IWE26: Indian Wildlife Ecology Conference 2026
IWE26: Indian Wildlife Ecology Conference 2026


Symposium topics
(IWEC) 2026
Please click the symposium name
to view the description.

IWE26: Indian Wildlife Ecology Conference 2026

Symposium Topics
(IWEC) 2026

Please click the symposium name to view the description.

.

  • Ghazala Shahabuddin, Ashoka University
  • Meghna Krishnadas, National Centre for Biological Sciences-TIFR

    Globally, a large proportion of forests and open natural ecosystems are considered to be degraded. Ecosystem degradation is known to be caused by over-exploitation, biological invasions, climate change and fragmentation processes which have become pervasive in the Anthropocene. Despite the large spatial extent of degradation on ground, its detection and quantitative estimation remain difficult and the consequences of degradation for ecosystem functions still remain understudied. In this symposium, we will invite papers to showcase work, and stimulate discussion on new methodologies of detection and measurement of ecosystem degradation, as well as implications for ecosystem functions. We will make a special effort to solicit papers from early career ecologists from understudied ecosystems, and to ensure diversity of gender and under-represented communities and regions across India. This symposium will be helpful in delineating the policy-level implications of degradation, such as for climate change mitigation, biodiversity conservation and forest cover monitoring. We will design the session over 140 minutes, but the specific format will be decided based on the abstracts that are received.
S1. Ecological degradation in the Anthropocene: Detection, estimation, and the consequences for ecosystem function

S1. Ecological degradation in the Anthropocene: Detection, estimation, and the consequences for ecosystem function

No. Talk Title Presenting Author Affiliation
1. Multiple land-use legacies drive divergent floristic recovery in tropical rainforests over decadal timescales despite shared landscape context A. P. Madhavan Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysuru
2. Plant traits, neighbourhoods, and herbivore network structure mediate elevated herbivory at semi-arid forest edges Upasana Sengupta Ashoka University, Haryana
3. Forest Fire-Induced Habitat Loss and Fragmentation in Uttarakhand Himalaya Using Satellite Remote Sensing Tazmin Sultana Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute
4. Detecting ecological degradation using NDVI breakpoints in Western Himalayas Abhishek Kumar ICAR National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi
5. Resilience and Recovery of Degraded Himalayan Oak Forests: Role of Dispersal Traits, Habit and Habitat Ghazala Shahabuddin Ashoka University, Haryana
6. Impacts of livestock herbivory on successional mangroves in the Nicobar Islands Thirumurugan V Madras Christian College, Chennai
  • Maria Thaker, Indian Institute of Science
  • Ratna Ghosal, Ahmedabad University

    A curation of talks that describe the proximate mechanisms of behaviour in wild animals. These can include hormonal mediation, neural pathways, and genetics. We welcome talks that describe mechanistic correlates of behaviour in wild animals as well as experiments or manipulations that explicitly connect proximate mechanisms to behavioural outcomes.
S2. Proximate mechanisms of animal behaviour

S2. Proximate mechanisms of animal behaviour

No. Talk Title Presenting Author Affiliation
1. Thermal fluctuations affect embryonic physiology in a tropical agamid lizard Amanda Ben Indian Institute of Science Bangalore
2. From Song to Choice: Neural and Behavioural Correlates of Female Songbird Preferences Titir Roy Indian Institute of Science Education and Research
3. Ontogenetic stage divergence in morphology, activity and behavioral phenotypes of the hydrothermal vent crab Xenograpsus testudinatus Jishnu Panamoly Ayyappan Institute of Marine Biology, National Taiwan Ocean University, Taiwan
4. Linking visual sensitivity and social behaviour across light environments in green chromides (Etroplus suratensis) Chena desai Biological and Life Sciences, School of Arts and Sciences, Ahmedabad University
5. Comparative patterns of basking behaviour in mugger crocodiles across captive and free-ranging populations Aditya Wadekar Biological and Life Sciences, School of Arts and Sciences, Ahmedabad University
6. Leopards, Dogs and People: A Complex Landscape of Fear Sofiya V M Indian Institute of Science
7. Beyond Mistaken Identity: Using Proximate Mechanisms to Resolve the Paradox of Same-Sex Sexual Behavior Viraj R. Torsekar GITAM University
  • Honnavalli N. Kumara, Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), South India Centre of Wildlife Institute of India
  • Santanu Mahato, Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), South India Centre of Wildlife Institute of India
  • Arijit Pal, Food and Land Use Coalition India

    This symposium aims to present a comprehensive, multidimensional synthesis of primate studies in India to engage more deeply with the complex and intertwined question oF conservation and coexistence, by integrating perspectives from multiple research domains, from population ecology to behavioural science, or from cognitive ecology to urban primate studies, and even to community-based conservation and beyond. India harbours one of the world’s highest diversities of non-human primates, many of which occupy landscapes undergoing rapid anthropogenic alterations. The sessions will examine distribution of primate populations drawing on case-based situation analyses of selected primate species in India, how they respond behaviourally and cognitively to habitat modification, and how the relationship is evolving between humans and nonhuman-primates in shared landscapes. The forum will include national- and regional-scale population assessments, long-term ecological monitoring, community-driven conservation initiatives, urban primate ecology, and experimental and mechanistic approaches that reveal adaptive behaviours underlying primate persistence in human-modified niche. Collectively, the symposium will bridge large-scale ecological patterns with fine-scale behavioural and cognitive processes while introducing an innovative, case-based perspective and conservation challenges in India. 
S3. Conservation and coexistence: Multidimensional learnings from primatology

