Ecosystem and Species Habitat Modeling for Conservation and Restoration

Dr. Shalini Dhyani is a Senior Scientist with the Critical Zone Group of Water Technology and Management Division of CSIR-NEERI, India. She is a seasoned ecologist with two decades of experience. She uses observational, empirical, and modeling approaches to investigate and understand issues related to the environment, loss of natural and urban greenspaces, interlinkages between ecological, and social systems through sustainability science approaches. She is Asia Vice Chair member of CEM (Commission on Ecosystems Management) and also Steering Committee member. Dr. Dibyendu Adhikari is a Principal Scientist at CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI), India. He is a seasoned researcher with over 15 years of experience in ecology and environmental science. He is skilled in terrestrial ecosystem restoration, threatened plant conservation, forest carbon assessment, ecological data analysis and modeling. Dr. Rajarshi Dasgupta is Assistant Professor at IIT Delhi. He was previously with the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), Kanagawa, Japan. He holds diverse research interests in the field of landscape ecology and planning, which include Ecosystem-based Disaster Risk Reduction (Eco-DRR), spatial quantification of ecosystem services, land change simulation, development of socio-ecological scenarios, participatory conservation, and social forestry. Dr. Rakesh Kadaverugu is a Senior Scientist associated with CSIR National Environmental Engineering Research Institute. He has more than 10 years of research experience in environmental systems modeling and his is work is focused to better understand the socio-environmental systems at multiple spatial and temporal scales using geospatial, soft-computing, and process-based modeling approaches.