Where do the sea turtles go? A novel system to track sea turtles

By Hariprasath R | Technological advances in animal tracking systems have enabled us to study animal movement to gain insights into their spatial use and habitat preferences. Telemetry studies have been used for spatial planning and conservation and management of different  animals. Traditional animal tracking systems use a variety of techniques ranging from UHF/VHF radio frequencies (Radio collars) to transmitters which communicate with satellites. Dakshin Foundation has now partnered with a local tech start up, Arcturus Inc, to support the design of a cost-effective telemetry device employing Long Range (LoRa) radio waves.

Transmitters typically record information on the animals’ location along with other environmental features including temperature, elevation/depth, travel speed, mortality etc.

Long-Term Ecological Observatories (LTEO) 

By Tanmay Wagh | The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC) recently launched the nationwide Long-Term Ecological Observatories (LTEO) Programme. This is a multi-institutional, interdisciplinary programme aimed at understanding the impacts of climate change on India’s various ecosystems and taxa, the results of which will feed into national and regional level policies. The programme covers a wide range of themes including soil, forests, grasslands, invertebrates, fish, herpetofauna, birds, animal movement and marine ecosystems and will be carried out at six index landscapes across the country. These include the Northwestern Arid Zone, Western Himalaya, Eastern Himalaya, Central India, Western Ghats and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.  Dakshin is heading the Marine theme of the LTEO programme.

Tiding over these uncertain times: Lakshadweep, our project and us

By Prerana Gawde and Ajithraj | Island systems are fragile and prone to global and local scale challenges like natural disasters, the effects of climate change, and social and ecological vulnerabilities. These challenges can have multidimensional impacts on the course of the islanders’ life, and the existence of the islands themselves. The COVID-19 pandemic is a new addition to the list of challenges that these islands face. As researchers working on India’s Lakshadweep islands, but currently involuntarily hibernating on the mainland, we wondered – how are they coping with the pandemic? 

Sports and Community Wellbeing: Kicking Off!

By Kanishk Srinivasan | Dakshin is entering uncharted territory with the introduction of a programme that aims to use sports as an entry point to engage with youth from fishing communities on topics of social and environmental resilience. Pandemic-induced restrictions are now an old and familiar hurdle, but we like to think that we have made the most of our time. While we had to revisit our original plans of conducting a pilot study in the Andamans and Odisha, we have instead focused on strengthening and developing other aspects of the programme — designing an alternative study which we can conduct remotely, developing a literature review on how to design an integrated, sports-based educational curriculum, compiling a database of existing drills and activities to use as part of this curriculum as well as fundraising work.