Rajat Rastogi
Wildlife Biologist | Invasion Ecologist | Educator
I am a wildlife biologist by training, which means that I get paid to roam around the wild in search of all sorts of beasts. However, I personally enjoy chasing ALIENS. Yep, you read it right!' A L I E N S ' These aliens are organisms which don't naturally occur in the physical space they are currently in. They are exotic species introduced by humans or by human-mediation (like Eucalyptus, Lantana, African land snail). We are surrounded with many alien species and most of them have become fairly common. Some of these organisms establish viable populations and tend to affect our ecosystems in many different ways - declining biodiversity, - altering resources, - affecting livelihood, (You can read about them here or write to me for discussion). With my work, I am trying to understand how these species modify our ecosystems and how can we manage them to restore them for the ecosystem services.
For my future research, I plan to study mitigation of their impacts on biodiversity, economy and human health. I am also interested in experiments aiming to shed some light on invasive species management and habitat restoration. |
Well that's about work, but there's much more to life. All through my educational journey, I have been active in extra-curricular activities. Dancing, sketching, theatre, photography, are a few to mention. New additions to this list are cooking, reading books (mostly non-fiction), and writing poetry. Some of which you can read here. I also realized my inclination towards spirituality and importance of well-being. I started practicing meditation to attain mindfulness, and I try to be regular with workouts to maintain a healthy body. |