Research Interests
Quantitative & Spatial Ecology
- Understanding the habitat preferences and spatial distribution of the endangered bird species and creating species distribution and population models to inform their conservation plans.
- I am keen on using quantitative techniques in ecology such as MaxENT, occupancy modelling, Integrated Population Models, Agent based Model’s
Behavioural Ecology
- I am curious about breeding strategies in birds and want to explore the relationships between the effects of external change such as climate change and natural disasters on the trait-based ecology of the birds
- Broadly I am interested in investigating in the evolution of birds through natural and sexual selection and how these strategies play a role in raising offspring’s successfully.
Conservation Technology
- I am enthusiastic about the application of electronics and machine learning technology to capture the information about the avian ecology and behavior.
- I am particularly interest in technologies such as :
- Passive Acoustic Monitoring using Automated Recording Units
- Habitat survey and monitoring using Remote Sensing & GIS
- Tracking and telemetry using GPS tags, RFID tags, Geolocaters, and RADAR
- Bird Population surveying using UAV’s
- Methods in Artificial Intelligence: Computer Vision to Identify birds and analyze their behaviour, Implementing Deep learning models to detect their calls and using Big Data Visualization to extract the biological insights.
Research Work
- Developed a code in Google Earth Engine to interpolate the MODIS Snow Cover Global 500m Terra and Aqua Dataset to be used as a covariate in the eBird Machine Learning Model
- Analysed and validated bird calls for New England Birds Bioacoustics Project at Dartmouth University
Department of Natural Resources and the Environment at Cornell University, Ithaca
- Collaborated with Dr. Connor Wood at K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics and analyzed the Post 2020 wildfire effects on the occupancy of Townsend’s solitaire (Myadestes townsendi) due to habitat change using single species single season Occupancy Model using dataset from the Sierra Nevada Bioacoustics Project
- Designed a Passive Acoustic Monitoring conservation plan for Collared Forest-Falcon (Micrastur semitorquatus) using deep learning technique for call detection
- Visualized the activity in dawn recordings of the tropical birds species in Panama from the PAM Feb – May 2019 dataset using BirdNET analyzer and R software
- Bird Call Classification using SVM classifier and Audio feature clustering using K-Means clustering
- Assessed habitat requirements of the California Condor (Gymnogyps Californianus) from the literature review of its behavior, conservation history, and breeding ecology and created a Presence prediction distribution map using ArcGIS Pro
- Modelling of Forest Owlet’s (Athene Blewitti) Habitat Suitability and Predicted-Presence Distribution using Google Earth Engine
- Executed a group nest survey at Cornell University’s campus by planning the subdivision for survey areas and recorded the biological data & other measurements from nest observations
WWF India - New Delhi
- Analysed three decades (1990-2020) of forest fragmentation within Great Himalayan National Park using Land Fragmentation Tool and GIS software’s (ArcGIS & ERDAS)
- Performed & Presented a Habitat suitability assessment of Western tragopan (Tragopan melanocephalus) in the region of GHNP, Himachal Pradesh, India and delivered a habitat suitability map using MaxEnt software