Open Access

Govindhaswamy Umapathy

Biography

I am primarily a conservation biologist and my area of interest is conservation of endangered species using modern biotechnological tools. During my Ph.D program I have studied impacts of habitat fragmentation on arboreal mammals in wet evergreen forests, Anaimalai Hills, Western Ghats, India (1993-1998) by examining their occurrence, population dynamics, reproductive and ecological changes with reference to habitat variables and time since isolation. I have also undertaken the first ever field survey on the Nicobar crab-eating macaques in the Nicobar Islands during 1999. Presently, my group is involved in to study the impact habitat fragmentation on genetic and reproductive variations in fragmented lion-tailed macaque populations in Western Ghats and development of non-invasive methods to monitor reproductive functions, stress, fertility status of Indian endangered animals using fecal steroid hormones. Recently I have also involved in development of various biotechnology tools for the conservation of critically endangered species in India. In such effort, for the first time in the world I have standardized a non-invasive semen collection method in critically endangered vulture for assisted reproductive program.

Research Interest

Conservation and management of small populations; Conservation breeding; Assisted reproduction in wild animals, Wildlife endocrinology and Conservation Genetics