S3. Conservation and coexistence: Multidimensional learnings from primatology

No. Talk Title Presenting Author Affiliation
1. Responsible and ethical experimentation can offer unique insights into conservation ecology, behavior, and cognition – Lessons from Indian primatology Sayantan Das University of Mysore
2. Working with secondary data: Developments, Possibilities and Concerns Zakhiya Pulukkol Cheriyandilakath National Institute of Advanced Studies
3. Beyond fragmentation: Differential demographic responses of primate species to anthropogenic changes in the Anamalai Hills, Western Ghats Santanu Mahato Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), South India Centre of Wildlife Institute of India
4. Unlikely Friends? Coexistence Strategies of Macaques and Street Dogs in Shared Anthropogenic Landscapes Arijit Pal Food and Land Use Coalition India, WRI India
5. The Bonnet Macaque One Health Project Praneetha Monipi Adhvaya: Beyond Barriers
6. Ecology of urban dwelling rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) Taniya Gill Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE)
7. Socio-ecological drivers of human behavioral responses to Himalayan langur (Semnopithecus schistaceus) encounters in human-dominated landscapes Diganta Mandal Indiana University/Centre for Ecology Development and Research
  • Swapna Nelaballi, Centre for Wildlife Studies
  • Sruthi Unnikrishnan, Centre for Wildlife Studies

     

    Socio-ecological systems are shaped by relationships between people, wildlife, and landscapes, and understanding this complexity often requires more than a single method or dataset. Mixed methods research combines qualitative and quantitative approaches to examine ecological patterns alongside the social and economic contexts that influence them. This symposium focuses on practical ways of integrating interviews, surveys, long-term ecological monitoring, behavioural observations, and statistical analyses in socio-ecological research.

    The session brings together researchers and practitioners working across ecology and conservation. Using case studies from tropical landscapes, speakers will show how combining approaches reveals patterns missed by single methods. For example, pairing community interviews with behavioural data can explain why certain forms of human-wildlife interaction persist.
    Linking household level socio-economic information with ecological indicators can also clarify why conservation outcomes vary across space. The symposium will also address challenges such as mismatched sampling scales, differing data structures, and disciplinary divides. Speakers will share strategies including early planning, collaborative design, and transparent integration of multiple data types, encouraging confident and careful use of mixed methods in complex socio-ecological systems.

     

S4. Integrating mixed methods for deeper insights in socio-ecological research

S4. Integrating mixed methods for deeper insights in socio-ecological research

No. Talk Title Presenting Author Affiliation
1. Blurry Boundaries: learnings from trans-disciplinary cross pollination Samira Agnihotri The University of Trans-Disciplinary Health Sciences and Technology (TDU)
2. Understanding spatial behaviour and its drivers: A case study from India Abhishek Dudi Ashoka University, Haryana
3. Integrating Ethnographic and Behavioural Approaches to Study Human-Dog Partnerships in Himalayan Pastoral Systems Rashmi Singh Rana University of Technology Sydney
4. Beyond Ecology: Socio-Political-Ecological Dimensions of Human-Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence Shweta Shivakumar Nature Conservation Foundation
5. Adopting methodological plurality to understand elephant agency in shaping human-elephant conflict in North Bengal Akashdeep Roy Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune
6. A social-ecological assessment of the conservation potential of community-managed forests of Northeast India Varun R. Goswami Conservation Initiatives
7. Unraveling patterns and processes in socio-ecological systems through trans-disciplinary enquiries Aritra Kshettry WWF-India
8. Methods to the madness: Toolkits to leverage mixed methods research and data for biodiversity conservation Kadambari Devarajan Independent Researcher
  • Nishant Kumar, National Centre for Biological Science-TIFR; Thinkpaws Foundation; University of Oxford
  • Priyanka Justa, Wildlife Institute of India and Neeraj Mahar, Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun
  • Yavdendradev V. Jhala and Arjun Srivathsa, National Centre for Biological Science-TIFR

    Canids occupy a remarkable ecological spectrum, from apex predators in wilderness to commensal species in urban environments, yet remain understudied. The 21st century marks a critical epoch for Indian canids, necessitating rapid adaptation to an expanding “human niche.” This symposium explores the complex dynamics of canid–human coexistence across diverse Indian landscapes: wolves facing habitat degradation and genetic introgression from free-ranging dogs (FRD), while Asiatic wild dogs circumvent declining populations and disease transmission risks. Indian foxes and golden jackals demonstrate remarkable behavioural plasticity; divergent ecological trajectories amidst urbanisation and habitat modification. FRDs, now numbering in millions, pose conservation and public health challenges following contradictory Supreme Court directives.

    This session brings together researchers working across montane forests, grasslands, production lands and human-dominated landscapes to examine how canids respond to urbanisation’s distinct pressures. Historical context reveals resilience—jackals and dholes survived 20th-century culling campaigns—but contemporary challenges demand urgent scientific attention. Canine distemper transmission to Gir lions and immunoglobulin detection in tigers underscores interconnected threats. We also seek contributions that deconstruct these interactions to formulate a holistic One Health vision, ensuring that the future of India’s neglected carnivores is defined by scientific understanding rather than polarised conflict.

