1) Research Assistant: 1969-71; Bombay Natural History Society:

Studying the migration of birds. Conducted several field camps in various forest types and habitats in India for collecting data on bird migration.

2) Salim Ali-Loke Wan Tho Research Fellow: 1972-75; Bombay Natural History Society:

Worked on the ecology of the Redvented and Whitebrowed bulbuls in Point Calimere and also assessed the factors affecting distribution of bulbuls in southern India under the guidance of Dr.Salim Ali. Ph.D. was awarded for this work by the University of Bombay.

3) Visiting Scientist: July 1975 - February 1976; Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore:

Survey of the status and distribution of elephants in Bandipur, Nagerhole, Mudumalai and Wyanad sanctuaries and also survey of avifauna of these areas.

4) Research Associate: March to September 1976; Bombay Natural History Society:

(i) Study on the status and distribution of mammals and birds in Parambikulam wildlife sanctuary and its adjacent areas,

(ii) Survey of the Blacknecked Crane in Ladakh under the leadership of Dr.Salim Ali,

(iii) A short survey of the habitat of the Liontailed Macaque in Kalakkad - Kakkachi area along with Mr.J.C.Daniel.

5)Research Assistant: October 1976-77; Kerala Forest Research Institute:

Principal Investigator of the Project to study the impact of a hydroelectric dam in Silent Valley on the wildlife of the area.

6)Wildlife Biologist and Head of the Division of Wildlife Biology: 1977-81; Kerala Forest Research Institute:

(i) Principal Investigator of the project 'An ecological study in Periyar Tiger Reserve with special reference to wildlife',

(ii) Principal Investigator of the project "Study on the impact of multipurpose river valley project on the wildlife". This was part of a major study sponsored by the Department of Environment, Government of India to asses the impact of multipurpose river valley projects on the environment. Other institutions involved were Zoological Survey of India, Botanical Survey of India, National Remote Sensing Agency and the Central Earth Science.

(iii) Apart from these, as I was the first to join the wildlife Division of KFRI, I was responsible for oragnizing the Division of Wildlife Biology.

7) Project Scientist: November 1981 to September 1987 in the Keoladeo National Park Ecology project of the Bombay Natural History Society:

Lead an integrated multidisciplinary study on the ecosystem of Keoladeo National Park with a team of 15 scientists with Dr Salim Ali as the guiding spirit.

Keoladeo National Park is one of the World Heritage sites and one of the best waterfowl reserves in the world. Our study covered important aspects of the ecology of the wetland such as:

(1) Limnology ( physicochemical properties of water, plankton, primary productivity),

(2) Flora (of the park with a vegetation map),

(3) Aquatic macrophytes (communities, biomass productivity, decomposition and its impact on water quality),

(4) Terrestrial vegetation (productivity of grasses, sedges and herbs; community of the herbaceous vegetation; phenology of plants)

(5) Aquatic macroinvertebrates (macroinvertebrates of column water, benthic fauna, association of macrinvertebrates with macrophytes),

(6) abundance of terrestrial insects and their seasonality,

(7) Fish fauna ( its abundance, distribution and ecology),

(8) Herpetofauna (its distribution, and ecology of major species),

(9) Ornithology ( Population of all waterfowl, ecology of major groups of species such as migratory waterfowl, resident waterfowl, piscivorous birds, Siberian Crane, Jacanas and moorhens and, Land bird community and seasonality),

(10) Ungulates (population, habitat utilization, food and feeding habits of major species; browse productivity and its utilization and grazing pressure),

(11) Carnivores (population and food of a few species), Environmental contamination (pesticide and heavy metal residues in wwater, bird tissues, bird eggs and fish),

(12) Villagers and the Park (their dependance on the park and the problems with management and,

(13) Tourism (problems and suggestions). The study also dealt with the various management issues and offered suggestions for improving the management based on the base-line data collected over ten years.

My main role in the project was : planning and execution of the entire project, working out detailed data sheet for each aspect, train the people in methodology and data collection, supervision of the execution of field work and finally analysing the data the way we wanted it. The project was first of its kind in the country, perhaps in the world, as there is no wetland in the world which is studied in as much details in all its components simultaneously. The project was sponsored by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Nine Ph.D and several Masters degrees emerged from the project.

8) Senior Scientist and Principal Investigator: October 1987 to May 1990: Bombay Natural History Society.

Continued the Keoladeo National Park Ecosystem Study.

9) Officer on Special Duty: June 1990 to October 1991: Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History

I have been on deputation from the Bombay Natural History Society to the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) as Officer on Special Duty.

10) Director: Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History since November 1991

Apart from building up the Centre, I have been directly involved in the following projects:

a. Breeding Strategies of birds in a moist deciduous forests in Tamil Nadu as Principal Investigator

b. Inland Wetlands of India, a UNDP-GOI sponsored project to prepare a national perfected area network of wetlands in the country.

c. A multidisciplinary, integrated project on the ecology of disturbed dry deciduous forest and monitoring the changes in the ecology, since disturbance were reduced/stopped.

