My primary interest is in the ecology and conservation of tropical forests, particularly their plant, bird, and mammal communities. Much of my work focuses on applied ecology including conservation biology, ecological restoration, and habitat and population monitoring. I am also interested in communicating ecology and related biological sciences, natural history, and conservation issues to a wide audience through popular science, creative non-fiction, blogs, and other media.

I began my academic career in this field with a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology from Loyola College, Chennai, in 1993. During this time, I carried out field study on deer and antelope in Guindy National Park over three years. Following this, I joined the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, for a Masters degree in Wildlife Science. For my Master’s dissertation research I studied the effects of slash-and-burn shifting agriculture on bird communities and arboreal mammals in tropical rainforests of Mizoram, northeast India. In early 1996, I joined the Indian Institute of Science for a doctoral degree at the Centre for Ecological Sciences. My doctoral research focused on the community ecology and conservation biology of birds of tropical rainforests in the southern Western Ghats.

Over the last decade, along with Divya Mudappa and other NCF colleagues, I developed ecological research and conservation programmes at the NCF long-term research station in the Anamalai hills. These programmes span the fields of community and landscape ecology, conservation and restoration ecology, and focuses on birds, mammals, and rainforest plants.