Ruksan BOSE

Masters in Science and technology, mention "Food and agriculture", spécialising in  "Environmental management of tropical forests and ecosystems", Agroparistech-ENGREF, Montpellier

Master of Science Environmental Forestry, University of Wales, Bangor

Master of Arts, Spécialisation Governance & Development, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, UK

Doctorate post graduate

Title : Modelling the geographical distribution of tree species of the western Ghats, Western India - Vulnerability, the potential for protected areas and the implications for conservation.

 French Institute, Pondichery, India. 

Institute for Research in Development (IRD), "botany, and biocomputerisation of the architecture of plants" (AMAP), Montpellier

Thesis director : Raphaël Pélissier (IRD, AMAP)

Co-director : François Munoz (AMAP, UM2)

• Raphaël Manlay (AgroParisTech/GEEFT, IRD)

SIBAGHE, AgroParisTech Montpellier

Understanding the geographical distribution of tree species is essential to the management and conservation of natural resources, because it tells us about the specific composition of groups of biological communities and the factors which determine their ecology and their evolution. In a context of envrironmental change, due either to climate change or anthropic change, this understanding allows us to predict subsequent changes affecting the distribution of species and to assess the level of vulnerability of these ecosystems. The issues are extremely important in a number of vulnerable zones where numerous tree species are threatened with imminent extinction due to encroachment, and the disintegration of natural spaces.

This happens to be the situation in the Western Ghats of India which is one of the 34 designated global biodiversity hotspots, where it is estimated that the natural forest vegetation now only covers 25 percent of its original surface area due mainly to human encroachment.The current project aims to arrive at a model for defining potential designated areas for preserving endemic tree species in order to control their vulnerability and impprove the management of conservation.

Beyond the ever more urgent social issues, formulating a model for the potential distribution of species poses a number of scientific and methodological challenges, thus far unsolved. First, the current models are built on the firm hypothesis that the species observed are in equilibrium with their natural habitat, whilst ignoring the stochastic effects created by the dynamics of populations caused by dispersion, competition, colonisation, extinction ; the so-called theory of "disequilibrium". Secondly, in the hyper diversified areas, the special data on the distribution of species is often incomplete, which means using methods which rely solely on information regarding the incidence of a species, its absence signifying insufficient level of prospection in certain areas.

dor 2014

Phone : +91 7639222726 (Inde)

Email : Ruksan.Bose(at)ifpindia.org