elephant dung: searching for signals in nature

From pachyderm stress levels to plants hiring insect bodyguards, nature's mysteries often have molecular answers

A five-year project funded by the Department of Biotechnology, SCENIC's objective is to advance scientific research and capacity building in northeast India, through the interdisciplinary science of chemical ecology

Now in its penultimate year, this collaboration between three Bangalore institutes and seven in the northeast has unearthed several findings whose applications can range from medical science to wildlife conservation

There's the discovery of 13 bumblebee species for the first time in Arunachal Pradesh, research on heat and salt-tolerant fungi, and a possible way to protect the region's endangered rice varieties

Chemical ecology, which combines biology, chemistry, and ecology, shows us the fascinating ways in which flora and fauna - including bacteria - communicate with each other to preserve local ecosystems

For three years, Jaya Narah canvassed the mercifully untouched, but criminally under-researched eastern Himalayas with little more than a sweep net, airtight containers and Boroplus. The ointment offered some respite from bumblebee stings—which she insists weren’t that bad anyway. One, the pain subsides in a day or two. Two, bumblebees aren’t as aggressive as their honeybee cousins. Three, Narah had greater obstacles to contend with: unforgiving weather, landslides, transport bottlenecks.

Hers was a 614km quest to study bumblebee behaviour in India’s easternmost state, Arunachal Pradesh—from the evergreen forests of Pasighat to the frigid Sela Pass. What started as a project on how pollinators adapt to different altitudes has also become an inflection point.

AUTHOR

Roshni Nair

Roshni P. Nair joins us from Reuters, where she was an online producer. With a background in weekend features at Hindustan Times and DNA, Roshni has written on subjects ranging from India’s amateur UFO investigators to the provenance of sambhar. When not pursuing story ideas, she enjoys reading, making a great cuppa adrak chai, playing with street dogs, and avoiding large gatherings. Roshni will work out of Mumbai and can be reached at roshni at the rate the-ken.com

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