Prof. Mewa Singh Ph.D., FASc, FNA, FNASc, FNAPsy
Ramanna Fellow, and Life-Long Distinguished Professor Department of Psychology, University of Mysore Honorary Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore Adjunct Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalo

Abstract: Biodiversity refers to the variety of life forms in a particular habitat or ecosystem. In the Indian subcontinent, the Western Ghats and the Eastern Himalayas are among the “Biodiversity hotspots of the world”. It is important to discern the ecological principles behind the spatial and temporal distribution of species – not only to understand the drivers of patterns in biodiversity but also to explain those patterns from an evolutionary perspective. For example, in the Anaimalai Hills of the Western Ghats, the fruit eating macaques (bonnet macaques and lion-tailed macaques) are sympatric with the leaf eating langurs (hanuman langurs and Nilgiri langurs), and each sympatric pair occupies different ecological zones. Smaller predators (dhols and leopards) inhabit regions having higher smaller prey (chital), whereas larger predator (tigers), regions having larger prey (gaur and sambar). In Karnataka, wolf and tiger occupy different ecological zones; similarly two closely related species of large squirrels (giant squirrels and grizzled squirrels) occupy different regions, but the two that are sympatric (giant squirrel and large brown flying squirrel) are nocturnal and diurnal. Overall, closely related species either space out or show temporal separation.  Our long term research on sympatric species suggests the following thumb rules of species co-existence, (a) species with narrow food niches and high niche overlap cannot co-exist, (b) species with broad food niches and moderate niche overlap can co-exist, (c) species with low niche overlap regardless of niche breadth can co-exist, and (d) species with high niche overlap but at the time of resource abundance can co-exist.

About the speaker: Prof. Mewa Singh is “Life-Long Distinguished Professor” of Psychology at University of Mysore where he teaches and conducts research on Ecology, Evolution and Animal Behaviour.  He did his Master’s degree at Panjab University, Chandigarh, Ph.D. at University of Mysore and Post Doctoral training in Wildlife Management at Smithsonian Institution Washington DC.  He has been a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence at Bucknell University Pennsylvania; a teaching assistant at the Smithsonian Institution Washington DC; a Visiting Fellow at the Zoological Society of San Diego; Visiting Fellow at the German Primate Center Gottingen and Cologne Zoo in Germany; Studienstifftung Summer Professor in Germany, visiting Lecturer in Malaysia and a visiting Lecturer at the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow.  His research on mammalian ecology and animal behaviour, especially of non-human primates, is field based.  He has worked in the forests of Himalayas, Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats, and Nicobar Islands.