Renee M. Borges was invited to make a Premier Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of America held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, in November 2015. Her presentation was titled: Diversity of interactions in mutualism-centred plant–insect symbioses: the case of figs and fig wasps. She was interviewed after the presentation and portions of this interview are on the Society's YouTube Channel.

Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar announced at the COP21 meeting in Paris recently that India will set up eight new Long Term Ecological Observatories (I-LTEO) to monitor the effects of global warming on eco-sensitive, bio-diverse regions.

Thrilled

Picture in the middle: (C) Times of India

Congratulations to Professor Raghavendra Gadagkar on being awarded the Cross of Order of the Merit, Germany’s highest civilian honour. The award was presented to him by the Consul-General of Germany, Mr. Joern Rohde in Bengaluru on 7th August 2015. The award was bestowed upon him in recognition of his important scientific contributions in the field of behavioural ecology and sociobiology and his efforts at strengthening Indo-German research collaboration and intellectual exchange.

Image caption: Mixed flock illustration on the left (credit: Rangu Narayan) and Dr Hari Sridhar on the right.

Congratulations Hari!

Dr. Hari Sridhar, a recent PhD student of Dr. Kartik Shanker from the Centre for Ecological Sciences, has been awarded two prestigious awards for his doctoral thesis work.

Ben Bolker talks about learning statistics, common statistical mistakes which people make, statistical machismo, softwares and R, statistical philosophies, and his favourite papers and textbooks.

On discovering a new plant species

This was first published at Ecology Students Society blog "https://cesess.wordpress.com/2015/06/09/on-discovering-a-new-plant-species/"

Today we celebrate the World Environment Day, to raise awareness about the importance of a clean, green and healthy environment for human well-being, and to encourage everyone for taking positive action in addressing challenging environmental issues. Celebrated each year on 5th June, the Day marks the opening of the United Nations Conference on Human Environment in Stockholm in 1972.

Today we celebrate the International Day for Biological Diversity, to recognise the pivotal
role of biodiversity to life on earth and human well-being. On this day in 1992, the text of the
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was adopted. To mark this, 22nd May has been
proclaimed by the United Nations as the International Day for Biological Diversity, to increase
awareness about the importance of and threats to biodiversity.

Plant Volatiles: Chemistry, Ecology and Evolution
edited by Renee M. Borges

Its raining bush frogs in the Western Ghats
Kartik Shanker and SP Vijayakumar

Should you find yourself wandering in the cloud-drenched mountains of the Western Ghats, you would be engulfed by a cacophony of frog calls. Many of these will be bush frogs, a group of miniature frogs distributed throughout south and southeast Asia. Some are so small that they can be accommodated on your thumbnail!