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Sciurid Lab

Swati Udayraj

Swati Udayraj
PhD Student

  • Swati 1

I am primarily interested in landscape & urban ecology, conservation biology, and understanding species' response to rapid environmental changes. For my Ph.D., I am working on understanding squirrel distribution and response to anthropogenic change using modeling approaches in India. I am using multiple sources of occurrence data for 30 species of squirrels in India and use the same to create species distribution models and understand past, present, and future distributions of these species and understand how anthropogenic landscape modifications and climate change is likely to affect them. I am also looking at species occupancy and response to urbanisation using the Three-striped palm squirrel as a model system in Tirupati.

My previous work in the lab includes working on marmots in the Trans- Himalayas, where I was looking at genetic connectivity across their range in India using fecal samples.

Before joining the lab in 2017, I worked on multiple projects in various capacities. During my Master's summer internship, I carried out a study on understanding the demographic structure of non-human primates in the Central Western ghats of Karnataka. For my Master's dissertation, I worked on understanding the genetic structure and population connectivity of Asian elephants in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Publications

Research Papers:

  • Puyravaud, Jean-Philippe, Samuel A. Cushman, P. Anuradha Reddy, Durairaj Boominathan, Reeta Sharma, Neelakantan Arumugam, Kanagaraj Muthamizh Selvan, Nagarathinam Mohanraj, Sedupathy Arulmozhi, Abdul Rahim, Tamanna Kalam, Rahul De, Swati Udayraj, Andrea Luis, Muneer Ul Islam Najar, Kothandapani Raman, Bawa Mothilal Krishnakumar, Surendra Prakash Goyal, and Priya Davidar. 2022. "Fencing Can Alter Gene Flow of Asian Elephant Populations within Protected Areas" Conservation 2, no. 4: 709-725. https://doi.org/10.3390/conser...

  • Rahul De, Reeta Sharma, Priya Davidar, N. Arumugam, Arulmozhi Sedhupathy, Jean-Philippe Puyravaud, K. Muthamizh Selvan, P.P. Abdul Rahim, Swati Udayraj, Jyotirmayee Parida, Dinesh Kumar Digal, Rajapandian Kanagaraj, Kashmira Kakati, Parag Nigam, A. Christy Williams, Bilal Habib, Surendra Prakash Goyal. Pan-India population genetics signifies the importance of habitat connectivity for wild Asian elephant conservation, Global Ecology and Conservation, Volume 32, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2021.e01888.

  • Rajapandian Kanagaraj, Miguel B. Araujo, Rathin Barman, Priya Davidar, Rahul De, Dinesh K. Digal, G. V. Gopi, A. J. T. Johnsingh, Kashmira Kakati, Stephanie Kramer-Schadt, Babu R. Lamichhane, Salvador Lyngdoh, M. D. Madhusudan, Muneer Ul Islam Najar, Jyotirmayee Parida, Narendra M. B. Pradhan, Jean-Philippe Puyravaud, R. Raghunath, P. P. Abdul Rahim, K. Muthamizh Selvan, Naresh Subedi, Antonio Trabucco, Swati Udayraj, Thorsten Wiegand, Amirtharaj C. Williams, Surendra P. Goyal. Predicting range shifts of Asian elephants under global change. Divers Distrib. 2019; 25: 822– 838. https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12898

  • Ramesh KP, Kumara HN, Priya MM, Sushma HS, Meharabi KM, Udayraj S (2018) Conservation status of primates in the central Western Ghats, Karnataka, India. Primate Conserv 32:1–9

Talks and Posters

  • Swati Udayraj, Senan D'Souza, Aravind P. S. and Nandini Rajamani. Building a database using unconventional sources: Squirrels of India. CitSci India. 26th November 2022.
  • Swati Udayraj, Senan D'Souza, Aravind P. S. and Nandini Rajamani. Building a database using unconventional sources: Squirrels of India. IISER Tirupati Bio Day. 5th November 2022
  • Swati Udayraj, Senan D'Souza, Aravind P. S. and Nandini Rajamani. Building a database using unconventional sources: Squirrels of India. Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG), 17–21 October 2022 Bulgaria.

  • Swati Udayraj, Aravind P S, Senan D’Souza, Nandini Rajamani. 2022 Pan-India to Tirupati: Understanding patterns of squirrel occurrence. Talk at the ‘Conserving Biodiversity of the Eastern Ghats: Challenges and the way forward , Tirupati,Andhra Pradesh. May 2022 https://youtu.be/Zdu5NQPfQqo?t=3764

  • Swati Udayraj. Panelist in The call of the forest organised by SQIL on International Forest Day. March 2021. https://youtu.be/qz0UyJaDsbY

  • Biswarup Paul, Senan D’Souza, Swati Udayraj, Aravind P S and Nandini Rajamani. 2020. Modelling palm squirrel distribution with citizen science, social media and traditional data sources. Talk at the ‘CitSci India 2020’ conference. Online. September 2020.

  • Senan D'Souza, Swati Udayraj and Nandini Rajamani. 2019.Understanding species limits and genetic connectivity, and modelling range shifts of marmots in the Indian Trans-Himalayas. Talk at ‘Evolution 2019’ Meeting, Providence, RI, USA. 21st-25th June 2019.

  • Senan D’Souza, Swati Udayraj and R. Nandini. 2018. Distribution and occurrence of two species of marmots in Kashmir & Ladakh. Poster at ESI Annual Conf/Seminar on Animal Behaviour, Biodiversity and Human Future, Kozhikode, Kerala. December 2018

  • Senan D’Souza, Swati Udayraj and R. Nandini 2018. Distribution and occurrence of two species of marmots in Kashmir & Ladakh. Poster at ‘Young Ecologists Talk and Interact’, Ahmedabad, Gujarat. February 2018. DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.5808300.v2

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