Open Sessions – Indian Wildlife Ecology Conference 2024

Open Sessions

The Open Sessions at IWEC `24 will feature 45 presentations under six main themes:

Each presenter will be given 15 minutes to present their work and this timing includes 3-5 min for discussions and questions.

Open Session Presentation and Schedule

OS1: Behavioural Ecology ( 14 June, 2PM to 4PM, Langra / LH2)

Chairs – Dr Shomita Mukherjee (SACON), Dr M Ananda Kumar (NCF)

Sl No.	Presentation Title	Presenter	Institution
1	Effects of age and musth on the reproductive success of male Asian elephants in Nagarahole-Bandipur, southern India	Athira T K	JNCASR
2	Phytoliths as dietary proxies of Hangul	Manzoor Ahmad Dar	University of Kashmir
3	Patterns and predictors of congregation and movement behaviour of migratory Danainae butterflies	Shivani Jadeja	Krea University
4	Elephant-human coexistence in a shared landscape: A study in the corridors of Jalpaiguri, West Benga	lSayani Saha	Jadavpur University
5	Tropical and montane Apis cerana in India show distinct dance-distance calibration curves	Bharath Kumar, A. K.	GKVK & NCBS
6	Optimising aggression: how costly trait investments affect aggressive behaviours during competition.	Gokul Valiya Parambil	CES, IISc

OS2. Biogeography (14 June, 2PM to 4PM, Malgova)

Chairs- Dr Arundhati Das (WCS-India), Dr Vivek Ramachandran (NCBS)

Sl No.	Presentation Title	Presenter	Institution
1	Seasonal variation in arthropod communities along an elevation gradient in the eastern Himalayas and its implications for avian elevational migration	Tarun Menon	Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science
2	Phylogeny, divergence time estimation and biogeography of Army ant genus Aenictus Shuckard, 1840	Bikash Sahoo	NISER Bhubaneswar
3	Beta diversity and range size patterns of butterflies along the elevational gradient in Eastern Himalaya	Sailendra Dewan	Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment, Regional Office Eastern Himalaya-Northeast India
4	Phylogeny, biogeography and diversification of Miliusa (Annonaceae) in Peninsular India	Abhishek Gopal	CSIR: Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology
5	The drifting Indian plate as a biotic ferry for tarantulas	Aritra Biswas	Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc Bangalore
6	About Time: finding the temporal origins of endemic birds of Peninsular India	Archita Sharma	IISER Tirupati
7	Investigating Hybrid origins, Polyploidization and Parthenogenesis in Indotyphlops braminus	Aarthi R	Indian Institute of Science
8	PATTERNS OF BIODIVERSITY ALONG A HABITAT AND DISTURBANCE GRADIENT OF SACRED GROVES IN WESTERN GHATS	Suvarna Khadakkar	Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc Bangalore

OS3: Raptor Ecology (15 June, 2PM to 4PM, Langra / LH2)

Chairs- Dr Aparajita Datta (NCF), Chris Bowden (RSPB)

Sl No.	Presentation Title	Presenter	Institution
1	Tracking Raptors: Home Ranges, Habitat Use, and Movement Patterns of Eagles and Harriers in Gujarat, India	Tahir Ali Rather	The Corbett Foundation
2	Exploring anthropogenic threats and human perceptions towards owls in Indian cities	Debangini Roy	Dr. Vishwanath Karad MIT World Peace University
3	How Owls Coexist: Learnings from Long-term Owl Research in Central India	Prachi Mehta	Wildlife Research and Conservation Society
4	Analysing fine-scale tracking data to understand wintering habitat selection in Montagu’s harriers	Arjun Kannan	ATREE, Bangalore
5	Powerlines a major threat to Vultures in Kangra district, Himachal Pradesh	Malyasri Bhattacharya	Wildlife Institute of India
6	Site Occupancy and Habitat Selection of the Forest Owlet in the Reserved Forests of Madhya Pradesh	Hrishikesh Karandikar	Wildlife Research and Conservation Society
7	Farmers’ Pesticide Choices: Implications for Raptor Preservation in Arid Agriculture, India	Sneha Singh	Aligarh Muslim University

