An exploration of projects driven by scientific inquiry and structured methodologies. Focused on accuracy, validation, and scalable solutions.
Ongoing projects
1 / Online trade
Rapid growth in e-commerce has created a new, largely unmonitored channel for the spread of invasive species. We curated a novel dataset of 2,401 trade records, identifying 204 non-native invasive and naturalized plant species currently for sale in India. There are 1,126 unique traders actively selling these species, with major e-commerce marketplaces (like Amazon and Flipkart) dominating the trade compared to specialized online nurseries. Well-known invasive species such as Mimosa pudica (Touch-me-not) and Leucaena leucocephala (Subabul) were found to be readily available for purchase. We are now in the process of deciphering the influence of different biotic and abiotic factors on the trading pattern of these species.
2 / Invasion risk
Understanding the potential distribution of invasive alien plants in India under present and future climate conditions is necessary for prioritizing invasion hotspots, implementing EDRR for new invasions, and developing a robust policy framework. In this study, we aim to identify areas that are climatically suitable for the establishment and spread of the invasive aliens present in ILORA through environmental niche models (ENMs).
5 / Realized climatic niche dynamics
In this study, we hypothesized that a species’ socio-ecological traits, biogeographic characteristics, and invasion history can influence its climatic niche dynamics, and tested this hypothesis for 101 invasive alien plant species in India. More than 60% of the species showed a climatic niche shift in India. A significantly higher expansion was observed in species that are perennial, inhabit freshwater habitats, originated from the Americas, and naturalized in the Asia-Tropical. Minimum residence time and naturalized range size were the important variables for niche dynamics. Our findings recommend exercising caution while forecasting invasion risk, as species undergoing climatic niche shifts in India could underestimate the invasion potential of these species.
Published in Oikos (2026)
4 / An occurrence data set for invasive and naturalized alien plants in India
Global databases of occurrence data, like the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), are often not exhaustive, especially for India, and poorly represent the actual distribution of the invasive alien plant species in the country. In this paper, we extracted occurrence data for the invasive and naturalized alien plant species of India from 3137 literature records and 357 herbarium sheets. A total of 12,347 occurrence records were obtained for 362 species (195 invasive aliens and 167 naturalized aliens).
Published in Ecology (2022)
3 / Identification of drivers for naturalization and invasion success of Indian alien flora
Why do some alien plants become naturalized, and some naturalized become invasive? Do different factors determine successful naturalization and invasion? In this study, we answered these questions by deciphering the variables’ influence on successful naturalization and invasion through a structural equation modelling framework.
Published in Journal of Environmental Management (2021)
2 / Policy formulations to prevent and control plant invasions in India
In this study, we considered the diverse interests of different actors and designed a policy framework to control invasive alien plant species in India. Also, we outlined an operable and dynamic decentralized system having a standard operating procedure to ensure coordination between different stakeholders, increase public awareness and guide further research direction.
Published in Environmental Science and Policy (2021)
1 / The database
We have curated data for 14 variables related to ecology, biogeography, introduction pathway, socio-economy and distribution of 1747 alien vascular plant species from 22 national and global sources to produce the Indian Alien Flora Information (ILORA) version 1.0 database. This paper describes the detailed methodology of curating these data along with the rationale behind selecting these variables.
Published in Ecological Solutions and Evidence (2021)