I will talk about my experiences in the field, other than my PhD research.
During field work, we are part of a bigger landscape (in my case - the
Biligiri Rangan Hills), and I will try and bring some of the aspects of
that larger perspective, into focus, using mostly images and sound.

Social insects are remarkable for their efficient social organization which
is achieved through a fine balance between cooperation and conflict. The
cooperative social unit, a colony, is put to a crisis when the queen is
lost, which is rescued only after a new queen takes over the colony. My
thesis is focused on the potential reproductive conflicts associated with
queen succession in the primitively social wasp *Ropalidia marginata*, and
proximate behavioural mechanisms contributing towards resolution of this
conflict. We started by characterizing the natural phenomenon and then went
on to experimentally induce conflict to create situations that might lead
to the queen succession in these colonies. We could show that, although
there is a lack of apparent conflict over reproduction, there is underlying
reproductive conflict which can be uncovered by careful experimental
manipulation, and can be resolved by the colony members. This work has
provided valuable insights to understand the maintenance of functional
integrity of the colony organization in this species.

How forests respond to anthropogenic climate change raises challenging questions that are both fundamental and urgent. Vulnerability of forest to changing rainfall patterns and increasing extreme events such as droughts is clear from wide-spread tree mortality. Underlining processes, species-specific vulnerability and changes in forest function are, however, unclear. This thesis begins with addressing some perplexing issues in assessing forest tree growth response vis-à-vis rainfall gradients, both in space and time. It then addresses some fundamental questions as to where do trees source water from, and what is the dynamics of water availability by depth that species actually respond to in terms of growth and survival. It employs a novel method to assess species rooting depth at which trees actually uptake water over two decades and evaluates how belowground “hydrological niches” operate for these long-lived organisms that are trees; assisting their co-existence, but leading to differential fates under extreme drought.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jrv-agGtc24-XZLrA99UiL4aStbkHOqz...

The chimpanzees of Bossou are known to use the stone tools to crack open the oil-palm nuts. This is the unique cultural behavior of the community. I have studied the community for the past 3 decades
since 1986. The talk will highlight the past, present, and future of the unique chimpanzees. The conservation effort is called "Green corridor project" that is planting trees in the savanna. I have been doing the parallel effort of fieldwork and laboratory work on chimpanzees. Please take a look at the following site for the information: http://langint.pri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/ai/ Based on the accumulation of the primatology, my colleagues and me has started a new discipline called "Wildlife science" that deals the endangered non-primate large animals in their natural habitats. Please take a look at the following site too.
http://www.wildlife-science.org/index-en.html

Darwin’s ‘entangled bank’ captured the principle that species in nature must manage complex interdependencies to successfully coexist in natural communities. Despite great advances in the study of intricate ecological networks, we still do not know what the entangled bank looks like, nor if evolutionary restrictions create pattern in the multidimensional niche structure of communities. Disentangling the bank requires building comprehensive ecological networks which synthesize all known species interaction types (e.g., predation, competition, facilitation) as well as developing statistical methods for discovering pattern in such multiplex systems. We studied connectivity in a comprehensive ecological network using novel network models. We show that the network exhibits clear patterns at different organizational levels and ultimately collapses into a small set of 'functional groups' that are taxonomically coherent. This suggests that the iconic complexity of ecosystems may simplify into fundamental building blocks of nature.

Animal venoms have fascinated humans for millennia, and for good reasons: injection of even miniscule amounts of certain venom components can result in rapid paralysis and death of animals. Not surprisingly, the evolution of venom, one of nature’s most complex biochemical concoctions, has underpinned the predatory success and diversification of numerous animal lineages. Animal venoms provide unparalleled models for understanding molecular adaptations associated with predator-prey interactions and the convergence of biochemical functions. Venoms are theorized to evolve under the significant influence of positive Darwinian selection in a chemical arms race scenario, where the evolution of venom resistance in prey and the invention of potent venom in the secreting animal exert reciprocal selection pressures. However, the dynamics of venom evolution and the mechanistic insights into the molecular changes that confer toxin resistance mostly remain elusive. We provide evidence of surprisingly constrained parallel molecular evolution across the animal kingdom, where the resistance to toxic cardiac glycosides produced by plants and bufonid toads is mediated by similar and predictable molecular changes to the sodium-potassium-pump (Na+/K+-ATPase) in several lineages of insects, amphibians, reptiles and mammals.
Understanding the genetic basis of the diversification of venom encoding genes in animals can provide fundamental biological insights into their species evolution, ecological specialization and genetic novelties, which may be of further importance for antivenom, pesticide development and drug-discovery research. However, venom research has mostly neglected ancient animal groups, such as spiders and centipedes in favour of focusing on venomous snakes and cone snails that originated relatively recently in the evolutionary timescale (~50 million years ago). By analysing over 3500 sequences from 85 toxin families in both ancient and evolutionarily young animals, we propose a new model of venom evolution that describes how venomous animals respond to evolutionary arms races and the significant shifts in ecology and environment. Our ‘two-speed’ model captures the fascinating ‘rise and fall’ in venom evolution.

Although the dire effects of malnourishment on an individual has
been well documented across taxa, considerably little is known if
populations can adapt to chronic malnutrition over several generations,
the adaptive traits that facilitate such tolerance and the associated
trade-offs. We used an experimental evolution approach involving replicate
populations of Drosophila melanogaster (over 190 generations) to
investigate the life-history and behavioural consequences of adaptation to
larval malnutrition. We found that the ability to cope with malnutrition
leads to several adaptations that impinge upon diverse aspects of
structure, function and life-history of the fly. However, this
malnutrition tolerance is costly, increasing susceptibility to intestinal
pathogens and reducing fecundity. Interestingly, this investigation also
led to the discovery and detailed study of two novel larval behaviours:
predatory larval cannibalism and prepupal tunnel building. Furthermore,
these experimentally evolved populations have raised important questions
on the evolution and maintenance of traits that regulate nutritional
homeostasis in an organism.

Many ecosystem services derived from soils depend on their capacity to store organic matter. The aim of this talk is to present results from recent studies concerning biological as well as physico-chemical mechanisms leading to C gain or loss from soils. The importance of stabilisation processes for elevated residence times of bulk soil organic matter (SOM) and specific molecular compounds in different parts of the soil profile will be highlighted. I will present recent advances and changing paradigms concerning the composition and origin of stabilised SOM. Moreover, I will discuss the influence of biological factors, such as microbial diversity and faunal activity on these processes.