Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES): Recent submissions
Now showing items 41-60 of 86
-
Urbanisation and Shifting Phenotypes Behavioural, Physiological and Cognitive Strategies of the Indian Rock Agama Psammophilus Dorsalis
(2018-07-09)Humans directly or indirectly cause changes in the environment, and urbanisation is currently one of the most important threats to biodiversity. Urbanisation exposes organisms to novel pressures that are drastically different ... -
For Queen and Country : Reproductive and Non-Reproductive Division of Labour in the Primitively Eusocial Wasp Ropalidia Cyathiformis
(2018-07-05)Division of labour is a hallmark of eusocial insects and is believed to be a major factor in their evolutionary success and ecological dominance. Division of labour can be of two kinds – reproductive division of labour ... -
Understanding Patterns of Bird Species Distribution in the Western Ghats
(2018-06-23)Macroecology is the study of relationships between organisms and the environment at large spatial and temporal scales. This field of research examines patterns in species abundance, distribution and diversity. Understanding ... -
Molecular Ecology of the Primitively Eusocial Wasp Ropalidia Marginata : Relatedness, Queen Succession and Population Genetics
(2018-06-08)Altruism is defined as a trait in an individual that increases some other individual’s fitness at the expense of her own. Therefore, existence of such traits in a population is an evolutionary paradox, as natural selection ... -
Ecology of Fungus-Farming by Termites : Fungal Population Genetics and Defensive Mechanism of Termites against the Parasitic Fungus Pseudoxylaria
(2018-05-25)All living organisms require food for growth and survival. Heterotrophs depend on autotrophs such as green plants which can synthesize their own food unlike heterotrophic animals. Among heterotrophs, only humans and some ... -
Finding the Way Back Home : A study of Spatial Orientation, Navigation and Homing Behaviour in the Social Wasp Ropalidia marginata
(2018-05-23)For most of the animals, if not all, finding their way to a particular place is crucial for survival. To address this challenge of way-finding, different animals have evolved with different homing strategies. Social ... -
Species Ranges, Richness and Replacement of Trees in the Evergreen Forests of the Western Ghats
(2018-05-14)It has been more than two centuries since the latitudinal pattern of increase in taxonomic richness from poles to equator was first documented. After two centuries of research, and with more than two dozen hypotheses ... -
The Role of Nursery Size and Plant Phenology on the Reproduction of and Relationships within a Fig-fig Wasp Nursery Pollination System
(2018-05-09)Obligate nursery pollination mutualisms such as the fig–fig wasp system, with their central plant–pollinator mutualism associated with non-pollinating satellite wasp species, can function as closed system microcosms ... -
Causes and Consequences of Hetrospecific Foraging Associations in Terrestrial Bird Communities
(2018-04-12)The question of group-living in animals has attracted a lot of research attention. Today, we have a nuanced understanding of ultimate explanations and proximate mechanisms for group-living, as well as the genetic basis for ... -
Systematics, Phylogeny And Acoustic Evolution In Field Crickets (Orthoptera, Grylloidea, Gryllinae)
(2018-03-06)Since several decades, field crickets of the subfamily Gryllinae under order Orthoptera have been used as a model group by researchers working in the field of neuroethology, behavioural ecology and bioacoustics. Subfamily ... -
Queen Succession in the Primitively Eusocial Wasp Ropalidia Marginata
(2018-01-04)Social insects are the most dominant terrestrial fauna for the last 50 million years. This tremendous ecological success is accompanied by the fact that sociality has evolved multiple times independently and achieved highest ... -
Eco-Hydrology of a Seasonally Dry Tropical Forest : Tree Growth, Belowground Water Dynamics and Drought-Vulnerability
(2017-12-13)Tropical forests are storehouses of more thanhalf of the world‘s biodiversity and play a key role in global carbon, water and energy cycles. However, as a consequence of rapid anthropogenic climate change, biodiversity and ... -
A Farewell to Arms : Dynamics of Interactions between the Unique Semi-myrmecophyte Humboldtia Brunonis (Fabaceae) and its Domatia-inhabitants in the Absence of Universal Protection Mutualism
(2017-12-10)Mutualistic interactions between species are balanced on a delicate scale of net benefits to both interacting partners. The dynamics of such interactions could change depending on the context in which these interactions ... -
Modelling Spatial Patterns of Landsacape Dynamics
(2017-11-23)Landscape is a heterogeneous collection of visibly distinct features of various elements of land and its various forms on the earth surface. Its pattern is subjected to disturbances and undergo rapid alterations in its ... -
Fire Ecology of a Seasonally Dry Tropical Forest in Southern India
(2017-10-26)Fire ecology encompasses the study of the factors, biotic and abiotic, that influence the occurrence of fire in an area, as well as the effects fire has on the flora and fauna native and non-native to the region (Whelan ... -
Insights into an Evolutionary Radiation : Causes And Consequences of Diversification in the Western Ghats Bush Frogs
(2017-10-26)One of the biggest attractions of the tropics is its stunning diversity; the origin and determinants of this diversity are amongst the most important questions in evolution and biogeography. There are two ways of looking ... -
Acoustic Signals, Mate Choice And Mate Sampling Strategies in a Field Cricket
(2017-10-05)Acoustic communication in orthopterans and anurans provides a suitable model system for studying the evolutionary mechanisms of sexual selection mainly because males use acoustic signals to attract females over long distances ... -
Investigating Pattern Recognition And Bi-coordinate Sound Localization in the Tree Cricket Species Oecanthus Henryi
(2017-09-20)Acoustic communication, used by a wide variety of animals, consists of the signaler, the signal and the receiver. A change in the behaviour of the receiver after reception of the signal is a prerequisite for communication. ... -
The Structure And Function Of The Vocal Repertoire Of The Greater Racket-Tailed Drongo (Dicrurus paradiseus) : Insights Into Avian Vocal Mimicry
(2017-07-12)Sound is used as a medium for communication by taxa as varied as insects, fish, amphibians, birds and mammals. In some birds like the suboscines, song is genetically encoded, whereas in parrots, hummingbirds and oscines, ... -
Mate Choice, Mate Sampling And Baffling Behaviour In The Tree Cricket Oecanthus henryi
(2017-07-12)Among the different sensory modalities that play a role in sexual selection, acoustic communication plays an important one. Acoustic communication has been known to be used for male-male competition (territory maintenance, ...