Experience

Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Thiruvananthapuram

• Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

• Pupal Color Plasticity in Catopsilia pomona, Catopsilia pyranthe and Eurema Blanda

  • Sep 2020 - Present

  Now, I am working on my major project under the guidance of Dr. Ullasa Kodandaramaiah in the ‘vanasiri’ lab. We found that C. pomona shows plasticity in their pupal colour varying from brown to green. So we established a population of C. pomona in the lab and came up with some hypothesis and a strong experiment to test it. I hypothesize that the colour of the substrate in which they pupate has a key role in determining the colour of the pupae. We quantified the colour by taking photographs of the pupae and extracting R, G and B values from the photograph using custom Matlab program and calculated Greenness Index of the pupae. The work is progressing flawlessly and we strongly believe this would be published. Show less



Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Thiruvananthapuram

• Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

• Detection of chemicals using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

  • Jan 2020 - Apr 2020

  The main aim of this project is to create a scale for the concentration of paraquat and carbofuran versus Raman intensity to understand how much of these compounds were absorbed into various crops on applying various concentrations. Ultimately we will examine whether we are overusing the pesticides on crops. I was extremely inspired by the faculty members who applauded my final work for its concrete understanding of the fundamentals involved. The main aim of this project is to create a scale for the concentration of paraquat and carbofuran versus Raman intensity to understand how much of these compounds were absorbed into various crops on applying various concentrations. Ultimately we will examine whether we are overusing the pesticides on crops. I was extremely inspired by the faculty members who applauded my final work for its concrete understanding of the fundamentals involved.



NATIONAL CONSERVATION FOUNDATION

• Sangla, Himachal Pradesh, India

• Population Estimation of Snow leopards in the Himalayas

  • May 2019 - Jul 2019

  NCF aim for contributing knowledge and conservation of India’s unique wildlife heritage with innovative research and imaginative solutions. I was part of the project called ‘Population estimation of Snow-leopards in the ‘Himalayas’. We trapped some cameras in the Sangla-Kwar region of the great Himalayas for an area of 640 km2. The project gave me immense experience in research fieldwork. We trekked for 25 km in a day and experienced most extreme conditions like -16° C of temperature and 15300 ft of altitude. Show less



Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Thiruvananthapuram

• Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

• Attacking Behavior of Social spider

  • Aug 2018 - Mar 2019

  The motivation behind this project was to diversify my experience in behavioural ecology. We hypothesised that our model organism, Stegodyphus sarasinorum prefers to attack the head if the prey is aggressive. We used grasshopper, house fly(non-aggressive prey) and honey bee with the sting as the prey (aggressive prey). We had a strong result suggesting that Stegodyphus sarasinorum attacked honey bee’s head to avoid its counterattack (avoiding its sting). The motivation behind this project was to diversify my experience in behavioural ecology. We hypothesised that our model organism, Stegodyphus sarasinorum prefers to attack the head if the prey is aggressive. We used grasshopper, house fly(non-aggressive prey) and honey bee with the sting as the prey (aggressive prey). We had a strong result suggesting that Stegodyphus sarasinorum attacked honey bee’s head to avoid its counterattack (avoiding its sting).