Long Term Ecological Observatories

Identifying the importance of long term ecological studies in biodiversity monitoring and effective management of taxa and habitats, the Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change launched the India - Long Term Ecological Program in March 2020.

The India - Long Term Ecological Observatories (India - LTEO) programme is a multi-institutional programme that aims to set up long-term ecological monitoring for different taxa in six landscapes across India. India LTEO includes nine themes including forests, grasslands, soil, herpetofauna, marine ecosystems, arthropods, freshwater fish birds and movement ecology. The LTEO landscapes include Western Ghats, Western Himalayas, Eastern Himalayas, Central India, North West Arid Zone and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The bird theme is a consortium of institutional partners including the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology, Wildlife Institute of India, Nature Conservation Foundation, IISER Tirupati, IISER Pune, Indian Institute of Forest Management, and Indian Institute of Science. Under this programme we aim to set up monitoring for bird populations in India. Different partner institutions will steer the bird LTEO program in each landscape.

The bird team aims to understand changes in distribution and habitat use at a larger scale, arrive at bird densities and abundances at a finer scale and examine demographic processes that may underpin the population level changes for bird populations across the landscapes. In synergy with the other themes under the LTEO programme - such as arthropods and forests - we also aim to arrive at mechanistic processes that drive changes in bird populations.

The overarching goal of LTEO is also to engage with the larger community of people, different stakeholders and promote training and learning both among the local community and the research community about environmental change across the country.

To learn more about the LTEO programme, see: https://lteo.iisc.ac.in/