Behavioural and Evolutionary Ecology Laboratory

Research in our lab focuses on establishing links between sensory physiology and evolutionary behavioural ecology using plant-animal mutualistic interactions as the model system. Why have animals evolved the senses they possess, and how do these senses contribute to their foraging ecology and behaviour? The methods we use are multi-pronged, incorporating field studies and behavioural experiments. We are part of the IISER-TVM Centre for Research and Education in Ecology and Evolution (ICREEE).


Hema Somanathan
Professor, School of Biology
IISER Thiruvananthapuram
Maruthamala PO, Vithura
Thiruvananthapuram – 695551
Kerala, INDIA

Office: 0471 2778063
e-mail: hsomanathan@iisertvm.ac.in

News

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2025

December Hema gave an invited lecture titled’Lights, Colour, Action: Vision in diurnal and nocturnal insects’ at the EMBO India Lecture course on Neuroethology – how the brain controls natural behaviours held at IISER Pune. October Hema gave a plenary talk titled ‘Moonlight mutualisms’ at the Indian Society of Evolutionary Biologists (ISEB7), held at IISER Berhampur. Bhavya …

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Research grants for Sachin

Sachin has been awarded the Small Research Grant (spring 2024) from the British Ecological Society, London, for his work on co-flowering communities in the shola grasslands. Additionally, he was also awarded a seed grant from the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (2024), for his work on flower-cheater dynamics in the southern Western Ghats, India.