S5. Canids at the crossroads: Coexistence and conflicts in urbanizing India

S5. Canids at the crossroads: Coexistence and conflicts in urbanizing India

No. Talk Title Presenting Author Affiliation
1. TBA Chandrima Home Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education
2. TBA Harish Tiwari IIT Guwahati
3. Gulliver's shipwreck: a case of miniaturisation in the genus Asanada (Chilopoda, Scolopendridae) Aditya Rana Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh
4. Sociocultural Dimensions of Human-Jackal Coexistence in Urbanizing Assam, Northeast India Priyanka Borah Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), MAHE
5. Free-ranging dog movement and habitat use in a protected human-wildlife landscape in South India Sanjana Vadakke Kuruppath Independent Researcher
6. Damage Does Not Dictate Attitude: Conditional Tolerance Toward Indian Grey Wolves in Agro-Pastoral Landscapes. Avril Sahana Amanna Wildlife Institute of India
7. Chai and Chennayi: Insights from long-term studies of dholes in forest–agroforest mosaics in South India Arjun Srivathsa National Centre for Biological Sciences–TIFR
  • Mayank Kohli, National Centre for Biological Sciences-TIFR
  • Jayashree Ratnam, National Centre for Biological Sciences-TIFR
  • Mahesh Sankaran, National Centre for Biological Sciences-TIFR

    It is now widely acknowledged that open ecosystems such as grasslands, deserts and savannas across the tropics and especially in India remain at the margins of policy and research even though they host unique wildlife assemblages and form the backbone of a thriving pastoralist economy. As a result, grasslands face multiple threats from widespread anthropogenic changes as well as misdirected policy interventions such as afforestation, livestock-grazing bans and fire suppression. There is a need to scale up ecological research to advance our understanding of these open ecosystems and inform their management. This session aims to bring together cutting-edge research on fundamental and applied issues in grassland and savanna ecology from diverse perspectives and regions across the country. Research will span themes including a) role of herbivores, microbes, fire, and climate in regulating grassland structure and function, b) the impacts of environmental changes such as land-use change, climate change and plant invasions, and c) novel research themes at the intersection of multiple-disciplines (e.g., OneHealth). We invite speakers from diverse career stages and academic lineages, so as to bring together a diversity of perspectives, approaches and techniques. As such, it will provide a forum for an exchange of ideas and perspectives, and help foster new collaborations.

S6. Grasslands and savannas - understanding fundamental drivers and predicting impacts of environmental changes

S6. Grasslands and savannas - understanding fundamental drivers and predicting impacts of environmental changes

No. Talk Title Presenting Author Affiliation
1. Relative importance of protection and habitat in determining species’ abundances in an Open Natural Ecosystem Swapna Lawrence Wildlife Institute of India
2. Understanding grassland specialist abundances in northern Deccan ONEs and consequences of agricultural intensification for bird conservation Samakshi Tiwari Nature Conservation Foundation
3. The Historical Dynamics of the Shola Forest-Grassland Mosaic System in the Western Ghats across glacial-interglacial cycles Praveen P Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Tirupati
4. Woody Thickets and Subsidized Predators: Reassembling Faunal Communities in Indian Grasslands Chetan Misher Wildlife Conservation Trust, India
5. Dominant species mediate temporal grassland stability under short-term warming Anish Paul Biodiversity and Ecosystems Ecology Research Laboratory, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore, India; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
6. Valuing traditional literature as archives of biocultural histories could catalyze tropical savanna conservation Ashish Nerlekar IISER-Pune
7. Conservation Politics and Ecological Insights: The Grazing Ban in Sikkim Rashmi Singh IIT Hyderabad

  • Sumeet Gulati, University of British Columbia

    Effective wildlife conservation requires insights beyond ecology. This panel brings together four researchers applying tools from economics, econometrics, and behavioral psychology to design and evaluate solutions for biodiversity protection. Despite its promise, economic analysis remains underutilized in conservation science (Dickman, 2011). Economic  reasoning helps us understand incentives, trade-offs, and human behavior—key drivers of conservation outcomes—while offering rigorous methods to assess policy effectiveness and efficiency. Expanding these tools into ecology enables evidence-based evaluation of widely used conservation strategies.  This session is a dynamic exchange between economists and wildlife ecologists. Panelists will present research on human–wildlife conflict, compensation schemes, the impact of government programs on tribal communities, and poaching. We aim to foster discussion on tools commonly used in both disciplines, pressing conservation issues in India, and available data for cross-disciplinary work. Attendees will gain fresh perspectives on integrating economic and behavioral approaches into conservation practice, sparking collaboration and innovative ideas to advance both fields.

S7. The economics of wildlife conservation

S7. The economics of wildlife conservation

No. Talk Title Presenting Author Affiliation
1. Making markets for ecosystem services: Lessons from the Bobolink Project Anwesha Chakrabarti Krea University
2. From “criminals” to conservationists: Pardhis and the Wildlife Protection Act Chinmayi Srikanth Indian Statistical Institute Delhi
3. Burden of mortality and morbidity caused by snakebites contribute to economic loss in a rural population in India Swapnil Kiran CSIR - Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology
4. Empathy for Elephants: Investigating Household Wealth Disparities and Divergent Perspectives Towards Elephants in Southern India Dr. Simran Prasad Centre for Wildlife Studies (CWS)
5. Community Forest Management and Biodiversity: Evidence from Bird Counts in Nepal Agnij Sur Economics and Planning Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi
6. Human-wildlife interactions and the economics of crop loss outside protected areas in North-Western Himalaya. Mehreen Khaleel Cluster University, Srinagar
  • Rohit Chakravarty, Nature Conservation Foundation
  • Baheerathan Murugavel, Kerala Forest Research Institute & Vaaval-Centre for Indian Bat Research on Ecosystem Sustainability
  • Melito Pinto, GITAM Visakhapatnam


