Columns

• Guardians of the night: Conservation dogs fostering human-elephant coexistence

  

  In the heart of Bannerghatta National Park, Karnataka, A Rocha India has introduced the Elephant Anti-Depredation Dog Squad (EaDDS) to tackle rising human-elephant conflicts. Utilising trained Belgian Malinois dogs, this initiative aims to preemptively detect and deter elephants from entering farmlands, fostering harmonious coexistence between communities and wildlife.

  Posted on Jul 05, 2024 in Environmental Sciences, Ecology & Wildlife Biology

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• Women wildlife biologists who blazed their own trail

  

  Challenging stereotypes and carving paths through adversity, the book ‘Women in the Wild’ narrates the awe-inspiring tales of female biologists who defy gender biases and navigate daunting terrains. In this book review, Devanshi Gupta shares their stories not only to celebrate achievements but also to beckon a future where diversity and dedication triumph in the realm of field biology.

  Posted on Feb 12, 2024 in Environmental Sciences, Wildlife Biology & Women in Science

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• Tales of the jungle: An attempt to integrate art and science

  

  The National Education Policy 2020 emphasises the need for a multidisciplinary approach in higher education to enable holistic learning. In this article, Tamralipta Patra and Tara Kiran Kurre, faculties of Teacher Education in the School of Arts and Sciences, Azim Premji University write about a course in which undergraduate students explore the topics of biodiversity and human-nature conflicts in India through the folk art forms of the country and other creative works.

  Posted on Sep 18, 2023 in Wildlife Biology, Teaching, Undergraduate & Interdisciplinarity

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• Common misconceptions in biology: What are habitats, microhabitats and niches?

  

  Speak of comfort zones! In this article, Abhijeet Bayani, a field biologist and an educator at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, disentangles the meanings and purposes of three terms commonly used in ecological studies to discuss the space in which an organism thrives – habitats, microhabitats and niches.

  Posted on Aug 30, 2021 in Ecology, Wildlife Biology & Education

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• Teaching evidence-based conservation

  

  Conservation research can be key to making effective conservation policies, but only when the policymakers are trained to understand and critically analyse its findings. In this article, Andrea D. Phillott highlights numerous resources that can help educators train students – future conservationists – in the use of evidence-based conservation. Phillott is a Professor in Environmental Studies and teaches Conservation Biology, Ecology, and Environmental Studies at FLAME University, Pune.

  Posted on Apr 08, 2021 in Environmental Sciences, Conservation Biology, Wildlife Biology, Teaching, Undergraduate & Education

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• Common misconceptions in biology: Species richness and diversity are the same?

  

  What’s the measure of species diversity of a habitat? Is it the number of inhabitants? Is it the number of species? Or is it the presence of a rare species? In this article, field biologist Abhijeet Bayani throws light on how he approaches this question of species ‘diversity’ in his classroom (a.k.a nature), while ensuring that his undergraduate students do not confuse it with a very related concept of species ‘richness’.

  Posted on Jan 11, 2021 in Ecology, Conservation Biology, Wildlife Biology, Teaching, Undergraduate & Education

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