From bottom row to top. First file from Right: Ullasa, Freerk, Harshad, Gopal. Second file: Ravi, Mruganka (red), Sridhar, Srikanta Third File: Sora (blue), Sumayya, Avantika, Ranjit. May 2016.

Ullasa did his BSc (Forestry) from the University of Agricultural Sciences (Bangalore), PhD from Stockholm University and joined IISER-TVM in 2013 after two postdocs - one each in Stockholm University and University of Cambridge.

Freerk did his PhD from Leiden University, Netherlands followed by postdocs at University of Rennes (France), University of Tartu (Estonia) and University of California Davis (USA). He is a broadly trained biologist with expertise in community ecology and life history evolution, and integrates field and laboratory experiments in his work.

Balu did his PhD at IISER-TVM on colour preferences and learning in honeybees. He is currently working on evolution of colour preferences in butterflies.

Ranjit did his Masters from Pondicherry University on elephants of Dandeli National Park. He is interested in butterfly-hostplant coevolution and Wolbachia-insect interactions.

Harshad did his Masters in Neurobiology from Sophia College, Mumbai on morphological structures associated with mosquito oviposition behaviour. For his PhD, he works on aspects related to phenotypic plasticity in butterflies.

Sumayya did her Masters in Botany from MG University, Kottayam. She is working on diversification of balsams (Impatiens) in the Western Ghats.

Vivek did his Masters in Wildlife Science form the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University where he worked on the population ecology of Hemidactylus prashadi (Bombay leaf-toed Gecko). He is presently interested in the diversification and evolution of fossorial reptiles in peninsular India.

Gopal is an Integrated-PhD student who has joined our lab for his PhD. He works on the evolution of antipredatory colouration using reptiles and lizards as models.

Ravi did his postgraudation in Genetic Engineering from SRM University, Chennai. He is a project fellow in a DBT funded project on the taxonomy and biogeography of Indian bees. He is interested in speciation & divresification, insect taxonomy and several areas of evolution biology.

Ashish has done his masters in Biodiversity from Abasaheb Garware College, Pune. He works on a project on the biogeography of plants of the Western Ghats. He is keenly interested in studying the ecology and evolution of plants.