Keeping this forum alive?
Madhusudan Katti
Tuesday, 08 April 2008 22:32 UTC
As someone who created this group a year ago when Nature Network first started, I am probably more guilty than anyone else in not taking it anywhere. So its no surprise, I suppose, to get an email from our administrators here asking if I really want to keep the group alive or if they should put it out of its misery.
I still believe we need such a space within the context of Indian science where ecology is dominated by wildlife conservation issues and people-vs-wildlife debates, and few are focusing on more fundamental evolutionary questions. So is it no wonder then that this group has attracted just 7 members thus far? I’m sure there are plenty of others interested in this, and would appreciate feedback from those who are here about how to kick-start the conversation and build a more active community for evolutionary biologists in India.
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Replies
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Hi,
I stumbled upon this forum by accident. I think there are lots of people who would like to join and I intend to spread the news. Incidentally, I don’t think ecology in India is dominated by conservation types – you just see more of them in the newspapers. There are lots of excellent ecologists and evolutionary biologists in India.
Amitabh -
Hello Amitabh!
Good to hear from you and I’m glad you stumbled upon this network. I guess I should do more to spread the word too. Its just one of those things that happened in the initial buzz when nature networks started last year, but sort of lost steam. But we have to do more with it, absolutely.
And I agree – there are plenty of ecologists and evolutionary biologists in India, but my feeling is that field ecology in particular is dominated by conservation concerns. I’ve heard that some people (like our mutual friend who studies monkeys – if you are the same Amitabh Joshi!) have had great difficulty attracting funding for research because they don’t study taxa that are endangered or of conservation interest somehow. And back when I was in college in India, I sure ran into a lot more wildlife or conservation biologists than evolutionary biologists.
Perhaps I am mistaken with my telescopic view from across the oceans – and if so, great!
The more evolutionary ecologists the better, if you ask me!
So welcome, and lets keep this network going!
Madhu
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Thank you, Matt! I hope we start getting some more chatter around here now.
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Hi…I just joined the group yesterday and I feel that lets post some good articles on evolution and ecology from the Indian region to keep the interaction alive. for eg: Vidya TNC, P Fernando, DJ Melnick and R Sukumar (2005)Population differentiation within and among Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) populations in southern India. Heredity 94, 71–80. I would appreciate any comments on this even sceptical…
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Hi Mandar,
That sounds like a good paper for a journal club. You could post it yourself as a new forum topic. Or I can do it like the last one (which no one has commented on yet!). I’ll do it over the weekend if you haven’t done so by then.
And welcome to the group!
Madhu
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Anonymous
Dear friends,
Thank you Madhusudan, for creating this group on evolution. I find most members work outside India!
I have just received a mail from Dr Milind Watve, announcing a three day workshop in Evolutionary Biology at Pune, Maharashtra, India. Dates are 12th to 14th February 2009.Unnikrishnan
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