    Description
    With 135 species, bats comprise India’s largest mammalian order, yet chiropterologists are outnumbered, with far fewer than one researcher per bat species. This is changing as a growing number of researchers delve into studies on bats, exploring unique sensory abilities like echolocation and probing human perceptions of non-charismatic animals. There is also a rising interest in investigating bat-borne zoonotic diseases, crucial for human health and coexistence with wildlife. This sets the stage for proposing a timely symposium on recent advances in bat research and conservation. Abstract submissions are anticipated on a broad spectrum of topics, including biogeography, behaviour and sensory ecology, prey-predator interactions, conservation issues such as urbanisation and wind energy, and ecosystem services. Over the past decade, women’s contributions to Indian bat research have peaked, a trend we also expect to reflect in the abstract submissions. The symposium aims to curate talks from across career stages to provide a platform for bat researchers to share and learn from each other’s diverse experiences, while also offering insights into studying nocturnal and elusive taxa for the wider ecological community.

S8. A new era in Indian bat research & conservation

S8. A new era in Indian bat research & conservation

No. Talk Title Presenting Author Affiliation
1. Knowledge shortfalls in South Asian bat conservation Aditya Srinivasulu Zoo Outreach Organization
2. Life inside the culm: CCTV insights into the activity patterns of bamboo bats in the southern Western Ghats Sreehari Raman Kerala Forest Research Institute
3. Foraging Ecology of the Critically Endangered Hipposideros hypophyllus in Kolar, Karnataka, India Using Radio Telemetry Asmita Shukla Bat Conservation India Trust
4. Roosting-caves selection of endemic and endangered Rhinolophus cognatus in tropical caves of Andaman Islands Avimanyu Mukherjee Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (South India Centre of Wildlife Institute of India)
5. Activity overlap and temporal segregation in sympatric bats in a Tropical island ecosystem M K Shalini Pondicherry University
6. Oh bat, where art thou? Drivers of insectivorous bat activity in an urban landscape Melito Prinson Pinto GITAM Deemed to be University
  • Bindu Raghavan, Wildlife Trust of India 
  • Karthikeyan Vasudevan, Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology

    The session on ‘Wildlife Disease and impact on Ecology and Conservation’ will focus on studies carried out in India on diseases in wildlife, their ecology (including theoretical epidemiological models), impact on wildlife populations and ecosystems, and potential relevance to One Health, wildlife conservation (in situ and ex situ). It will include original works conducted by the authors based on a hypothesis with evidence towards or against the same. Case studies of individual animals or studies that have merely screened samples with no clear impacts on wild animal populations shall not be considered. This session will consist of up to 6 presentations (max. 15 minutes for presentation plus 5 minutes Q&A per speaker- total 20 minutes per talk) with a  5-minute introductory session at the beginning of the symposium and a 15-minute overall discussion & synthesis session at the end of the symposium. If feasible, the studies (only previously unpublished data) could form part of a special issue/ topic to be published after peer-review in an appropriate journal.

S9. Wildlife diseases and significance for ecology and conservation

S9. Wildlife diseases and significance for ecology and conservation

No. Talk Title Presenting Author Affiliation
1. Everything Everywhere All at Once: Limited effectiveness of dog-focused mitigation strategies on managing canine distemper risk among Trans-Himalayan carnivores Divyajyoti Ganguly Nature Conservation Foundation; Manipal Academy of Higher Education
2. Lessons learnt from studies on chytridiomycosis in amphibians: it is time to take the disease seriously Karthikeyan Vasudevan CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology
3. Host ecology drives the degree of parasite generalism in birds globally Ashwin Warudkar 1. National Centre for Biological Sciences, 2. Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Tirupati
4. Feeding faith, fostering AMR (antimicrobial resistance): Identifying ecological determinants and implications on Rhesus macaques in Delhi Nishant Kumar 1. NCBS (TIFR) Bangalore 2. Thinkpaws Foundation, Delhi 3. Department of Biology, University of Oxford.
5. Investigating temporal coronavirus persistence, exposure, and diversity across life-history stages of bats Darshan S National Centre for Biological Sciences - TIFR, Bengaluru
  • Maitreya Sil, JAIN (Deemed-to-be University)
  • Aniruddha Datta-Roy, National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER)

    In the last 20 years, our idea of where Indian biota originated and how they colonized the Indian subcontinent has been completely reshaped by the advent of molecular phylogenetic and statistical tools. However, we still do not clearly understand macro-scale processes that shaped the colonization patterns, apart from plate tectonics. We have also begun to understand the historical processes that shaped the species and morphological diversification, and their distribution patterns of lineages after they colonized the subcontinent. A few studies indicate that the climatic oscillations taking place in the Cenozoic has played a major role in this regard, but we still do not have enough understanding to establish common patterns or the underlying processes. Lastly, geographical patterns of genetic diversity which are relatively underexplored in the subcontinent have seen some recent advances especially with the help of next generation sequencing. The Indian subcontinent is extremely heterogeneous in terms of climate and geography and is home to a diverse host of biota, which has the potential to deepen our understanding of macro and microevolutionary processes. The goal of the symposium is to bring young and experienced researchers alike to address some of these lacunae and plan the way forward.
S10. State of biogeography, diversification and phylogeography research in the Indian subcontinent

S10. State of biogeography, diversification and phylogeography research in the Indian subcontinent

