Arthropods
Principal Investigator:
Dr. K. A. Subramaniam (Zoological Survey of India)
Co-Investigators:
Dr. Girish Kumar (Zoological Survey of India)
Dr. Jaffer Md. Palot (Zoological Survey of India)
Dr. P. M. Sureshan (Zoological Survey of India)
Dr. Sameer Kumar Pati (Zoological Survey of India)
Arthropods are the most informative and sensitive environmental and ecological indicators and are affected most by climate change. The Arthropod groups should be broadly interconnected in ecological communities and ecosystems, relatively conspicuous and easy to sample, taxonomically and ecologically well-studied with standard sampling methods, and ecologically diverse with a variety of life-history strategies. Arthropods are inarguably the most diverse phylum on earth. The role of arthropods in ecosystem functioning is quite significant that even the very own existence of ourselves depends upon the survival of some arthropod groups such as bees. Like many other organisms, the changes in climatic conditions, anthropogenic disturbances, and habitat loss also lead to the catastrophic decline of arthropod populations and diversity worldwide.
As a part of the Long-Term Ecological Observatories project, Dr. K. A Subramanian, Scientist-E, Zoological Survey of India, and his team have initiated to study the effect of climatic changes on the diversity and distribution of ecologically important arthropods in terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems. The study involves documenting the diversity, distribution, and ecological traits of selected arthropods such as scorpions, centipedes, wasps, bees, butterflies, crabs, mayflies, dragonflies, stoneflies, and termites. The theme expects to identify indicator taxa and develop monitoring protocols in different ecosystems across LTEO landscapes to assess and monitor the impact of climate change.