PhD Student - Abhirami C

Program: Western Ghats 

Guide: Dr. Anand M. Osuri

The secondary growth of forests on abandoned agricultural lands constitutes a significant portion of Earth’s remaining tropical forests and represents important opportunities for sustaining biodiversity and regulating climate change. Abandoned shade coffee plantations in the Western Ghats mountains present one such opportunity and are an interesting research subject because remnant coffee could both promote and hinder recovery through various pathways. Through my PhD research, I aim to examine the biotic and abiotic factors affecting forest succession and opportunities for restoration in the secondary forests of the Western Ghats, considering abandoned coffee plantations as a model system.

The research seeks to understand the patterns of vegetation recovery and the processes that govern native tree recruitment in abandoned coffee forests. We propose a landscape-wide study to examine the patterns of vegetation recovery during secondary succession and the various local and landscape-level factors affecting it. I am also attempting to assess the effects of remnant coffee trees in abandoned plantations on seed dispersal and the recruitment of native tree species. Finally, I am trying to identify appropriate strategies and tree species for ecological restoration in abandoned coffee plantations through combination of nursery and field experiments.

Coffee plantation landscapes are important for conservation because they overlap in space with some of the most biologically rich areas globally. In the Western Ghats, coffee is grown in the mid-elevation rainforest zone, which harbors some of the unique biodiversity in the region, but is also one in which remnant natural habitats are highly fragmented. While abandoned coffee plantations appear to offer important opportunities for forest restoration and biodiversity conservation in the Western Ghats, understanding barriers to forest recovery is a priority. My research work will attempt to address these gaps and identify cost-effective strategies for overcoming these barriers.

Abhirami is the most diligent and gracious of all. She did her undergrad and masters from the Kerala Agricultural University in Forestry. Before joining her PhD, she explored her passion as an Assistant Professor teaching Forestry to undergrad students.

Alert! She can get really competitive for eBird checklists! Her kitchen is the best place for authentic Kerala delicacies. She is also an avid writer, origami and sketching artist.

Abhirami C, Vijay Kumar, Swathi R, Rohit Naniwadekar, Anand M Osuri

Field Collaborators: Orvill Nazareth, Abhinav K N, Kiran S, Manu M