Sreekar Rachakonda
Higher Degree by Research Candidate
School of Biological Sciences
Faculty of Sciences
My research focuses on determining natural variation in biodiversity (beta-diversity), and how they change with anthropogenic disturbance at local, landscape and regional scales. My current interests lie in determining the drivers of community assembly and food webs at multiple scales in different habitats.
Measuring Beta-diversity: What is beta-diversity and how to measure it? Beta diversity is the site-to-site variation in species diversity, and is traditionally measured as the ratio between gamma (regional) diversity and alpha (local) diversity. Multiple measures have been proposed since then. However, there is a lack of consensus among ecologists on the use of a standardised measure, mainly due to the correlation between species richness and beta-diversity. We are using data from i) simulations, ii) large tree plots in Panama and Malaysia, and iii) other published sources to understand the causes and consequences of contrasting results in beta-diversity studies.
Beta-diversity in different habitats at different spatial scales: Is beta-diversity higher in the tropics? Niche compression hypothesis predicts higher beta-diversity in hyper-diverse communities. But, ecologists haven't reached an agreement yet. For example, basic questions like variation in beta-diversity across latitudinal and landuse gradients are still being discussed among community ecologists. We are using standardised tree data from multiple CTFS-ForestGEO plots across Asia-Pacific, and standardised bird data from the rainforests of Western Ghats and Sri Lanka to determine the drivers of beta-diversity in different habitats at multiple spatial scales.
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Appointments
Date Position Institution name 2015 - 2015 Research Fellow Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden 2010 - 2011 Research Fellow Agumbe Rainforest Research Station -
Language Competencies
Language Competency English Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review -
Education
Date Institution name Country Title 2011 - 2014 Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden China M.Sc -
Research Interests
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Journals
Year Citation 2018 Li, H., Guo, J., Goldberg, S., Sreekar, R., Ye, L., Luo, X., . . . Mortimer, P. (2018). Fruiting patterns of macrofungi in tropical and temperate land use types in Yunnan Province, China. Acta Oecologica, 91, 7-15.
2018 Sreekar, R., Katabuchi, M., Nakamura, A., Corlett, R., Slik, J., Fletcher, C., . . . Pin Koh, L. (2018). Spatial scale changes the relationship between beta diversity, species richness and latitude. Royal Society Open Science, 5(9), 10 pages.
2017 Rachakonda, S., Corlett, R., Dayananda, S., Goodale, U., Kilpatrick, A., Kotagama, S., . . . Goodale, E. (2017). Horizontal and vertical species turnover in tropical birds in habitats with differing land use. Biology Letters, 13(5), 1-5.
Scopus3 WoS22017 Dayananda, S., Mammides, C., Lee, M., Liu, J., Pasion, B., Sreekar, R., . . . Goodale, E. (2017). Topography and soil type are critical to understanding how bird and herpetofaunal communities persist in forest fragments of tropical China. Biological Conservation, 215, 107-115.
Scopus2 WoS2 Europe PMC12017 Caleb Daniel, G., Sreekar, R., & Deepak, V. (2017). An ontogenetically stable sexual character in a montane agamid, Salea horsfieldii Gray, 1845 (Reptilia: Agamidae) from Nilgiris, India. Journal of Natural History, 51(39-40), 2373-2383.
Scopus12016 Sreekar, R., Huang, G., Yasuda, M., Quan, R., Goodale, E., Corlett, R., & Tomlinson, K. (2016). Effects of forests, roads and mistletoe on bird diversity in monoculture rubber plantations. Scientific Reports, 6(1), 21822-1-21822-9.
Scopus6 WoS2 Europe PMC12016 K Dayananda, S., Goodale, E., Lee, M., Liu, J., Mammides, C., O Pasion, B., . . . Yasuda, M. (2016). Effects of forest fragmentation on nocturnal Asian birds: A case study from Xishuangbanna, China. Dong wu xue yan jiu = Zoological research, 37(3), 151-158.
Scopus4 WoS4 Europe PMC12016 Harrison, R., Sreekar, R., Brodie, J., Brook, S., Luskin, M., O'Kelly, H., . . . Velho, N. (2016). Impacts of hunting on tropical forests in Southeast Asia. Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology, 30(5), 972-981.
Scopus30 WoS26 Europe PMC62016 Kamath, A., & Sreekar, R. (2016). Morphology, ecology, and behaviour of Hylarana intermedia, a Western Ghats frog. Acta Herpetologica, 11(1), 15-20.
Scopus1 WoS12016 Kong, Y., Wang, R., Yang, D., Sreekar, R., Peng, Y., & Compton, S. (2016). Non-pollinator fig wasp impact on the reproductive success of an invasive fig tree: why so little?. Biocontrol Science and Technology, 26(10), 1432-1443.
2016 Velho, N., Sreekar, R., & Laurance, W. (2016). Terrestrial species in protected areas and community-managed lands in Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast India. Land, 5(4), 35.
