Around 33.5 million years ago, during the Eocene–Oligocene period, there was an abrupt shift towards a cooler drier climate. This resulted in a corresponding shift in biological diversity globally. In Peninsular India, the study of fossil pollens suggests a shift from wet rainforest vegetation to dry and seasonal species during this period. However, the grassland and open habitats that dominate the region today expanded relatively recently as a result of the Late Miocene aridification ~ 11 million years ago.

The Otomi tree cricket (Oecanthus mhatreae sp. nov.) which was recently described from the tropical deciduous forests of central Mexico has been named after a former CES student – Dr. Natasha Mhatre.  

Natasha gives us a behind-the scenes peek into how a part of the natural world came to bear her name. Read the full story here: https://twitter.com/NatashaMhatre/status/1167118606125195264

Studying adaptive radiations, such as Darwin's finches from the Galápagos Islands, can give us key insights into generalities of ecomorphological diversification. This paper from the Karanth lab examines morphological diversification in Hemidactylus geckos from Peninsular India that occur in a wide range of microhabitats. 

Contrary to the expected hypothesis that crop-raiding elephants in a human-dominated landscape will exhibit higher stress, the authors found that the stress levels were lower than expected, and it could be due to access to the superior quality of diet (as shown by higher NDVI and faecal Nitrogen content). 

Salient findings of the study: 

1. Lower levels of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites (as a proxy of stress) in crop-raiding elephants, than the elephants in protected forests. 

This paper deals with how wild Asian elephants react towards the injured, dying and dead conspecifics.  The branch of science that deals with understanding the reactions of individuals towards dead or death is termed 'Thanatology'. This is the first documentation on Asian elephants thanatological behaviour. 

Link to publication: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10329-019-00739-8 

Media coverage: 

Summary: 

• EM 2019: Internet Course - Environmental Management (2+1), 17th Session @ IISc, [3 Sept 2019 to 28 December 2019]
  Brochure
  


• QIP Short Term Course On “Free & Open Source Geospatial Technologies (FOSS4G) FOR NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT”,27 - 31 MAY 2019.
  Brochure
  

The Student Conference on Conservation Science (SCCS) – Bengaluru brings together young researchers in the science and practice of biodiversity conservation. The conference facilitates interaction, encourages exchange of research ideas and methods, sharing of knowledge and experience related to conserving wildlife and helps build contacts and capacity. As a sister conference to SCCS-Cambridge, SCCS-Bengaluru focuses on attracting student participants, primarily from countries in South and South-east Asia, and Africa.

The Centre for Ecological Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, will conduct the second annual DST-SERB sponsored School on Chemical Ecology, an intensive two-week-long course to provide an insight into state-of-the-art research areas of Chemical Ecology, with a special emphasis on research on animal venoms and poisons, and plant–animal interactions. Twenty-five young researchers, including masters students, PhD students, postdoctoral fellows and young faculty members, will be selected at the national level.