No. Talk Title Presenting Author Affiliation
1. Patterns and drivers of diversification rates across geographic space in Western Ghats Pragyadeep Roy CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology
2. Variation in elevational influence in generating patterns of intraspecific genetic diversity and differentiation in individuals of Philautus frogs Debjyoti Dutta Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune
3. Origin, evolution, and speciation patterns of woody plants in Western Ghats, India Abhishek Gopal CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad
4. Phylogenomic Insights into Lineage Divergence and Population Structure in the Indian Spectacled Cobra (Naja naja) Paulomi Dam Kanunjna Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru
5. Contrasting biogeographic histories in co-occurring open-habitat birds of Peninsular India Vishwa Jagati Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Tirupati
6. Gulliver's shipwreck: a case of miniaturisation in the genus Asanada (Chilopoda, Scolopendridae) Karunakar Majhi CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CSIR-CCMB)
  • Ramya Bala Prabhakaran, National Institute of Advanced Studies
  • Renee Borges, Indian Institute of Science

    As global warming intensifies, the IPCC report predicts that major carbon sinks will face increasing stress. Large-scale afforestation and restoration programmes, often designed without long-term ecological context, threaten ancient fire-adapted ecosystems and the services they provide. These challenges expose a core problem in conservation and climate policy: management baselines are usually drawn from only a few decades of observation, while ecosystems themselves are shaped by climate variability, disturbance and human intervention over centuries to millennia – evidence for which can be found in paleoecological records. Palaeontological records on the other hand, provide a powerful but underused archive of how biodiversity, fire and climate have interacted through deep time. Fossil and sedimentary evidence from the Quaternary period, spanning the last 2.58 million years of strong climate oscillations, documents repeated shifts in species distributions, community composition and ecosystem resilience. Yet such data remain largely absent from global climate assessments, including IPCC. This symposium brings together palaeontologists, paleoecologists and long-term ecologists to explore how deep-time records can be translated into ecosystem modelling and adaptive management strategies.
S11. Can the paleosciences inform landscape and biodiversity conservation?

S11. Can the paleosciences inform landscape and biodiversity conservation?

No. Talk Title Presenting Author Affiliation
1. Mallotus-Macaranga pollen as proxies for forest dynamics and disturbance regimes Mahi Bansal National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
2. Who was the Malabar civet? Uma Ramakrishnan National Centre for Biological Sciences, TIFR
3. Fire-vegetation interactions in the high-elevation shola-grassland mosaic of the Nilgiris Ramya Bala Prabhakaran National Institute of Advanced Studies
4. The paleoecology of pollination and its relevance to contemporary pollination services Renee M. Borges Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru
5. Three centuries of precipitation variability in the Kashmir Himalaya: a tree-ring reconstruction reveals temporal instability and extreme hydroclimate events Rayees Ahmad Malik Department of Botany, University of Kashmir
6. Restoration goals: Insights from antiquity and dynamics of forest-savanna mosaics in Central India during the Holocene Meghna Agarwala Ashoka University, Haryana
  • G Umapathy, CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology
  • Mukesh Thakur, Zoological Survey of India

    Biodiversity assessment, monitoring & conservation face growing challenges, particularly in complex ecosystems where species detection is difficult due to vast habitats and elusive organisms. Conventional methods are often labour-intensive, invasive, time consuming or biased, limiting their ability to capture comprehensive ecological patterns and delaying conservation responses. Environmental DNA (eDNA) -genetic material shed by organisms into their surroundings has emerged as a powerful, non-invasive approach that overcomes many of these limitations by enabling sensitive and rapid biodiversity assessments. Spanning taxa from viruses to mammals, eDNA facilitates monitoring across diverse ecosystems, including oceans, freshwater systems, soils and even air. It provides critical insights into human-induced threats such as habitat degradation, ecosystem health decline, climate change impacts and biodiversity loss, while also helping address fundamental ecological questions. This symposium aims to explore the multifaceted applications of eDNA, ranging from single-species detection to community-level biodiversity assessment, disease surveillance in wildlife&humans and ecosystem service evaluation. By integrating molecular tools with real-world case studies, the symposium highlights the potential of eDNA to strengthen conservation efforts and promote interdisciplinary collaborations.
S12. Advancing biodiversity monitoring and conservation through eDNA

S12. Advancing biodiversity monitoring and conservation through eDNA

No. Talk Title Presenting Author Affiliation
1. Environmental DNA for Biodiversity Monitoring in India: Status, Opportunities and Challenges G Umapathy CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad 500007, India
2. Metabarcoding Approaches for Unraveling Soil Fungal Communities in the Western Ghats, India: Conservation Implications and Future Directions Manikandan Ariyan Institute of Ecology and Earth Science, University of Tartu Tartu, Estonia
3. Invisible to visible: Unravelling aquatic biodiversity of the Eastern Ghats using environmental DNA Dr. Manisha Ray CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad 500007, India
4. Optimization of sedaDNA metabarcoding approach to investigate changes in the natural environment in deep time at Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary, southern India Ramya Bala Prabhakaran National Institute of Advanced Studies
  • Manjari Jain, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Mohali
  • Divya Panicker, Ashoka University
  • Satyam Gupta, Ashoka University

