Research
Interests:
I am interested in a
wide variety of topics in the area of community ecology, fish behaviour,
biodiversity and conservation. While my Ph.D has been on freshwater
fishes, I am very open to working on other systems as well, since my primary
interest is aimed at general questions in factors affecting community structure,
ecosystem functions in aquatic and terrestrial environments and and their
restoration. I use both theoretical and empirical methods in answering these
questions.
1) Diversity, distribution and abundance patterns; spatial and
temporal factors determining community compositions; correlation of morphological
features to habitat occupation (study of morphological adaptations to habitats).
2) Study of biotic (predation, competition and territoriality) and abiotic
(environmental and habitat parameters, climate and geography) factors that
influence structure of aquatic communities.
3)
Behaviour of freshwater fishes in tropical systems : schooling, territoriality,
in relation to predation risk and competition for mating.
4) Impact of human induced disturbances to aquatic ecosystems and their long
term implications.
5) Population distributions of species across geographical ranges using molecular
genetic techniques.
6) Biodiversity monitoring of aquatic ecosystems and conservation of these
habitats.