Today, rice is the most widely consumed staple food in the world, feeding more than half of the world’s population. We have nothing but a tiny piece of RNA, or ribonucleic acid, to thank, for the mouthfuls of rice we eat!

Jayashree Ratnam, associate director of the wildlife biology and conservation programme at the National Centre for Biological Science, said that these forests are mesic savannas. “Having worked for a while in African savannas and being very familiar with the idea that mixed tree-grass ecosystems were distinctive from forests, when we returned to India and started visiting various field sites, we were struck by the similarities of these sites with African savannas,” she said.

Six scientists who study fire-prone forest systems across India have written an open letter on the importance of “fighting fire with fire.” The letter, signed by Dr. Abi Tamim Vanak, Dr. Ankila Hiremath and Dr. Nitin Rai of the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE); Dr. Raman Sukumar of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc); Dr. Jayashree Ratnam of the National Centre for Biological Sciences’ (NCBS); and Tarsh Thekaekara of The Shola Trust, says that “there is an urgent need for a more nuanced view of forest fires.”

In a study, published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, researchers from the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru, have shown that grass-fuelled fires and seasonal drought, which are the characteristics of savannas, are also observed in the dry deciduous “forests” in India. These findings add to a growing body of evidence that these systems are, in fact, savannas.

Jayashree Ratnam from the National Conservation for Biological Sciences and fellow authors have noted in a recent study that the trees in this landscape were closer to those in a savanna than in rainforests 100 km away. Trees have dramatically thicker barks, implying that they had evolved to be fire-resistant.

“When fires are relatively frequent, adult tree mortality in these systems is very low. Many saplings sprout shortly after the fire from underground reserves, and the system returns to its original state in a few years,” she told The Hindu.

This year two eminent scientists prof Sandip Trivedi, director, at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) Mumbai and prof Satyajit Mayor, director, National institute of biological sciences and inStem were presented the awards

An Ashoka University 

Nishant Srinivasaiah (MSc 2010-12)
The Carl Zeiss Wildlife Conservation Award recognizes outstanding contribution to wildlife conservation in India. His work on elephant conservation in the South India landscape have earned him this award. Nishant is presently doing his PhD at NIAS, with Dr Anindya Sinha.

Rao is a professor at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in Bengaluru. Using equations and concepts of physics, he is trying to figure out what makes life tick.