"DNA Studies and Evolutionary History: Why species survival is more than a game of numbers" a talk by Dr. Uma Ramakrishnan at Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg > 3pm on 18th December 2013

Time : 3:00 pm

Entry : Free (Seating on First-Come First-Served basis)

Place : Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML), Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg, New Delhi - 110011
Venue Info :  Events | About | Map | Nearest Metro Station - 'Race Course(Yellow Line)'

Event Description : The Nehru Memorial Museum and Library cordially invites you to a Public Lecture
(in the ‘Science, Society and Nature’ series) on ‘DNA Studies and Evolutionary History: Why species survival is more than a game of numbers’ by Dr. Uma Ramakrishnan, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru.

Abstract : Like several carnivores worldwide, tiger populations have also declined in historical times, and this cat now retains only 7% of its historical range. About 65% of the worlds remaining 3,000 or so wild tigers live in the Indian subcontinent, making it an important region. Our genetic surveys of Indian tigers revealed that Indian tigers retain more than half of the extant genetic diversity in the species. This diversity is retained despite a precipitous, possibly human-induced population crash ~200 years ago in India. But are numbers all that we have lost? Despite population decline, did tigers retain most genetic variants that were present in the past? The only way to find out is to go back in time and look at variation in historical times. Using tiger skins primarily from the London Museum of Natural History we were able to investigate and compare population genetic variants from the past (100-200 years ago) to modern variation. Our results reveal that (1) tigers have lost substantial mitochondrial genetic variation and (2) tiger populations have become more fragmented in the last 200 or so years. Given that we have already lost connectivity in the last 200 years, what do we know about current levels of connectivity? How mobile are tigers across high density, human-dominated landscapes? Again, using the invisible medium of genetic data we showed that (1) tigers disperse very long distances (on the order of 600 km) and (2) human footprints on the landscape (such as roads, urban settlements) impact recent population connectivity significantly.  The speaker will conclude by presenting how our understanding of how tiger population size and connectivity using a genetic lens, allows us to move towards safeguarding the future for tigers.

Speaker : Dr. Uma Ramakrishnan studied population genetics for her Ph.D in biological sciences at the University of California, San Diego. She then investigated genetic relationships between human populations in sub-Saharan Africa and the genetic climatic change response in small mammal populations during her postdoctoral research at Stanford University. She started a molecular ecology laboratory at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, TIFR in 2005, where she is currently based.  Dr. Ramakrishnan was a member of the National Board for Wildlife (2010-2013), is a Ramanujan Fellow and a DAE outstanding scientist. She was nominated as an INK fellow in 2013. She is fascinated by trying to understand patterns that drive biodiversity in the Indian subcontinent, and hopes to apply any knowledge gathered to conservation of species.

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