This project aims at long-term studies on the fundamental issues in ornithology such as pair formation, geneology, clutch size, cooperative breeding, breeding seasonality and energy budget.

1) Member: Senate of the University of Calicut 1980-84

2) Member: State Wildlife Advisory Board, Kerala 1979-83

3) Member: IUCN's Asian Elephant Specialist Group 1979-82

4) Member: Indian National NGO Ramsar Committee 1990 -1994

5) Member: Senate of the Bharathiar University since 2000

6) Member: Research Advisory Committee of the Wildlife Institute of India since 1995

7) Member: Research Advisory Committee of the Kerala Forest Research Institute since 2001

8) Research Guide: University of Bombay for M.Sc 1983- 1991

9) Research Guide: University of Bombay for Ph.D 1991 -1994

10) Research Co-guide: Annamalai University for Ph.D 1983-1987

11) Research Co-guide: Aligarh Muslim University for Ph.D. 1986-1990

In addition to these:

(i) I have served as a member in the Committee set up by the UGC to examine the possibilities of introducing wildlife course in Indian Universities,

(ii) I was involved in conducting the M.Sc. degree examinations (Zoology - Wildlife Biology) of the University of Calicut for four years

(iii) served as examiner for :(a) M.Sc. (Wildlife Biology) and M.Phil (Wildlife Biology) in Aligarh Muslim University, (b) Ph.D. (Zoology) in Rajasthan University, (c) Ph.D. (Ecological Sciences) in the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and, (d) M.Sc. (Agriculture; Economic Ornithology) in the Gujarat Agricultural University, (e) .Ph.D in Biological Sciences (Ornithology), Saurastra University, Rajkot, (f) Ph.D in Wildlife Biology, AVC College, Mayiladuthurai, Tanjavoor

EXPERIENCE AS UNIVERSITY RESEARCH GUIDE

M. Sc. Students

1) S.Bhupathy: Ecology of the Purple Moorhen Pophyrio pophyrio (Latham) from January to March 1985 in Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur. M.Sc dissertation. 1985. Thesis submitted and degree awarded. Bharathidasan University, Tamil Nadu.

2) S.Jayaram: Wintering ecology of the Coot Fulica atra atra (Linn.) from January to March 1985 in Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur. M.Sc dissertation. 1985. Thesis submitted and degree awarded. Bharathidasan University, Tamil Nadu.

M.Phil Students

1) Md.Nayerul Haque: Habitat utilization of ungulates in Keoladeo National Park. 1988. Aligarh Muslim University. Thesis submitted and degree awarded. I was co-guide to this study.

2) M. Maranko: Behaviour of the Siberian Crane (Grus leucogeranus at Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur during the winter of 1987-88. 1989. Bharathidasan University, Tamil Nadu. Thesis submitted and degree awarded.

3) R. Nedumaran: Habitat selection of the Siberian Crane (Grus leucogeranus) during the winter of 1987-88 in Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur. Bharathidasan University, Tamil Nadu.

Ph.D. Students

1) K.Sampath: The fertility of waters of coastal board ecosystem with special reference to birds. 1989. Ph.D thesis. University of Annamalai. I was a co-guide to this study. Thesis submitted and degree awarded.

2) Md.Nayerul Haque: A study on the Ecology of wild ungulates of Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur. 1990. I was a co-guide to this study. Aligarh Muslim University. Thesis submitted and degree awarded

3) N.K. Ramachandran: Comparative ecology of the Pheasant- tailed and Bronzewinged Jacanas in Keoladeo National Park Bharatpur,Rajasthan. Ph.D Thesis, 1993. Univ. Bombay.

4) P R Arun: Seasonality and abundance of insects with special reference to butterflies in a moist deciduous forest of Siruvani, Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, South India. Ph.D Degree awarded, Bharathiar University

The following staff-students worked under me in the Keoladeo National Park Ecology project; I guided them for their Ph. D. Each topic was part of the main project on the ecosystem. The entire planning, including detailed methodology for data collection and supervision was done by me. So also the analyses.

1) Vibhu Prakash: Status and Ecology of the raptors in Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur. Ph.D. thesis. University of Bombay. 1988 (degree awarded).

2) U.Sridharan: Comparative ecology of resident ducks in Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur. 1989. University of Bombay. ( degree awarded).

3) C.Sivasubramanian: Ecology of fish-eating birds of Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur. Saurashtra University.(degree awarded)

4) S.Bhupathy: Ecology of the wintering ducks of Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur. University of Rajasthan. (degree awarded)

5) T.Sundaramoorthy: A study on the ecology of the land birds of Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur. University of Bombay. (degree awarded)

1975: Ecological isolation in bulbuls (Class Aves, family Pycnonotidae) with special reference to Pycnonotus cafer (L) and P.luteolus (Lesson) at Point Calimere, Tamil Nadu. Ph.D. Thesis. University of Bombay.

