Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES): Recent submissions
Now showing items 61-80 of 86
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Sexual Selection On Elephant Tusks
(2017-06-12)Darwin was troubled by elaborate male traits observed in many species that are seemingly maladaptive for survival, the peacock’s tail being the most iconic of all. He wrote "The sight of a feather in a peacock’s tail, ... -
Determinants Of Behavioural And Reproductive Dominance In The Primitively Eusocial Wasp Ropalidia Marginata
(2016-09-15)In societies where all individuals are reproductively totipotent and yet, at a given time only one of them reproduces, it is interesting to examine the factor(s) that may influence and predict who will be the reproductive. ... -
The Distribution, Dynamics & Impacts Of Invasive Lantana Camara In A Seasonal Forest Of Mudumalai, Southern India
(2016-04-25)Species that become naturalized in a new geographical range, subsequently multiply and spread, and persist to the detriment of resident communities, are known as alien invasive species. Two aspects of species invasion – ... -
Climate Change Mitigation And Adaptation In Indian Forests
(2014-10-10)Research leading to this thesis aims to assess the policy relevant mitigation potential of Indian forests as well as aims to assess the impact of climate change on carbon stocks, vegetation boundary shifts, Net Primary ... -
Trade-offs And Social Behaviour In The Cellular Slime Moulds
(2014-08-01)By combining laboratory experiments with field work, I have looked at the following aspects of cellular slime mould (CSM) biology: (a) the genetic structure of social groups (fruiting bodies) in the wild and its relation ... -
Habitat Acoustics And Microhabitat Selection In An Ensiferan Assemblage Of A Tropical Evergreen Forest │
(2013-08-29)Several animals, both vertebrate and invertebrate, communicate using sound and they do so in a non-ideal medium, the habitat in which they live. As acoustic signals pass through the habitat, they suffer loss of information ... -
Systematics And Biogeography Of Scolopendrids Of The Western Ghats, India
(2013-06-25)In this thesis, the biogeography of the centipede family Scolopendridae of the Western Ghats (WG)was studied. First, a novel limited sampling approach to identify putative Gondwanan origin wherein sampling of was confined ... -
Ants, Figs, Fig Wasps : The Chemical Ecology Of A Multitrophic System
(2013-04-01)Plant–animal interaction systems are complex food webs where the members—plants, pollinators, herbivores, parasites and predators of the pollinators/herbivores—interact with each other in ways which maximize their own ... -
Phylogeny And Biogeography Of Hemidactylus Oken, 1817 Geckos Of The Indian Subcontinent
(2013-02-25)Geckos of the genus Hemidactylus Oken, 1817 are one of the most widely distributed and species-rich groups of gekkonids. With approximately 90 species, the genus Hemidactylus accounts for 10% of the total number of species ... -
Studies On Endocrine And Behavioral Assessment Of Reproductive Status In Asian Elephants (Elephas Maximus)
(2013-01-16)The Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), a charismatic ‘flagship species’, is threatened by extinction in the wild, and the development of self-sustainable captive populations is a key conservation challenge. A third of the ... -
Divided They Stay : Species Coexistence In A Community Of Mutualists And Exploiters
(2012-12-14)The fig–fig wasp interaction is a classic example of obligate mutualism and coevolution. It is also a nursery pollination mutualism and supports a diversity of exploiter/parasite/non-pollinating fig wasp species. Mutualists ... -
Attributes Of Royalty In The Primitively Eusocial Wasp Ropalidia marginata : Pheromone, Ovaries And Behavior
(2012-12-07)This thesis has looked at the proximate mechanisms by which eusociality is maintained in colonies of the primitively eusocial wasp Ropalidia marginata. Unlike other typical primitively eusocial species, the R, marginata ... -
Seed Dispersal In The Tropical Dry Forests Of Mudumalai, Southern India
(2011-06-30)Plants depend on a wide variety of vectors, both biotic and abiotic, to move their seeds to locations away from parent plants. The stages between seed production and seedling establishment in the plant life cycle are under ... -
Call Diversity, Spatio-Temporal Patterning And Masking Interference In An Assemblage Of Acoustically Communicating Ensiferan Species Of A Tropical Evergreen Forest In Southern India
(2011-02-21)The present study provides the first description of the calls of a multi-species ensiferan assemblage in a tropical evergreen forest of the Indian subcontinent. I have identified and described the calls of twenty ensiferan ... -
The Prediction Of Field Cricket Phonotaxis In Complex Acoustic Environments
(2010-09-24)Animals detect, recognize and localize relevant objects in noisy, multi-source environments. Female crickets locate potential mates in choruses of simultaneously calling males using acoustic signals, a behaviour termed ... -
Spatial Variation In Interactions Of The Semi-Myrmecophyte Humboldtia Brunonis (Fabaceae) With Ants And Other Invertebrates
(2010-06-01)Despite a long history of investigations on protective ant-plant interactions, since the late 19century (Thomas Belt 1874), a comprehensive quantitative understanding of the adaptations that facilitate these associations ... -
Tree Diameter Growth : Variations And Demographic Niches In A Tropical Dry Forest Of Southern India
(2009-08-03)Tree growth influences forest community dynamics and responses to environmental variations, but currently is not well understood. Tree growth in highly diverse wet tropical forests have been well studied and characterised ...