Research Projects

A fundamental aim in ecological and evolutionary research is to understand the processes underpinning the diversification and distribution of species. A crucial aspect of such research is landscape genetics, especially identifying barriers to gene flow and dispersal and their impact on diversification and distribution. Amphibians are ideal group to test the influence of barriers on their dispersal because they are thought to be relatively poor dispersers. Their dispersal ability is influenced by intrinsic factors such as body size and extrinsic factors such as physical and climatic barriers. The interplay between landscape features and species ecologies impacts gene flow across landscapes has not been tested for many amphibian species, especially those from tropical biodiversity hotspot regions. The habitat and environment can also influence call patterns in amphibians influencing their speciation. The relative extent to which habitat influences the acoustic properties and the correlation between genotype and call phenotype is relatively unexplored. In this study I propose to examine the role of landscape, environmental features in shaping the diversity and distribution of co-distributed species of endemic Nyctibatrachus frogs from the Western Ghats global biodiversity hotspot India using acoustics and genetics. There are 34 species in this group at present and they show an in situ pattern of diversification. The genomic and call diversity in this group is still unknown. Using Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) data generated by Next Generation Sequencing technologies, I will generate huge amounts of data from across the genome of these frogs and use these data to identify patterns of intra-specific gene flow across their ranges. This date will be integrated with the acoustic data to understand if there is a correlation between the phenotype (call patterns) and genotypes (genetic diversity). The objectives would be to document amounts and patterns of genetic variation within and among the co-distributed species. I would test the hypothesis of Isolation by resistance where the dendritic patterns of streams within river-basins could influence the diversification and compare this with Isolation by Environment hypothesis where the diversification in frogs could be influenced by their microclimate. The other objective would be to compare and correlate the acoustic call patterns with genetic diversity and understand if habitat influences the call diversification and whether there is phylogenetic signal on the acoustic characters in the Nyctibatrachus species. Here, I would test the Acoustic Niche Hypothesis wherein the partitioning in acoustic calls is related to the quality of the habitats. The project aligns to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)15: Life on Land which promotes the conservation of tropical forests and protection of its habitats. It will provide novel insights on the exceptional amphibian diversity of the Western Ghats.