My research interests lie in understanding evolution using molecular tools. I have been working on plant systematics, especially the rare and endemic plants of India.  Population explotion, global warming and improper land use has led to a great decline in the biodiversity of India. The current biodiversity of India is nested in a few hotspots inlcuding the Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats, the Himalayas, north eastern hill region and other mountain ranges such as the Aravallis and Vindhyas. These isolated hotspots show a remarkable level of species radiations shaped a number of ecological, geographical and paleoclimatic factors. The disjunct distributions, as well the speciation processes in the biodiversity hotspots is the focus of my research.

My research methods start with field work followed by inventorizing plant biodiveristy which is the starting point for biodiversity conservation. The next step involves the use DNA sequence information to study the evolution of the remarkable biological diversity of India. I use various markers including high-throughput DNA sequencing to build robust phylogenetic trees and identify patterns of evolution, and rapid speciation in species endemic lineages.

Apart from building phylogenies and studying biogeography I am also interested on ecological aspects such as plant-pollinator interactions and co-evolution of traits that might have influenced gene flow. Modern day land use such as farming and human habitation heavily hinders gene flow because of fragmentation of forests. I am interested to study the effect of this improper land usage on gene flow of threatened endemic plants, thereby predicting the threat to biodiversity. This in turn would help us strategize our conservation efforts either by proper policy making or resorting to in situ or ex situ conservation.

I am currently looking for graduate students intrested in field work and next-generation sequencing based evolutionary analysis. Intrested candidates can contact me.

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