opening for a JRF at Dr Uma Ramakrishnan's lab at National Centre for Biological Sciences

Dear all,

There is an opening for a JRF at Dr Uma Ramakrishnan's lab at National Centre for Biological Sciences at Bangalore.

Details of the project are - 

Duration: 1 Year

Project: Monitoring Connectivity of Tigers in the Mysore-Malenad Tiger Landscape of Karnataka

Work Description:
The work will be lab-based, involving molecular techniques. More specifically, it will entail DNA extraction from fecal samples, ascertainment of species identity of the samples collected from field and generation of microsatellite data.

Project Description:
Habitat loss and fragmentation are major threats to survival and persistence of species in the wild. Large, wide-ranging species are affected more severely especially due to disruption of gene flow between populations and enhanced effects of genetic drift and inbreeding. Tigers in the Indian subcontinent have suffered a severe bottleneck in the recent past. Populations are now primarily restricted to protected areas. Theoretical predictions indicate that unfeasibly large numbers of tigers will be required to sustain the current level of genetic diversity in the absence of gene flow between populations.

Our project is aimed at understanding connectivity between the five major tiger populations in the Mysore-Malenad Region in Karnataka. This region harbours many Protected Areas, some of which are among the most densely populated Tiger Reserves in India, including Bandipur and Nagarahole. We use genetic tools to study gene flow, using non-invasively obtained fecal samples. Since obtaining tissue samples from tigers in wild would be extremely hard, we rely on DNA in the feces as the source of genetic material. The fecal samples are collected by collaborators at the Center for Wildlife Studies, Bangalore. The DNA extracted from these samples is used to generate multi-locus genotypes for microsatellite loci. The data thus generated is used for analysis of population structure and migration.

Who can apply?
Only people with a Master’s degree will be considered. Preference will be given to students have experience with basic lab techniques.

Whom to contact?Dr Uma Ramakrishnan at uramakri@ncbs.res.in or Meghana Natesh at meghanan@ncbs.res.in