Qualifications: M.Sc. Climate Science and Policy, TERI University, New Delhi, 2019

Email: chandana@dakshin.org

Profile: Chandana’s fascination for the sea began at a very young age as she spent every weekend of her childhood on the beaches of Visakhapatnam. Although her bachelors course work took her to the mountain ecosystems of Himachal Pradesh, which she fell deeply in love with, her fondness for the ocean brought her back to the east coast during her Masters. She worked on olive ridley sea turtles in Odisha for her dissertation and has been fanatical about the species ever since. From dreaming about watching a nesting turtle to witnessing the arribadas year after year, she has come a long way. As the turtles continue to steer her life, she is hoping her work will push her out of her shell and take her into deeper waters. Chandana is broadly interested in behaviour, movement ecology and climate mediated effects on marine megafauna diet.

At Dakshin, she currently leads the long-term monitoring project on olive ridleys in Odisha and manages the database for the Marine Flagships programme.

Publications:

Pusapati C., M. Muralidharan, A.D. Phillott, and K. Shanker. June, 2021. Effect of Hatchery Nest Environment on Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) Hatchling Performance. Chelonian Conservation and Biology 20(1), 60-70.

Rao, C., Pusapati, C., Manoharakrishnan, M., Kale, N., Barnes, A. & Shanker, K. (2023). Distribution patterns of nearshore aggregations of olive ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) in Rushikulya, Odisha, India: Implications for spatial management measures. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 33(4), 379–388.