Qualifications: 

M.Sc. Biodiversity, MES Abasaheb Garware College, Pune. – 2017

B.Sc. Zoology, SIES College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Mumbai – 2015

Profile:

I completed my Masters in Biodiversity from Pune University in May 2017. For my Master’s dissertation, I studied the effects of habitat modification and disturbance on butterfly communities in the Nothern Western Ghats. Following this, I joined Dakshin foundation as an intern and worked on museum specimens of sea snakes. I have since worked with Dakshin foundation on the effects of anthropogenic pressure on sea snakes on the west coast of India, specifically on how fishing pressure affects their diet and trophic interactions. To this end, I am applying novel tools such as stress hormone and stable isotope analysis.

My interests range from marine ecology to resource management. I would like to take my current work forward to understand the broad-scale impacts of anthropogenic disturbance, in particular, fisheries, on the trophic ecology and movement of marine megafauna such sea snakes, elasmobranchs and sea turtles throughout the tropics. My goal is to come up with well-informed mitigation strategies for marine megafaunal bycatch.

Email: shawn.dsouza@dakshin.org

Projects:

Sea snakes of Maharashtra

Publications: 

Effect of fishing practices on species assemblages of sea snakes off the Sindhudurg coast of Maharashtra, India – Final Report

Dsouza, S. and Padhye, A. 2017. How has Tamhini Ghat changed? Comparing butterfly populations in a threatened landscape. Thesis submitted to Dept. of Biodiversity, MES Abasaheb Garware College, Pune.

Jojan, A., Dsouza, S., Mukerjee, P., Rao, C. & Shanker, K. Critiquing Narrow Critiques of Convention on Biological Diversity. Econ. Polit. Wkly. 53, 16–18 (2018).