    Animals inhabit an acoustic world where information travels faster than they do. Bioacoustics offers a powerful, non-invasive lens into this realm, revealing how individuals communicate, compete, and adapt to changing environments. Following the successful IWEC 2024 bioacoustics symposium, this session expands both scope and depth by gathering researchers across taxa and soundscapes to demonstrate how acoustic signals encode behaviour, social and mating systems, species identity, and habitat quality. The talks will cover a broad range of themes in animal acoustic communication and soundscape ecology, from the molecular and neurobiological foundations of sound processing to the fundamental mechanisms of signal production, transmission, and perception. We will also examine applied uses of acoustic data for biodiversity monitoring and environmental change, showcasing studies that blend detailed fieldwork with quantitative techniques, automated analyses, machine learning, and long-term acoustic datasets. To foster an inclusive dialogue, we aim to feature a diverse range of perspectives from senior, mid-career, and early-career researchers, along with students. Additionally, we seek broad representation from Research Institutes, Universities, and NGOs to bridge academic innovation with practical conservation applications.
S13. Bioacoustic frontiers in behaviour, ecology and conservation

S13. Bioacoustic frontiers in behaviour, ecology and conservation

No. Talk Title Presenting Author Affiliation
1. Combining acoustic and visual platforms to estimate Indian Ocean humpback dolphin population size Isha Bopardikar IISER Tirupati & Foundation for Ecological Research Advocacy and Learning (FERAL)
2. Using bioacoustics to assess gibbon conservation status in community-managed forests of Northeast India Divya Vasudev Conservation Initiatives
3. Detecting elephant vocalisations using CNN-LSTM in Dhenkalal Forest Division from acoustic recordings Devesh Bajaj Ashoka University, Haryana
4. Fantastic beasts and when to find them: evaluating the effect of environmental variables on katydid activity Dr. Chandranshu Tiwari Shyama Prasad Mukherji College for Women, University of Delhi
5. Bioacoustic data with machine learning methods indicate synchrony in a songbird’ breeding phenology across a climatically varied landscape Chiti Aravind Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Tirupati
6. Effects of Opioid Neuromodulation on Singing and Song learning in Zebra Finches Soumya Iyengar BRIC-NBRC, Manesar, India
7. When Seeing Failed, Listening Worked: From Wolf Howls to Bioacoustic Indicators for Habitat Management Sougata Sadhukhan Institute of Environment Education and Research, Bharati Vidyapeeth University, Pune
8. Bioacoustic Insights into Wetas, Katydids, and Tree Crickets of the Indian Subcontinent Swati Diwakar University of Delhi

  • Ahmad Masood Khan, Aligarh Muslim University

    Wildlife across ecosystems is increasingly exposed to human-driven disturbances such as habitat modification, infrastructure development, tourism, resource extraction, and changing land-use practices. These pressures often first appear as changes in behaviour,altered activity patterns, shifts in habitat use, modified social interactions, and changes in risk-taking-long before population declines become evident. Understanding behavioural responses is therefore critical for interpreting ecological resilience and vulnerability. This symposium brings together studies that examine how different forms of disturbance influence wildlife behaviour and, in turn, shape ecological outcomes. Drawing on field-based research across terrestrial and aquatic systems, presentations will explore behavioural responses across taxa, including mammals, birds, reptiles, and invertebrates. Themes include behavioural plasticity, vigilance and stress responses, movement and space use, altered foraging strategies, and changes in breeding and social behaviour under disturbance. The session links behavioural change to ecological outcomes, including survival, reproduction, and species interactions. Case studies reveal both adaptive responses and ecological limits, concluding with a synthesis on integrating behaviour into ecological research and conservation planning.

S14. Behaviour under pressure: How disturbance shapes wildlife ecology

S14. Behaviour under pressure: How disturbance shapes wildlife ecology

No. Talk Title Presenting Author Affiliation
1. Coexistence in a Crowded Landscape: Spatial and Temporal Ecology of Small Carnivores Siddhi Damle Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun; Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Coimbatore
2. Feeding on the edge: Diet and Movement of Lion Tailed Macaques across forest-human interface in Kudremukh National Park G Maria Christie Lawrencia Bharati Vidyapeeth Institute of Environment Education and Research, Pune
3. Scavenging behaviour of vertebrates at human-mediated carcass disposal sites in the Aravalli landscape of Haryana Hitesh Kumar Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Anaikatty (Post), Coimbatore.
4. The altered social behaviour of Asian elephants in a human-dominated landscape Parvathi Krishna Prasad Conservation Initiatives, Deakin University
5. Light Sleepers: Effects of Artificial Light At Night on the Behaviour and Physiology of the Indian Rock Agama Nandita R Satish Indian Institute of Science, Karnataka, India
6. Risk, Resources, and Repercussions: Context-dependent Costs of Fear in Desert Lizards Mihir Joshi Indian Institute of Science
7. Amber or white, dim or bright: Effects of artificial light at night on chameleon behaviour, morphology, and performance Udita Bansal Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University
8. “Beyond the ‘Super-Predator’ Paradigm: Attenuated Fear Responses to Human Presence in Himalayan Carnivores in India” Pooja Chand Ashoka University, Haryana
9. Edges of Risk: Behavioral Adaptation of Asian Elephants in a Mining-Dominated Landscape of Keonjhar, Odisha Sibasish Sahoo Amity Institute of Forestry and Wildlife Science, Amity University, Noida
10. Dynamics of scavenger visitation and competition at carrion resources in the Thar desert Manas Shukla Wildlife Institute of India
  • Seshadri K S, Ashoka Trust For Research In Ecology And The Environment
  • Harish Prakash, GITAM University
  • Sudhira HS, GubbiLabs

    As the boundaries between urban and rural blur, cities are emerging as critical ecological frontiers with novel ecosystems. While urbanization replaces natural landscapes, it also creates novel and complex matrices where wildlife persists. The process of urbanization is dynamic and varies in both extent and intensity, especially in the Global South. Many cities in India have their own biodiversity indices and aspire to be resilient, especially to climate change. Yet, the data on biodiversity are sparse or in the form of checklists. Our symposium explores the concept of the ‘Biodiverse’city’. We will curate a series of recent research on urban ecosystems from India by focussing on three core inquiries:

  1. What persists in our expanding metropolises?
  2. Where do they find refuge within cities?
  3. How can these ecological insights be integrated into urban planning?

