Animals provide a diverse array of habitats for microorganisms to colonise, and virtually all animals form symbiotic relationships with one or more microbial species. One group of “host” animals that houses a particularly diverse and abundant community of bacteria and other microorganisms is the marine sponges. Microbes comprise as much as 40% of “sponge” volume and can contribute significantly to host metabolism. The remarkable diversity and host specificity of these symbionts, coupled with the presumed ancientness of the sponge-microbe association, makes sponges an important system for the study of marine host-microbe interactions. I will present my group’s research on the microbial ecology of sponges, emphasizing how recent advances in DNA sequencing technologies have provided exciting new insights into how these complex associations are maintained. I will also touch upon some of our recent research into the microbiota of other host organisms, including the critically endangered New Zealand kakapo parrot and aspects of the human microbiome.

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Current extinction rates are far higher than natural background extinction rates, largely due to anthropogenic threats. However, our ability to recover species from the edge of extinction is also better than it ever was. Using examples from around the world, I will review the main threats facing the world’s most threatened bird species and assess the most important methods to stem the tide of extinction. I will also assess how much preventing extinction costs, and show that it is remarkably cheap.

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.

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In obligate nursery pollination mutualisms such as the fig–fig wasp system, enclosed inflorescences (syconia) function as sites of seed production, as well as brood-sites for the progeny of herbivorous pollinators, non-pollinating gallers and parasitoids of the two. Induced or natural variation in plant reproductive traits such as inflorescence or nursery size (syconium volume) and within-plant reproductive phenology (within-tree asynchrony) can affect various direct, indirect and feedback effects among the organisms in the community. Furthermore, changes in the abiotic environment could have major impacts on the biotic associations in the system either by affecting the community members directly, or through their effects on plant reproductive traits. Ficus racemosa with its fig wasp community comprised of a single pollinator, three non-pollinating parasitic gallers and three non-pollinating parasitoids was used as a model to investigate: (1) The role of mutualistic and parasitic fig wasps in affecting within-tree phenology; (2) Direct and indirect biotic associations in the system and the influence of inflorescence size (syconium volume) and within-tree phenology on them; (3) Effect of the abiotic climate on the reproduction of and the biotic associations between the organisms of the community Investigations revealed that syconium development times were subject to a tug-of-war between inhabitants and are likely a compromise between conflicting demands from developing seeds and different wasp species. Besides direct competition for resources and predator–prey interactions, the F. racemosa community also displays exploitative or apparent competition and trait-mediated indirect interactions mediated by syconium volume and within-tree asynchrony. The reciprocal effects of higher trophic level fauna on plant traits (and vice versa) within this system drive a positive feedback cycle between syconium inhabitants and within-tree reproductive asynchrony. Temperature, relative humidity and rainfall defined four seasons: winter; hot days, cold nights; summer and wet seasons. Syconium volumes, fig wasp reproduction and seed production varied between seasons. The effect of within-tree asynchrony on pollinators was variable across season and was mediated through variations in syconium volume. Within-tree asynchrony itself was positively affected by intra-tree variation in syconium contents and volume, creating a unique feedback loop which also varied across seasons.

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The Himalayan region is very important in the context of global climate change because of its influence on the Asian
summer monsoon circulation, which affects the climates of many countries of the world. The instrumental climate
records for Himalayas go back to only about 100-120 years. It is therefore useful to have long-term high resolution
palaeoclimatic records for this region to better understand its climate and its large-scale spatial linkages. Tree
rings offer an excellent proxy to reconstruct the high resolution past climate and many tree ring based climatic
reconstructions have already been done in many regions of the world. Conifers of Himalaya offer an excellent
dendroclimatic tools to reconstruct the past climate of the region for many hundreds of years. Several other studies
have already demonstrated the dendroclimatic potential of Himalayan conifers because of their distinct annual growth
rings, great age and good intra and inter-species correlations. The tree ring formation occurs by the activity of
vascular cambium. The activity of the cambium and the hence the formation of tree rings is controlled by several
environmental factors.
My study aims to reconstruct the past climate of Kashmir Himalayan region with the help of tree rings. I am selecting
Abies pindrow (Himalayan fir) for this study because of its huge dendroclimatic potential. I will also study its
growth response to different climatic factors like temperature, precipitation and humidity at different elevations. I
will study the cambial phenology of this species at different elevations to have a better understanding of the effects
of present climate on cambial activity at different elevations and its variability with age. This study will help to
predict the performance of Abies pindrow at different elevations in future, which in turn will help in better forest
management policies in the context of global climate change.

About the Documentary:
"Just over 400 million years ago creatures left the seas to move onto land. They were the invertebrates. Since then
they have become the most successful group of animals, adapting to every environment on earth. Now, for every human
there are 200 million of them. Their largely unseen world is now revealed as David Attenborough tells the story of the
land-living invertebrates."
Source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0760222/episodes?season=1&ref_=tt_eps_sn_1

"David Attenborough tells the story of the land-living invertebrates. He delves into the private life of Europe's
dramatic leopard slug, a common garden resident with a truly bizarre end to its marathon mating ritual; watches the
courtship ballet of tiny springtails on the underside of a leaf; sees swarms of bright red South African millipedes
find partners, and in the caves of Venezuela meets the giant bat-eating centipede."
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/lifeintheundergrowth/prog_sum...

.About the Documentary:
"As the early June sun begins to set over a calm river in Central Hungary, masses of ghostly shapes emerge from their
larval cases to take to the air for the first time. They are mayflies and in a spectacular display, thousands of them
demonstrate how the very first wings were used.

From the stunning aerobatics of hoverflies in an English garden to the mass migration of purple crow butterflies in
the valleys of Taiwan, this episode tells the tale of the first animals ever to take to the air. Unique footage
reveals the lightning fast reactions of bluebottles and hoverflies, filmed with one of the world's fastest cameras,
and David Attenborough handles the world's largest (and perhaps most ferocious) insect - the Titan beetle."
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/lifeintheundergrowth/prog_sum...