The Agasthyamalai and Periyar-Srivilliputhur hills constitute the southern-most ranges of the Western Ghats. They contain unique ecosystems and species, and are acknowledged as high priority areas for conservation. Large mammal movement between these ranges is increasingly rare owing to the rapid pace of habitat degradation and alteration in the intervening mosaic of multiple-use forests, estates and small settlements.

The literature on marine systems in India talks about fishing as being part of an open-access tragedy. Previous research has also highlighted fishing being the primary threat to species like sea turtles, sharks, cetaceans and other threatened marine species. Hence, there is an urgent need to investigate the effects of fishing practices on threatened species and also update the status of targeted species.

Fire and grazing have played a major role in determining the structure and composition of many of the world's ecosystems. The Himalayas experience high levels of livestock grazing and fire. Each of these factors have been studied individually and have been shown to have an influence on ground vegetation composition and structure. However, our knowledge on their combined role in shaping these landscapes is limited. The Western Himalayas is part of the Himalayan biodiversity hotspot.

In many parts of India, particularly in small or traditional fish landing areas, fisheries data are either unreliable or non-existent. Data on boats, gear and mesh sizes, crew sizes, or time spent fishing are available at very coarse scales. Additionally, poor taxonomic identification of fish species, limited abundance and size class information further compounds the issues that confront fisheries managers. The problems in this sector are many.

The coastline along Sindhudurg and Goa is part of a region recognized as an Important Marine Mammal Area (IMMA) by the IUCN task force in 2019. While providing livelihood and resources to several local communities, these waters are critical habitats for coastal cetaceans, like the Indian Ocean humpback dolphin and the Indo-Pacific finless porpoise. Both species have a strong preference for shallow, inshore waters which places them at chronic risk of exposure to increasing anthropogenic pressures.

The Rufford Foundation has played a crucial role in the field of nature conservation in developing countries worldwide. Their small grants have offered immense opportunities to young professionals and amateurs to explore and contribute to the field of wildlife research and nature conservation in India. By bringing the Rufford Grantees together for a conference, we envisaged a platform to provide them an opportunity to meet, network, exchange ideas and learn about the most recent developments in the field of wildlife research and conservation.

With over 125,000 large and small dams across the world, freshwater ecosystems are among the most threatened globally. Resultant fragmentation, flow alteration, and changing sediment cycling regimes have adversely influenced freshwater biodiversity, which have extinction rates five times those of terrestrial animals. 

Various national and international policies currently support the growth in small hydro-power projects as it is assumed that small dams have minimal or no environmental impacts. However, recent studies question this assumption. We aim to gather and assess the broad impacts of extensive small dam development within the Western Ghats, a global biodiversity hotspot that has one of the largest densities of small dams in India.

It is well established that free-ranging cats affect the bird community structure and composition. The annual loss of bird life to cat predation has been estimated to be between 1.3-5.5 billion birds Thus, cat predation might explain part of the drastic decline in the global bird population. There has been no previous study in India on the impact of cats on bird population in India. In this study, we will examine the predation pressure of free-ranging cats on resident and migratory birds in the bird-rich city of Dehradun, located in the Himalayan foothills.

Tropical estuaries are transition zones between freshwater and marine environments; their ecosystem functioning depends critically on the timing, quality, and quantity of upstream inputs such as freshwater and sediments carried by the river. In tropical developing countries, hydropower dams drastically alter downstream flow and sediment regimes. Understanding their effects on estuarine salinity and suspended sediment concentration – two key physical parameters that influence estuarine ecosystem functioning, is important.