OS4: Conservation Survey + Community Ecology ( 15 June, 2PM to 4PM, Malgova)

Chairs – Dr Manvi Sharma (Ashoka University), Dr Harendra Singh Bargali (The Corbett Foundation)

Sl No.	Presentation Title	Presenter	Institution
1	Morphological traits mediate site use of birds in a forest-agriculture mosaic of Northeast India	Biang La Nam Syiem	Conservation Initiatives
2	Avian Haemosporidian prevalence across a human-dominated landscape in the Shola Sky Islands	Ashwin Warudkar	IISER Tirupati
3	Coffee, climate, and croaks: examining taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity of anurans in the coffee agroforests of Western Ghats	Vijay Karthick	Nature Conservation Foundation
4	Does arthropod abundance influence size, richness and composition of mixed-species bird flocks?	Aditya Satish	Wildlife Institute of India
5	The Symphony of Survival: A Bioacoustics Approach to Understanding Mixed-species Bird Flocks in the Eastern Himalayas	Satyam Gupta	Pondicherry University
6	Conservation prospects of Markhor Capra falconeri in Kashmir Himalaya, India.	Tanushree Srivastava	Wildlife Trust of India
7	Integrating local knowledge into ecological surveys to understand the cryptic pangolins in Assam	Abhijit Konwar	National Institute Of Advanced Studies, Bangalore
8	Importance of Community Reserves in the conservation of small & large carnivores in Meghalaya, India	Sanyukta P. Kasbekar	SALIM ALI CENTRE FOR ORNITHOLOGY AND NATURAL HISTORY
9	Predator-centric camera-trap placement design underestimates prey densities	Rajat Rao	Nature Conservation Foundation
10	Assessing ungulate response to conservation-oriented village relocations	R. Yashaswi Rao	Maharashtra Forest Department

OS5: Plant Ecology (16 June, 11:30 AM to 1:30PM, Dasheri)

Chairs – Dr Divya Mudappa (NCF) and Dr Navendu Page (Thackeray Wildlife Foundation)

Sl No.	Presentation Title	Presenter	Institution
1	Structure, Diversity, and Natural Regeneration of Rainforest Tree Communities in Abandoned Coffee Secondary Forests, Western Ghats	Abhirami C	NCF
2	Phenological Pattern of Dominant Tree Species from a Tropical Wet Evergreen Forest of Southern Western Ghats, Kerala	ARUN LAL M	KERALA FOREST RESEARCH INSTITUTE
3	FLOWER COLOUR IN LANTANA CAMARA IS ASSOCIATED WITH POPULATION STRUCTURE	Praveen P	NCBS, Bengaluru
4	Examining the role of intraspecific trait variation in tree species abundance	Radhika Rajendra	IISER Mohali
5	Invasive plants and their mycorrhizal associations	Yadugiri Tiruvaimozhi	Krea University
6	Determinants of community structure and function in Indian grasslands	Aaroha Malagi	National Centre for Biological Sciences
7	Variation of grass functional traits across broad environmental gradients in India	Mukta Mande	National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore
8	Tree invasion alters litter decomposition rates in a montane grassland ecosystem	Dev Bagdi	Indian Institute of Science Education and Research

OS6: Climate Change (16 June, 11:30 AM to 1:30PM, Haapus/LH1)

Chairs: Anupama K (French Institute), Mohammad Firoz Quamar (Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences)

Sl No.	Presentation Title	Presenter	Institution
1	Tree demography & carbon dynamics in Indian forests: Insights from a network of monitoring plots	Mahesh Sankaran	NCBS
2	Climate change affecting the Myristica swamps: an endangered wetland ecosystem in the Western Ghats	Shalini Parmar	Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow
3	Understanding the dynamics of top-down controls of community structure under changing climate	Ishrat Shaheen	University of Kashmir
4	Novel ecosystem services by Cyanobacteria in Chilika Lagoon, India	Manisha Ray	Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad
5	Does drought affect survival, social structure, and body condition of Asian elephants?	Anvitha S	JNCASR
6	Would the mesic savannas of Eastern Ghats be forests in the absence of fire?	Shasank Ongole	University of Bayreuth

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