1978: Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary and its adjacent areas. JBNHS. Vol. 75 (3).

1980: Breeding biology of bulbuls, Pycnonotus cafer and P.luteolus (Class: Aves; family: Pycnonotidae) with special reference to their ecological isolation. JBNHS. Vol.75. Suppl.

1980: Status of Elephants in Periyar Tiger Reserve. In Status of the Asian elephant in the Indian sub-continent. Ed. J.C.Daniel.

1982: Habitat preservation and management of the Liontailed Macaque in the wild. Proc. International Seminar on Liontailed Macaque held in Baltimore, USA.

1983: Conservation in Kerala. Proc. International Seminar on Conservation held in Bombay. Bombay Natural History Society.

1985: Status paper on birds. Proc. Third East-Asian Bird Protection Conference. Tokyo.

1985: Bird Conservation in India. Proc. Third East-Asian Bird Protection Conference. Tokyo.

1986: Secialization in wildlife conservation and biology: research priorities, organization and funding. Proc. of the Symposium on the 'Role of universities in wildlife education and research'. Aligarh Muslim University

1986: On conserving the bird fauna of Indian Wetlands. Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. (Anim. Sci./Plant Sci.) Suppl. November 1986.

1987:Bird Migration.in the Encyclopedia of Indian Natural History. Ed. R.E.Hawkins. Bombay Natural History Society.

1987:Bird Banding. in the Encyclopedia of Indian Natural History. Ed. R.E.Hawkins. Bombay Natural History Society.

1987: Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur. Vivekananda Kendra Patrika 12.

1988: Food habits of the Smooth Indian Otter Lutra perspicillata in Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur. With Md.Nayerul Haque. Proc. of the IUCN Otter Symposium held in Bangalore

1988: On the Fish fauna of Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur. with C.R.Ajith Kumar. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. Vol. 85(1).

1989: Satus, distribution and general ecology of the Indian Python Python molurus molurus Linn. in Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur. With S.Bhupathy, J.Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 86(3):381-387

1990: Predation on the Indian Flap-shell Turtle Lissemys punctata in Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur. With S.Bhupathy. Proc. Nat. Symp . Anim. Behav. In.: Behaviour (B.H. Patel ed.) Sir P P Institute of Science, Bhavnagar:27-33

1990. Ecology of an Indian Artificial Wetland. With N.Armantrout. Proc. of the Second Asian Fisheries Forum held in Tokyo, Japan. 989. Ed. H. Hirano and I. Hanyu 1990. The Asian Fisheries Society.

1990: Wetlands: in the Encyclopedia of Indian Natural History. Second (revised) edition. Ed. R.E.Hawkins, Bombay Natural History Society.

1990: Wintering population of the Siberian Crane Grus leucogeranus and its behaviour in Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, India. with L.Vijayan.In Proc.of the Asian Crane Congress, Rajkot, Gujarat. 1990: Ecology of the Sarus Crane Grus antigone in Keoladeo National Park,Bharatpur, India.With N.K. Ramachandran. (Ibid).

1990: Blotch structure in individual identification of the Indian Python Python molurus molurusand its possible usage in population estimation. J.Bombay Nat.Hist. Soc. 87: 399-404. With S Bhupathy

1991:Freshwater turtle fauna of the eastern Rajasthan. With S Bhupathy J.Bombay nat.Hist.Soc. 88 (1): 118-122

1992. The Socio- economics of the villages around Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan India. with Azeez, P.A, Ramachandran N.K. In Institute J.Ecology and Environmental Sci. 18:1-15. International Scientific publications.

1993: Aspects of feeding ecology of Lissemys punctata (Testudines: Trionichidae) in Keoladeo National Park, Bharathpur, India. With S Bhupathy. Hamadryad 18: 13-16

1994: Aestivation of turtles in Keoladeo National Park with special reference to Lissemys punctata. J.Bombay nat.Hist.Soc.91 (3): 398-402

1998: Population ecology of migratory waterfowl in Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur.J.Bombay nat.Hist.Soc. 95 (2):287-294

1998: Breeding strategies of birds in a moist deciduous forest at Siruvani in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. With Vijayan, L; Venketaraman, C & Arun P R. pp. 179 - 185 in R K Maikhuri, K S Rao & R K Rai (ed). Biosphere Reserve and Management in India (Pro. workshop, 11 - 15 June 1997, Joshimath, (U P)G B Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment $ Development, Almora, U P

1999: Aspects of the wintering ecology pf Purple Moorhen Porphyrio porphyrio in Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, India. Pavo 37 (1&2): 13-18

In press: Salient features of the ecosystem of the Keoladeo National Park. With Vijayan, L. in Sustainable wetlands: Biodiversity and beyond. Parikh et al. (ed). Mumbai. 27 pages.