M D Madhusudan

Former Programme Head, Western Ghats – Deciduous Forests

MSc, Wildlife Institute of India, 1995; PhD, National Institute of Advanced Studies, 2003

Over the last two decades, I have studied the ecological and social aspects of the interactions between people and large wild animals, mostly in southern India. I have also worked with individuals and collectives at various scales to apply such knowledge to mobilise conservation action and on-ground change. I have also participated in the making and application policies to try to reconcile the needs of wildlife and of humans. Along the way, as a Founder Trustee of the Nature Conservation Foundation, I have also had the fantastic opportunity to help create, grow and manage NCF as a nonprofit that strives for knowledge-based and socially-responsible nature conservation across India.


Of late, I have become interested in the broad area of data science, but specifically, in the context of how ecologists and conservationists produce, manage, analyse and use various forms of data. Currently, I am working to leverage/build tools that help convert various kinds of ‘noisy’ information concealed in text, images and sound, into structured data, discernible patterns, and ultimately, into better ecological/conservation insight. While doing this, I am also keen to tell stories about our natural world that are crafted with rigour, and yet, are told in ways that are engaging and easy to grasp.

Projects

Publications

Vertebrate species richness in the 395 forest ranges in the Western Ghats

Journal Article

2022

Using interview surveys and multispecies occupancy models to inform vertebrate conservation

Ecology and conservation of leopards in protected and multiple use forests in Karnataka

Report

2017

Ecology and conservation of leopards in protected and multiple use forests in Karnataka

Journal Article

2015

Perceptions of priority issues in the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems in India

Powerline slicing through forest

Popular Article

2015

Current ecological concerns in the power sector: options to avoid or minimise impacts

Journal Article

2015

Distribution, relative abundance, and conservation status of Asian elephants in Karnataka, southern India

Report

2015

Tigers of Malai Mahadeshwara and Cauvery Landscape

Journal Article

2015

Looking beyond parks: the conservation value of unprotected areas for hornbills in Arunachal Pradesh, Eastern Himalaya

Journal Article

2014

Spatio-temporal variation in forest cover and biomass across sacred groves in a human-modified landscape of India's Western Ghats

Poster

2014

Snakes of the Western Ghats - Pit Vipers

Ecology and conservation status of leopards in Bhadravathi Territorial Division

Report

2014

Ecology and conservation status of leopards in Bhadravathi Territorial Division

Photographic records of the Ratel Mellivora capensis from the southern Indian state of Karnataka

Journal Article

2014

Photographic records of the Ratel Mellivora capensis from the southern Indian state of Karnataka

Journal Article

2014

Accounting for false positives improves estimates of occupancy from key informant interviews

Journal Article

2014

Local and Landscape Correlates of Primate Distribution and Extinction in Upper Brahmaputra Valley

Poster

2014

Lizards

Poster

2014

Rivers and Wetlands

Journal Article

2013

Complex ecological pathways underlie perceptions of conflict between green turtles and fishers in the Lakshadweep Islands.

Book Chapter

2013

Arunachal macaque Macaca munzala (Sinha, Datta, Madhusudan and Mishra 2005)

Popular Article

2013

Development minus green shoots

Journal Article

2012

Impact of vehicular traffic on large mammal use of highway-edges in southern India

Journal Article

2012

Socio-economic drivers of Forest Cover Change in Assam: A Historical Perspective

Journal Article

2012

Trends in extinction and persistence of diurnal primates in Upper Brahmaputra Valley

Journal Article

2011

Patterns of spatiotemporal change in large mammal distribution and abundance in the southern Western Ghats, India

Journal Article

2010

Ensuring the future of the tiger and other large mammals in the southern portion of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, southern India

Popular Article

2010

Desperate neighbours: wildlife and the rural poor

A tiger rests on a stretch of a highway in Nagarahole Tiger Reserve that's currently realigned outside the tiger reserve

Conference Proceedings

2009

Opportunities and challenges for tiger (Panthera tigris) conservation in the southern Western Ghats, India

Journal Article

2006

Distribution and Conservation Status of the Arunachal Macaque, Macaca munzala, in Western Arunachal Pradesh, Northeastern India

Poster

2006

Frogs and Caecilians (Anamalais , Western Ghats) 

Poster

2006

Primates ( Anamalais , Western Ghats)

Journal Article

2005

Macaca munzala: A New Species from Western Arunachal Pradesh, Northeastern India

Report

2004

The elephant hills: conservation of wild Asian elephants in a landscape of fragmented rainforests and plantations in the Anamalais, India

Journal Article

2003

Discovery of the leaf deer Muntiacus putaoensis in Arunachal Pradesh: an addition to the large mammals of India.

Journal Article

2003

The role of incentive programs in conserving the snow leopard Uncia uncia