Organized by Karnataka Science and Technology Academy, Bengaluru and College of Forestry, Ponnampet at College of Forestry, Ponnampet on 25 November, 2013.

Ravikanth, G. Molecular approaches in quality and conservation of medicinal plants. At the National Conference on New Frontiers in Medicinal Plant Research and special meeting on Medicinal Plants for Livelihood Security and Community Empowerment in Eastern Himalayas. Organized by Sikkim University, Gangtok. 3-5 October 2013.

Shivanna, K. R. Seedling recruitment, a major reproductive constraint responsible for species vulnerability. At workshop on Reproductive Biology for Conservation. University of Jammu. 22-26 Nov 2013. Also delivered this lecture on 25th and 26th November 2013 at Biodiversity and Biotechnology Centre, Rajouri, Jammu and Kashmir.

Thomas, B. K. Livelihoods and SDGs. The Energy and Resources Institute, Bengaluru, during the Regional Consultation on Designing Sustainable Development Goals. 10 July 2013.