Biological and Life Sciences

Professor Shomen Mukherjee has been working in the field of Ecology for over two decades, focusing on questions related to species interactions and mechanisms of coexistence. He has been using evolutionary game theory to understand predators’ and competitors’ direct and indirect effects in shaping ecological communities. He has also studied how predatory stress affects the reproductive life-history traits of prey animals.  

More recently, he has been using a community ecology approach to understand the ecology of disease. In particular, his research focuses on understanding how changes in ecological community structure affect the population dynamics and behaviour of vectors and their competitors. He has also been trying to understand how mosquitoes and the perceived risk of a vector-borne disease affect human behaviour, particularly in the context of social equity.

Before joining Ahmedabad University, Shomen was part of the core faculty group that conceptualised, developed, and executed the BS and BS (Honours) Biology degree programme at Azim Premji University, Bengaluru.

Shomen holds an MS degree in Wildlife Biology from the Wildlife Institute of India, and a doctorate from Ben-Gurion University, Israel. He has extensive research experience from working in different countries across the globe. He has taught both elective and core courses in Biology programmes in South Africa and India. 
 

• Foraging and Habitat selection games: Rich empirical studies suggest that predator-prey interactions are often games of stealth and fear. In this game, prey individuals are trying to trade-off between acquiring food and staying safe. At the same time, predators manage their behaviour to minimise fear among the prey and maximise hunting success. We try to simultaneously study (both theoretically and empirically) different behaviours of predators and prey while manipulating factors such as their energetic state, habitat complexity, etc.
• Long Term Ecological Research on Herpetofauna: As part of the Long Term Ecological Observatories program (Herpetofauna group; www.lteo.iisc.ac.in), we are trying to understand the response of herpetofauna to changes in precipitation and temperature associated with global climate change. Our group explicitly concentrates its effort on areas in the Western Arid Zone, studying the diversity and distribution of species in permanent field sites and focusing on changes in population dynamics and life-history traits of specific “model” species.
• Community Ecology of Vectors: In this project, we understand how biodiversity loss/community simplification affects the behaviour, life-history traits, and population dynamics of vector species and their competitors and predators. We use both non-manipulative and manipulative study designs (e.g. field mesocosm studies) to test these questions. We currently focus on mosquito vectors, but in the future, plan to expand into other vector groups.
   

(TBD) Community Ecology
(TBD) Disease Ecology