Dr.ramachandran Kotharambath

Biography

Dr. Kotharambath’s research interest is primarily in the biology of the caecilians, the subterranean limbless amphibians, of the Western Ghats. After a brief period at Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun working on the population estimation of tigers using camera trap-based mark recapture method, Ramachandran conducted extensive studies on the systematic biology of caecilian amphibians of the south Western Ghats for his doctoral studies, receiving PhD degree from University of Kerala. He received training on caecilian systematics from the Herpetology Research Group, Dept. of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum (NHM), London and has been working in collaboration with the NHM ever since. He has been working on the taxonomy, systematics and molecular phylogeny of caecilian amphibians of the protected areas and other anthropogenic habitats in the southern part of the Western Ghats. Apart from NHM, Dr. Ramachandran has collaborated with multiple research institutions in India and abroad including the Museum of Zoology and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, USA. Dr. Kotharambath has discovered two new species of caecilians, Gegeneophis tejaswini and Gegeneophis primus from the Western Ghats, and rediscovered and revised the taxonomy of another elusive caecilian species, Ichthyophis longicephalus. Dr. Kotharambath is the recipient of the Research Excellence Award, 2015 from Govt. of Kerala. He has received research fellowships/grants from Conservation Science Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Natural History Museum, London, Amphibian Specialist Group, IUCN, Madras Crocodile Bank, Chennai, Fostering Linkages in Academic Innovation and Research (FLAIR), Govt. of Kerala, University Grants Commission, Govt. of India. Before joining CUK, Dr. Kotharambath had been working as Assistant Professor of Zoology in Government of Kerala service. Dr. Kotharambath is a member of the Kerala Academy of Sciences, Systematics Association, London and Executive Council member of Association of British Scholars.

Research Interest

Taxonomy and Systematics, Molecular Phylogenetics, Anthrozoology, Conservation Biology