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Ashish Nerlekar

@ashishnerlekar.bsky.social
416 followers 773 following 29 posts

Ramanujan fellow @IISERPune. Past: Presidential Postdoc fellow @EEB_MSU @michiganstateu | PhD @tamu | Naturalist | Ecology & conservation of tropical grassy biomes | he/him | sites.google.com/view/nerlekar

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Reposted by Ashish Nerlekar
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences @pnas.org · 27/08/2026
Old-growth grasslands are slow to recover once destroyed. Characteristic plants of such grasslands are shorter and have smaller leaves with less nitrogen than plants in secondary grasslands, which are resource-acquisitive and more competitive. In PNAS: ow.ly/zOl950ZFVFu
A remnant of an old-growth prairie in Ohio. Stock photo.
CREDIT: Jim Palus
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Ashish Nerlekar @ashishnerlekar.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
🌟Publication alert!🌟Destruction of old-growth grasslands is exaggerating the global biodiversity crisis & we don't fully know why some species recover post destruction and not others. Our new study in @pnas.org addresses this gap. 1/5 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
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Reposted by Ashish Nerlekar
Lars Brudvig @lars-brudvig.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
We pulled together findings from 24 past studies to ask how plant species living in secondary grasslands - those recovering from cultivation or other major disturbances - differ from those living in ancient, old-growth grasslands
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Reposted by Ashish Nerlekar
Lars Brudvig @lars-brudvig.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
New from @ashishnerlekar.bsky.social @llseedsull.bsky.social me and many others: Grassland destruction causes shifts in plant traits that persist during recovery www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... eeb.msu.edu/news/why-anc...
eeb.msu.edu
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Ashish Nerlekar @ashishnerlekar.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Most of us often think of fires in the Indian savannas as an existential threat to biodiversity. Our newest work contradicts this rather outdated idea. Excited to introduce 𝘊𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘢 𝘢𝘨𝘯𝘪, a new endemic wildflower from Pune which thrives in frequently burnt savannas!
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Ashish Nerlekar @ashishnerlekar.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Excited so share our new work out in @conservationsp.bsky.social that sheds light on the complex impacts of #savanna afforestation on birds across a rainfall gradient in India which is comparable to that of the Serengeti! conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @avishkarm.bsky.social
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Ashish Nerlekar @ashishnerlekar.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
I am excited to hire a PhD candidate at #iiserpune to work on savannas! Please share widely among relevant circles! sites.google.com/view/nerlekar
sites.google.com
Nerlekar Savanna Ecology Lab
Welcome to our brand new lab at IISER Pune, India! We are on a curiosity-driven mission to understand the complex drivers of biodiversity and to provide solutions for halting the ongoing global biodi...
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Reposted by Ashish Nerlekar
Andrew Hipp @andrewlhipp.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
"... the trees are innumerable / Marumbi, taraṭī, and hivara / hiṅgaṇa, pācunda, and bābara / ṭākaḷī, and vehaṅkaḷī are abundant... Such is this thorny forest / it is highly frightening / this forest is empty / peacocks scream here" besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Utilizing traditional literature to triangulate the ecological history of a tropical savanna
Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
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Reposted by Ashish Nerlekar
Brandon Moore, PhD @rando.insalubrio.us · 03/02/2026
Descriptions of plants in traditional Indian myths, poems, and folk songs provide greater context to the ecological history of western Maharashtra and suggest that local tropical savannas are not the result of deforestation! 🧪 besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Top)
A folio depicting saint-poet Nāmadeva (circa 1270–1350 CE; fifth from right) performing a devotional verse. Two verses attributed to saint Nāmadeva were included in this study.

Center)
Donut plot depicting the diversity of genres of traditional literature included in the linked study. Divisions of the doughnut plot represent the genres and include the number of excerpts/examples of that particular genre. Inset shows the flower of Capparis divaricata, a savanna indicator plant which features in multiple excerpts cited in the linked paper.  Flanking this plot are two photographs of local folk performers.