    Our approach will focus on multi-taxa research, complemented by perspectives from urban planning and governance. By moving beyond documenting biodiversity loss, we will underscore the importance of finding actionable pathways for creating resilient urbanscapes. We expect the attendees to take back with them a holistic understanding of urban ecology and the importance of bridging the gap between field biology and city design.

S15. Biodiverse'city in the anthropocene: Pathways for resilient urbanscapes

S15. Biodiverse'city in the anthropocene: Pathways for resilient urbanscapes

No. Talk Title Presenting Author Affiliation
1. Avian Diversity and their Nesting Success Across Urban Wetlands of Bengaluru Varsha Kari Bharati Vidyapeeth Institute of Environment Education and Research (BVIEER)
2. Pulled into cities: Resource stability drives flying-fox urbanisation Ram Mohan Western Sydney University
3. Insectivorous bat assemblage in Bengaluru city across levels of urbanization Kunapareddy Kezia Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru
4. Ant genus diversity along forest-urban gradients of Guwahati Prachaya Sarma Cotton University
5. Examining ecological interactions between urban tree and vertebrate species in Bengaluru Vallari Sheel North Carolina State University, USA
6. Integrating remote sensing and bird atlas data to predict urban bird distributions within a west Indian city Ankitha Jayanth Ahmedabad University, Gujarat
  • Pritha Dey, National Centre for Biological Sciences
  • Gauri Gharpure, Independent Researcher
  • Mansi Mungee, Azim Premji University

    Insects have few rivals among multicellular life in terms of diversity, abundance, and ecological impact. They provide ecosystem services across the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (Churchill 2005) categories, including pollination, nutrient cycling, pest regulation, and cultural service. Globally, insect populations are rapidly changing, driven by climate change, land-use intensification, pollution, and biological invasions. These are reshaping communities and altering interactions, with cascading ecosystem impacts threatening global food security, and accelerating the sixth mass extinction. In India, insects remain under-represented within mainstream ecological and conservation discourse. This gap is driven by limited long-term datasets, fragmented evidence, and focus on few taxa or research themes,which together limit our ability to detect trends, understand mechanisms, and inform conservation action. This symposium aims to foreground insects in Indian wildlife ecology by highlighting research on community ecology, biotic and prey–host interactions, and indicator species for environmental change. We invite contributions that examine spatial and temporal variation in insect communities and showcase integrative monitoring approaches including trait-based and molecular methods, citizen science, automated sensors, and imaging pipelines to advance insect research in India.
S16. Insects in a changing world

S16. Insects in a changing world

No. Talk Title Presenting Author Affiliation
1. Rutaceae-Lepidoptera-parasitoid Food webs along a gradient of agricultural management systems Anaswar P Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru
2. Images to Insights: A Multi-Scale Investigation of Morphology-Environment Relationships in Moths Divya Raj Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Pune
3. Tracing Functions in the City: Patterns of Functional Diversity Changes in Ants Ankita Sharma National Institute of Advanced Studies
4. Light drives chemical defense-dependent insect herbivory on tree Seedlings in a fragmented tropical forest Rishiddh Jhaveri Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB); National Centre for Biological Science (NCBS)
5. Contrasting mechanisms for using humidity as cue for seasonal polyphenism in two tropical butterflies Tarunkishwor Yumnam IISER Thiruvananthapuram & IISc Bengaluru
6. Specialization of plant-insect herbivore interactions vary with fragmentation and resource acquisition strategy: Evidence from a tropical evergreen forest of India Gayathri M National Centre for Biological Science (NCBS)
  • Milind Bunyan, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment,
  • VV Robin, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Tirupati

    Invasive alien plant species (IAPS) pose critical threats to India’s biodiversity, but estimates of the area threatened by IAPS vary dramatically by species and geography. This symposium brings together researchers advancing the frontiers of invasion mapping through complementary technological and participatory approaches. Presenters will showcase approaches to mapping IAPS, including developing dynamic IAPS repositories, innovative applications of multispectral and hyperspectral satellite imagery for large-scale monitoring and citizen science platforms that democratize data collection while expanding spatial and temporal coverage beyond conventional monitoring.

    Key themes include: remote sensing techniques for species-level discrimination and site prioritisation; citizen science initiatives and data validation; and development of comprehensive, spatially explicit IAPS databases. The symposium aims to synthesise current knowledge, identify critical methodological gaps, and foster collaborative networks for actionable insights for mapping IAPS across India’s diverse ecosystems.

