Kartik Shanker

As faculty at the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, I work on diversity at various levels of organisation, from genes to ecosystems, and at various scales from local communities to macro-ecological scales. We combine field ecology, phylogenetics and ecological modelling to understand evolutionary and biogeographic patterns in various marine and terrestrial taxa. We also work on the ecology and evolution of communities, particularly on mixed species foraging groups.  We conduct research on the ecology and evolutionary biology of marine turtles and maintain long term monitoring programmes for  species found in Indian waters.

I am working with my colleagues at Dakshin Foundation to develop and implement community based resource monitoring programmes towards more participatory governance of these resources, mainly in coastal and marine ecosystems. 
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What else do I do ? Check out kartikshanker.in

Research news

Collaborative review on mixed species groups:
  • Goodale, E., H. Sridhar, K.E. Sieving, P. Bangal, G.J. Colorado, D.R. Farine, E.W. Heymann, H.H. Jones, I. Krams, A.E. Martínez, F. Montaño-Centellas, J. Muñoz, U. Srinivasan, A. Theo and K. Shanker (2020) Mixed company: A framework for understanding the composition and organization of mixed-species animal groups. Biological Reviews. [PDF]

Marine research projects in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands:
  • 'Marine Integrated Science for the Tropics (MIST)' funded by IISc, takes an inter-disciplinary approach that will engage experts from the disciplines of ecology, oceanography, climate sciences, computational sciences and conservation biology, in order to develop a broad understanding of marine ecosystems in the islands.
  • We have also deployed 'Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures', a programme pioneered by the Smithsonian Institution, in collaboration with Archana Anand and David Baker of Hong Kong University. 
Picture
© Achyuthan Srikanthan

Diversity and distribution

We work on the diversity and distribution of a range of taxa at multiple spatial and temporal scales. We are also interested in large scale altitudinal and latitudinal patterns using integrated models which incorporate neutral theory, ecology and evolution. Our current research includes studies of distribution patterns of birds and plants, and phylogeny and biogeography of snails, frogs, lizards and snakes.
Picture
© Rangu Narayanan/Sonal Kedia

Mixed species foraging 

We are examining the role of positive interspecific interactions in structuring biological communities. Research in our lab focuses on different kinds of interactions including mixed-species foraging groups. We examine the costs and benefits of hetero-specific grouping in diverse systems from bird flocks in tropical forests to schools of marine reef fish. 
Picture
© Prabha Mallya

Marine turtle biology

I started conducting research on sea turtles in 1999 with a project on the molecular ecology of olive ridleys in Odisha. Since then, my team has established long-term monitoring programmes for olive ridleys in Rushikulya (Odisha) and leatherback turtles in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. More recently, we have started work on green turtles in the Lakshadweep Islands.