Bottom)
A folio from an early 19th-century manuscript of the Bhaktavijaya mentioning the taraṭī tree (Capparis divaricata; underlined)
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Reposted by Ashish Nerlekar
Michael Parks @jurassicparks.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Very cool grassland research using old poems and songs to show that western Indian savannas are ancient. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...
sciencedaily.com
750-year-old Indian poems reveal a landscape scientists got wrong
Old Indian poems and folk songs are revealing a surprising truth about the land. Scientists found that descriptions of thorny trees and open grasslands in texts written as far back as the 1200s closel...
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Reposted by Ashish Nerlekar
Lars Brudvig @lars-brudvig.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
New from lab alum @ashishnerlekar.bsky.social. Traditional Marathi compositions up to 800 years old illustrate the antiquity of west Indian savannas. They are ancient and important conservation targets, not relicts of colonial forest clearance besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Utilizing traditional literature to triangulate the ecological history of a tropical savanna
Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
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Ashish Nerlekar @ashishnerlekar.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a...
smithsonianmag.com
Ancient Literature Suggests India's Savannas Are Much Older Than Previously Thought
Plant species mentioned in texts from the past 800 years hint the wooded grasslands of western India have been there since ancient times, pushing back on the narrative that they are remnants of long-g...
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Reposted by Ashish Nerlekar
Rishika Pardikar @rishpardikar.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
Cool paper documenting ecological insights about Indian tropical savannas in traditional literature between the 13th and 20th century. Grassland-scrubland biomes are often misconceived as deforested and/ or degraded wastelands. So, important paper. besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Utilizing traditional literature to triangulate the ecological history of a tropical savanna
Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
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Ashish Nerlekar @ashishnerlekar.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
VERY excited to start my own lab today at @IISERPune! Please check out our new website and keep an eye out for some cool #tropical #savanna #ecology research sites.google.com/view/nsel/ho...
sites.google.com
Nerlekar Savanna Ecology Lab
Welcome to our brand new lab at IISER Pune, India! We are on a curiosity-driven mission to understand the complex drivers of biodiversity and to provide solutions for halting the ongoing global biodi...
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Ashish Nerlekar @ashishnerlekar.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
🌟New Pub🌟! Out in @peopleandnature.bsky.social Ecology meets Mythology: Medieval stories and songs uncover India’s ecological past. Link to paper: besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... (click "MR" for Marathi abstract). @dhmsu.bsky.social @msunatsci.bsky.social 1/n
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Reposted by Ashish Nerlekar
Botanical Society of America @botsocamerica.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
🔥🌱 The new #AJB Special Issue, “Understanding novel #fire regimes using plant trait‐based approaches," is now online! 🌱🔥 This issue features studies from evolutionary, ecological, organismal, physiological, fire management & conservation perspectives. bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/15372197...
Prescribed ecological burn conducted at Como in southeastern Queensland, Australia. Fires were implemented in either autumn or winter, and obligate seeding species were subsequently monitored over time to see if recovery differed with fire seasonality. The work was undertaken as a joint collaboration between the University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia), Queensland Fire and Biodiversity Consortium, Queensland Parks and Wildlife and HQ Plantations. (Photo credit: Mark Ooi.)
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Ashish Nerlekar @ashishnerlekar.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
🔥🌾🦬New Pub in @botsocamerica.bsky.social ! We show that the flammability–palatability trade‐offs that operate in Africa also explain correlated suites of traits in #Texas #grasses. @tamu.bsky.social bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Grass functional traits reflect the long history of fire and grazers in the savannas of Texas
Premise Understanding relationships among grass traits, fire, and herbivores may help improve conservation strategies for savannas that are threatened by novel disturbance regimes. Emerging theory, ...
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Reposted by Ashish Nerlekar
Botanical Society of America @botsocamerica.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
🔥🌱 From the upcoming #AJB Special Issue: “Understanding novel fire regimes using plant trait‐based approaches" 🌱🔥 Grass functional traits reflect the long history of #fire & grazers in the #savannas of #Texas By @ashishnerlekar.bsky.social et al. bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Functional strategies of 337 native Texas grasses in relation to grazing and fire.
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Reposted by Ashish Nerlekar
Naomi Schwartz @naomibschwartz.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
Out today in @biotropica.bsky.social: We show that deciduous dipterocarp and semi-evergreen forests in Cambodia have distinct species, but similar soils across their abrupt boundaries. But we see differences in fire history and fire adapted functional traits. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Seeing the Savanna Through the Trees: Vegetation Structure, Composition and Function Along a Forest‐Savanna Boundary in Cambodia
In the seasonally dry landscapes of continental Southeast Asia, deciduous dipterocarp vegetation (DDF), which resembles savanna, and semi-evergreen forests (SEF) form patchy landscape mosaics, with a...
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Reposted by Ashish Nerlekar
Dr. Riley Pizza @rileypizza.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
New paper alert! @lars-brudvig.bsky.social, @nashturley.bsky.social and I reveal key context-dependent impacts of seed mix design decisions on restored prairie community structure!🌾 🧪 #PlantScience #EcologicalRestoration #ecosystem esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
A picture of an experimental prairie restoration, and the field is mostly composed of Echinacea purpurea
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Ashish Nerlekar @ashishnerlekar.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
137 of us share our concerns with policymakers in an open letter: "There are more than just trees and forests to be conserved and restored" nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... @plantspeopleplanet.bsky.social
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Open letter: There are more than just trees and forests to be conserved and restored
Click on the article title to read more.
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Ashish Nerlekar @ashishnerlekar.bsky.social · 27/12/2024
such a fascinating study!
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Reposted by Ashish Nerlekar
Lars Brudvig @lars-brudvig.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Grassland restorations must better foster forbs to facilitate high biodiversity Check out @ashishnerlekar.bsky.social's recent call for "forb-centric" grassland restoration Message if you lack access and would like to a copy onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Grassland restorations must better foster forbs to facilitate high biodiversity
Grassland restoration efforts typically aim to recover lost biodiversity, guided by biologically diverse old-growth grasslands as a benchmark. In most old-growth grasslands, forbs greatly outnumber g...
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