S17. Invasive plants and wildlife habitat: Mapping threats to India's ecosystems

S17. Invasive plants and wildlife habitat: Mapping threats to India's ecosystems

No. Talk Title Presenting Author Affiliation
1. Invasive Species Mapping Using Citizen Science Keerthikrutha Seetharaman Independent
2. Predicting invasion risk of Lupinus polyphyllus in the Himalayan region using native-range species distribution models and future climate scenarios Rayees Ahmad Malik Department of Botany, University of Kashmir
3. A Data-Driven Look at India's Alien Flora Achyut Kumar Banerjee Azim Premji University
  • J.A. Johnson, Wildlife Institute of India
  • Biju Kumar, University of Kerala
  • Ruchi Badola, Wildlife Institute of India

    Rivers are vital ecosystems and have served as a lifeline for human civilizations for centuries. Early societies settled along riverbanks due to their dependence on freshwater resources. Pristine rivers are biodiversity hotspots, providing critical habitats for diverse taxa. However, in the Anthropocene, rapid population growth and intensified human activities have placed immense pressure on freshwater ecosystems. Anthropogenic stressors such as dam construction, sand mining, industrial discharge, and overexploitation have severely degraded riverine habitats, pushing many endemic species toward extinction. Understanding these stressors is essential for the conservation of freshwater biodiversity. Wildlife entanglement has emerged as a significant but often overlooked threat. Abandoned, discarded, or lost fishing gear (ADLF) continues to trap organisms long after disposal, a phenomenon known as ghost fishing. Beyond direct mortality, ghost gear alters ecosystem health by trapping sediments, attracting biofoulers, and promoting algal blooms. These impacts not only deplete wild populations but also reduce fish harvests, directly affecting the livelihoods of fishing communities. Strengthening the blue economy requires a transition from a linear “take–make–dispose” model to a circular economy that emphasizes recycling, reuse, and repurposing thereby sustaining livelihood.
S18. Conservation of river ecosystems

S18. Conservation of river ecosystems

No. Talk Title Presenting Author Affiliation
1. Stakeholder Engagement Through Capacity Building for Riverine Wildlife Conservation Alankrita Sharma Wildlife Institute of India
2. Dancing without a floor: A tale from the Western Ghats’ montane streams. N V Rajiv Wildlife Conservation Society India
3. Catchment-Driven Soil Erosion Dynamics and Implications for River Ecosystem Services in the Lower Narmada Basin Soumyadeep Choudhury The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda
4. Cascading effects: Stream macroinvertebrate communities in different land use types in the headwaters of River Aghanashini in the Western Ghats Deepti Bajaj Ashoka University
  • Asmita Kabra, Ashoka University
  • Budhaditya Das, Azim Premji University Ranchi

     

    Through this symposium, they will highlight the political ecology of conservation in and around protected areas and other biodiversity rich areas in India. We will discuss the linkages between conservation and local communities, their livelihoods, knowledge systems and cosmologies.
S19. The farm-forest frontier

S19. The farm-forest frontier

No. Talk Title Presenting Author Affiliation
1. Tree tenure in changing times: how communities navigating through and its effect on ecology - a case study on mahua trees Abhijit Dey Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Bengaluru
2. Misaligned Fire Narratives and the Political Economy of Livelihood Vulnerability in Central India M. Amin Khan Dept. of Planning, Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh, GoI
3. A unified model for testing possible causal hypotheses for farmer-herbivore conflict: Mohini Patil Farmer and Independent Researcher
4. Terra Natura: Property, territory, and ideology in (re)making the farm-forest frontier in India Asmita Kabra Ashoka University, Haryana
5. Connectivity Conservation, Livelihoods, and Building Relational Bridges Amrita Neelakantan Network for Conserving Central India (NCCI) and Coexistence Consortium (CC)
6. The case of the poached leopard and other (similar) tales: “conservation” in the Maikal Hills of Madhya Pradesh R. Venkat Ramanujam Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence
  • Alok Bang, Azim Premji University
  • Manzoor A Shah, University of Kashmir

    Biological invasions rank among the worst drivers of biodiversity loss, and yet, remain largely ignored. The session will provide a platform for synthesising diverse perspectives, identifying knowledge gaps, and discussing how invasion science can better inform conservation policy and on-the-ground action. Topics may include, but are not limited to, biotic resistance and facilitation, trait-based and evolutionary perspectives, ecosystem-level impacts, interactions with other drivers of biodiversity loss such as climate and land-use change, and the effectiveness of prevention and control strategies. Data-driven studies as well as evidence-based perspectives are encouraged. In place of narrowly focused, single-site investigations, the symposium will particularly benefit from contributions that span regional, national, or global scales.
S20. Biological invasions in a changing world: From exciting science to challenging management

S20. Biological invasions in a changing world: From exciting science to challenging management

No. Talk Title Presenting Author Affiliation
1. The Problem of Plenty: How Over-Represented Biogeographic Regions Bias Regional Invasive Species Models Riya Pakhre University of Delhi
2. TBA Zafar Reshi University of Kashmir
3. Alien coffee modifies frugivore-mediated seed dispersal and regeneration in abandoned coffee agroforests, Western Ghats, India Abhirami C Nature Conservation Foundation
4. Industrial Farming of Edible Insects in India: Biogeographic Trends, Ecological Risks and Regulatory Gaps- Kaneez Fatima Azim Premji University, Bhopal
5. Predicting Future Vector-Borne Disease Threats in the Kashmir Valley, India: An Integrated Ecological, Epidemiological, and Climate-Driven Perspective Tahir Gazanfar Integrated Disease Surveillance Program, Directorate of Health Services, Kashmir
Organizer
Ashoka University
Co-organizer
Wildlife Trust of India
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IWE26: Indian Wildlife Ecology Conference 2026
Reach us at contact@iwecindia.in