Integrative Ecology in the Global South

Integrative ecology uses diverse approaches and methods to study ecological processes across scales, from the sub-organismal to organisms, communities, ecosystems, and global biogeography. By integrating a variety of approaches across scientific disciplines and at different biological scales, we can understand how and why species are resilient or inflexible in the face of environmental change, and gain deeper insights into the mechanisms driving biodiversity. The tropics host much higher biodiversity than temperate regions, but are also undergoing the most rapid declines. Yet, there is a serious dearth of integrative ecological data and long-term biodiversity surveying of the tropics relative to temperate regions.

We aim to gather researchers in four broad themes—ecology, evolutionary biology, physiology, and biomechanics—across the hyperdiverse Global South, with a focus on South Asia. Our broad goals will be to identify common areas and themes of research, understand their relevance to biodiversity declines and environmental change, and discuss strategies to overcome the challenges of research in South Asia. Some of our specific goals will be to devise a viable plan for an annual meeting that brings together ecology, physiology, evolutionary biology and biomechanics, with a focus on the South Asian tropics; and plan the possibilities for shared courses that address the educational gaps in integrative organismal biology in the region with the intent of empowering researchers across countries to collaborate and better infuse integrative, interdisciplinary biological concepts into education. The workshop will include visits to a wildlife sanctuary and introduction sessions that involve speed networking rounds so that participants understand the scope of each other’s work and interests. For the bulk of the Workshop, we will have five sessions of short talks and five discussion sessions to seed many opportunities for synthesising ideas and shared outputs, starting off with perspectives from early career researchers.

We will:

• Discuss the cutting edge of integrative ecology in our respective fields and countries.
• Discuss shared paths to approach administrative and technical hurdles in doing ecology, especially in the tropics and subtropics.
• Aim to arm early career researchers with a peer and expert network and the motivation to tackle the common challenges of research in the Global South
• Generate possibilities for shared courses that address the educational gaps in integrative organismal biology in the region with the intent of empowering researchers across countries to collaborate and better infuse integrative, interdisciplinary biological concepts into education.
• Brainstorm sustainable and effective ways to connect researchers who work on the Global South, especially South Asia.
• Produce media that synthesises and summarises the ideas from the workshop with the help of an artist who will conduct art and science sessions
• Devise a viable plan for an annual meeting that brings together researchers across the Global South with a focus on the South Asian tropics