AMBALAPARAMBIL Sudhikumar, India

Abstract:

Spiders play a very significant role in ecology by being exclusively predatory and thereby regulate insect populations. Despite being one of the most diverse groups of organisms, spiders have largely been ignored because of the human tendency to favour some organisms over others of equal importance because they lack a universal appeal.  In India, agricultural arachnology is still in its infancy compared with the breadth and depth of entomological research on IPM and biological control. Spiders, despite their ubiquity and high densities, have not received the recognition they need in order to be fully utilized in this enterprise, although their treatment in several recent compendia is encouraging. The diversity, density and breeding behavior of spiders are important in any kind of IPM. Kuttanad rice agroecosystem (0.6-2.2 m below MSL) of Kerala, lying in the southernmost part of India, is blessed with a rich flora and fauna mainly owing to the nearby presence of Western Ghats, one of the biodiversity hot spots of the World. However, it is saddening to observe that no systematic work has been carried out till date on the taxonomy, diversity and feeding of spiders of this area. The present study envisages an in-depth study on the diversity and feeding potential of spiders of this tropical rice agroecosystem. It is expected that the study will expose the original nature of spider fauna of this agroecosystem and bring this otherwise neglected animal group on to the conservation radar screen.

Training location: Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels

Read Mr AMBALAPARAMBIL's GTI reports to find out more about his training.

Mr AMBALAPARAMBIL is currently doing his PhD at the University of Ghent in Belgium. To learn more click here.