2015 Rachakonda, S., Huang, G., Zhao, J., Pasion, B., Yasuda, M., Zhang, K., . . . Harrison, R. (2015). The use of species-area relationships to partition the effects of hunting and deforestation on bird extirpations in a fragmented landscape. Diversity and Distributions, 21(4), 441-450.
Scopus12 WoS112015 Sreekar, R., Goodale, E., & Harrison, R. (2015). Flight initiation distance as a behavioral indicator of hunting pressure: a case study of the Sooty-headed Bulbul (Pycnonotus aurigaster) in Xishuangbanna, SW China. Tropical Conservation Science, 8(2), 505-512.
Scopus4 WoS52015 Sreekar, R., Zhang, K., Xu, J., & Harrison, R. (2015). Yet another empty forest: considering the conservation value of a recently established tropical nature reserve. PLoS One, 10(2), e0117920-1-e0117920-18.
Scopus11 WoS10 Europe PMC52015 Sreekar, R., Srinivasan, U., Mammides, C., Chen, J., Manage Goodale, U., Wimalabandara Kotagama, S., . . . Goodale, E. (2015). The effect of land-use on the diversity and mass-abundance relationships of understory avian insectivores in Sri Lanka and southern India. Scientific Reports, 5(1), 11569-1-11569-12.
Scopus3 WoS3 Europe PMC22014 Balaji, D., Rachakonda, S., & Rao, S. (2014). Drivers of reptile and amphibian assemblages outside the protected areas of Western Ghats, India. Journal for Nature Conservation, 22(4), 337-341.
Scopus5 WoS42013 Sreekar, R., Purushotham, C., Saini, K., Rao, S., Pelletier, S., & Chaplod, S. (2013). Photographic capture-recapture sampling for assessing populations of the Indian Gliding Lizard Draco dussumieri. PLoS ONE, 8(2), e55935-1-e55935-5.
Scopus8 WoS8 Europe PMC12013 Sreekar, R., Mohan, A., Das, S., Agarwal, P., & Vivek, R. (2013). Natural windbreaks sustain bird diversity in a tea-dominated landscape. PLoS One, 8(7), e70379-1-e70379-8.
Scopus13 WoS11 Europe PMC42013 Sreekar, R., & Quader, S. (2013). Influence of gaze and directness of approach on the escape responses of the Indian rock lizard, Psammophilus dorsalis (Gray, 1831). Journal of Biosciences, 38(5), 829-833.
Scopus8 WoS6 Europe PMC12013 Ganesh, S. R., Chadramouli, S. R., Sreekar, R., & Shankar, P. G. (2013). Reptiles of the central Western Ghats, India - a reappraisal and revised checklist, with emphasis on the Agumbe plateau. Russian Journal of Herpetology, 20(3), 181-189.
WoS32012 Ganesh, S. R., Gowri Shankar, R., & Sreekar, R. (2012). First record of Wayanad shieldtail Melanophidium wynaudense (Beddome, 1863) from the Central Western Ghats, India. Hamadryad, 36(1), 53-56.
Scopus22011 Sreekar, R., Saini, K., Rao, S., & Purushotham, C. (2011). Predicting lizard gender: Sexual dimorphism in Calotes rouxii (Reptilia: Agamidae) from Agumbe, Karnataka, India. Herpetological Conservation and Biology, 6(1), 75-80.
Scopus3 WoS32010 Sreekar, R., Nghiem, T. P. L., & Harrison, R. D. (2010). Vertebrate assemblage at a fruiting fig (Ficus caulocarpa) in Maliau basin, Malaysia. TROPICAL CONSERVATION SCIENCE, 3(2), 218-227.
WoS82010 Sreekar, R., Deodhar, S., & Kulkarni, Y. (2010). Predation on Hemidactylus treutleri (Squamata: Gekkonidae) by the peninsular rock agama Psammophilus dorsalis (Squamata: Agamidae) in Rishi Valley, Andhra Pradesh, India. Herpetology Notes, 3(1), 33-35.
Scopus72009 Srinivasulu, C., Srinivasulu, B., Venkateshwarlu, P., Seetharamaraju, M., Kaur, H., & Sreekar, R. (2009). Present status of critically endangered species of Gyps in Andhra Pradesh, India. Current Science, 96(4), 449-450.
2015-2018 University of Adelaide postgraduate award
2011-2014 Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden postgraduate award
2011 Madras Crocodile Bank Trust research grant (1000 USD)
2010 The Gerry Martin Project research grant (250 USD)
2009 Harvard Summer School scholarship (c. 2000 USD)
2014 Instructor at the BASIC STATISTICS COURSE (invited). Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China.
2011-14 Teaching assistant at the ADVANCED FIELD ECOLOGY COURSE. Program for Field Studies (PFS), China.
2014 Teaching assistant at the BASIC STATISTICS COURSE. 51st Annual Meeting of the ATBC, Australia [in July].
2013 Teaching assistant at the ADVANCED STATISTICS COURSE. ATBC Asia Pacific chapter meeting, Indonesia.
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Consulting/Advisories
Date Institution Department Organisation Type Country 2015 - 2015 — — Conservation and environment China
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