Most of us often think of fires in the Indian savannas as an existential threat to biodiversity. Our newest work contradicts this rather outdated idea. Excited to introduce 𝘊𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘢 𝘢𝘨𝘯𝘪, a new endemic wildflower from Pune which thrives in frequently burnt savannas!

Excited so share our new work out in @conservationsp.bsky.social that sheds light on the complex impacts of #savanna afforestation on birds across a rainfall gradient in India which is comparable to that of the Serengeti! conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @avishkarm.bsky.social

I am excited to hire a PhD candidate at #iiserpune to work on savannas! Please share widely among relevant circles! sites.google.com/view/nerlekar

Nerlekar Savanna Ecology Lab

Welcome to our brand new lab at IISER Pune, India! We are on a curiosity-driven mission to understand the complex drivers of biodiversity and to provide solutions for halting the ongoing global biodi...

sites.google.com

"... the trees are innumerable / Marumbi, taraṭī, and hivara / hiṅgaṇa, pācunda, and bābara / ṭākaḷī, and vehaṅkaḷī are abundant... Such is this thorny forest / it is highly frightening / this forest is empty / peacocks scream here" besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Utilizing traditional literature to triangulate the ecological history of a tropical savanna

Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Descriptions of plants in traditional Indian myths, poems, and folk songs provide greater context to the ecological history of western Maharashtra and suggest that local tropical savannas are not the result of deforestation! 🧪 besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Very cool grassland research using old poems and songs to show that western Indian savannas are ancient. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...

750-year-old Indian poems reveal a landscape scientists got wrong

Old Indian poems and folk songs are revealing a surprising truth about the land. Scientists found that descriptions of thorny trees and open grasslands in texts written as far back as the 1200s closel...

sciencedaily.com

New from lab alum @ashishnerlekar.bsky.social. Traditional Marathi compositions up to 800 years old illustrate the antiquity of west Indian savannas. They are ancient and important conservation targets, not relicts of colonial forest clearance besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Utilizing traditional literature to triangulate the ecological history of a tropical savanna

Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a...

Ancient Literature Suggests India's Savannas Are Much Older Than Previously Thought

Plant species mentioned in texts from the past 800 years hint the wooded grasslands of western India have been there since ancient times, pushing back on the narrative that they are remnants of long-g...

smithsonianmag.com

Cool paper documenting ecological insights about Indian tropical savannas in traditional literature between the 13th and 20th century. Grassland-scrubland biomes are often misconceived as deforested and/ or degraded wastelands. So, important paper. besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Utilizing traditional literature to triangulate the ecological history of a tropical savanna

Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

VERY excited to start my own lab today at @IISERPune! Please check out our new website and keep an eye out for some cool #tropical #savanna #ecology research sites.google.com/view/nsel/ho...

Nerlekar Savanna Ecology Lab

Welcome to our brand new lab at IISER Pune, India! We are on a curiosity-driven mission to understand the complex drivers of biodiversity and to provide solutions for halting the ongoing global biodi...

sites.google.com

🌟New Pub🌟! Out in @peopleandnature.bsky.social Ecology meets Mythology: Medieval stories and songs uncover India’s ecological past. Link to paper: besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... (click "MR" for Marathi abstract). @dhmsu.bsky.social @msunatsci.bsky.social 1/n

🔥🌱 The new #AJB Special Issue, “Understanding novel #fire regimes using plant trait‐based approaches," is now online! 🌱🔥 This issue features studies from evolutionary, ecological, organismal, physiological, fire management & conservation perspectives. bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/15372197...

🔥🌾🦬New Pub in @botsocamerica.bsky.social ! We show that the flammability–palatability trade‐offs that operate in Africa also explain correlated suites of traits in #Texas #grasses. @tamu.bsky.social bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Grass functional traits reflect the long history of fire and grazers in the savannas of Texas

Premise Understanding relationships among grass traits, fire, and herbivores may help improve conservation strategies for savannas that are threatened by novel disturbance regimes. Emerging theory, ...

bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

🔥🌱 From the upcoming #AJB Special Issue: “Understanding novel fire regimes using plant trait‐based approaches" 🌱🔥 Grass functional traits reflect the long history of #fire & grazers in the #savannas of #Texas By @ashishnerlekar.bsky.social et al. bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Out today in @biotropica.bsky.social: We show that deciduous dipterocarp and semi-evergreen forests in Cambodia have distinct species, but similar soils across their abrupt boundaries. But we see differences in fire history and fire adapted functional traits. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Seeing the Savanna Through the Trees: Vegetation Structure, Composition and Function Along a Forest‐Savanna Boundary in Cambodia

In the seasonally dry landscapes of continental Southeast Asia, deciduous dipterocarp vegetation (DDF), which resembles savanna, and semi-evergreen forests (SEF) form patchy landscape mosaics, with a...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

New paper alert! @lars-brudvig.bsky.social, @nashturley.bsky.social and I reveal key context-dependent impacts of seed mix design decisions on restored prairie community structure!🌾 🧪 #PlantScience #EcologicalRestoration #ecosystem esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

137 of us share our concerns with policymakers in an open letter: "There are more than just trees and forests to be conserved and restored" nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... @plantspeopleplanet.bsky.social

Open letter: There are more than just trees and forests to be conserved and restored

Click on the article title to read more.

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

such a fascinating study!

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences@pnas.org · 2y ago

Researchers challenged longhorn crazy ants and humans with the same task: maneuvering a T-shaped object through two consecutive open doorways. Single humans always outperformed single ants, but ant groups could beat human groups. In PNAS: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Grassland restorations must better foster forbs to facilitate high biodiversity Check out @ashishnerlekar.bsky.social's recent call for "forb-centric" grassland restoration Message if you lack access and would like to a copy onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Grassland restorations must better foster forbs to facilitate high biodiversity

Grassland restoration efforts typically aim to recover lost biodiversity, guided by biologically diverse old-growth grasslands as a benchmark. In most old-growth grasslands, forbs greatly outnumber g...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com