Tigers are highly endangered carnivores. India is luckybecause 70% of the world's tigers live here. But can weensure the survival of tigers here?  In our research, weuse field collected genetic/genomic data to try andunderstand future evolutionary trajectories for tigersin India. Theory tells us that small and isolatedpopulations are more likely to go extinct, while largeand connected ones are less so. Over the past fifteenyears or so, my laboratory has used genetic tools toinvestigate the geographic distribution of tigerpopulations, and which populations are isolated fromeach other. In this talk, I will highlight examples ofisolation, and explore its consequences in terms ofinbreeding and stochastic genetic drift. We hope suchresearch helps us understand tigers in the context of achanging world, and contributes towards safe-gaurdingtheir future.

SMALL AND ISOLATEDTIGER POPULATIONS

EVOLUTION IN

Uma is interested in conservation genetics,molecular ecology and biogeography. Herlaboratory uses genetic data to reconstructevolutionary history, understand impacts of humanhabitat destruction on population connectivityusing landscape genetics, and predict futuretrajectories of populations. She has spent the lastfifteen years investigating tiger conservationgenetics and has pioneered non-invasive populationgenetics for this species. Current projects includeconservation genetics of critically endangeredvultures, investigating impacts of inbreeding in anisolated tiger population, and developing novelmethods to genetically identify animals involved inconflict and livestock depredation outsideprotected areas. She is also very interested indeveloping cheaper, faster and more accurategenetic methods in various field contexts. Uma is amember of INSA, a national geographic explorer, aRamanujan Fellow and recipient of the ParkerGentry conservation award.

Uma Ramakrishnan Associate Professor,National Centre for Biological Sciences,Bengaluru; Senior Fellow, India Alliance

A L L A R E W E L C O M E

Jan 24, Friday, 2020New Lecture Hall,Smt. Indrani Balan Science Activity Centre

5:15 PM

IISER Pune Institute Colloquium 2020