Sudeepto Bhattacharya

Bio: Sudeepto Bhattacharya is an academic researcher from Shiv Nadar University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Wildlife corridor & Population. The author has an hindex of 5, co-authored 12 publications receiving 62 citations.

Innovative techniques to discover novel antimalarials.

Abstract: Malaria a global pandemic has engulfed nearly 0.63 million people globally. It is high time that a cure for malaria is required to stop its ever increasing menace. Our commentary discusses the advent and contribution of genetic algorithm (GA) in the drug discovery efforts towards developing cure for malaria. GAs are computational models of Darwinian evolution, ideally capture and mimic the principles of genetic variation and natural selection to evolve good solutions through multiple iterations on the space of all possible candidate solutions, called the search space, to a given optimization problem. Herein we will discuss the applications, advantages, disadvantages and future directions of GA with respect to malaria.

Geospatial modelling of overlapping habitats for identification of tiger corridor networks in the Terai Arc landscape of India

Abstract: Abstract Wildlife corridors in a landscape include local vegetation, topography, prey base, water and are associated with isolated wildlife habitat patches. They facilitate maintenance of ecological structure and function as well as provide connectivity to faunal populations supporting genetic transfers, and are elements critical to wildlife management. In this work, habitat patches for tiger, both inside as well as outside of Protected Areas have been identified by developing a Habitat Suitability Index model utilizing Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System datasets for the Terai Arc landscape, India. By using a computational approach based on the framework of theory of complex networks, for exclusively pairwise interactions between the habitat patches, a potential tiger corridor network has been structurally identified and studied in this landscape. The interactions between these habitat patches on a spatial scale has been analyzed as a clique of the corridor network. Further, the Clique Percolation Method has been applied to detect overlapping communities of habitat patches in the landscape. The Cliques required for maintaining contiguity between the habitat patches in order to support tiger movement are validated using field observations of tiger communities within the landscape matrix. The model developed for identification of tiger corridors in this study could potentially be of a vital importance for wildlife stakeholders to better understand and manage tiger populations both within and outside of protected areas. The study also highlights Critical Habitat Patches and their importance in maintaining landscape connectivity for tiger dispersal in the landscape. Using a report published by the Government of India as a benchmark, the model presented in the work is found to have an accuracy of 90.73% in predicting tiger carrying patches and the corridor network in the focal landscape.

Self-organized Bacterial Evolutionary Dynamics: Fractal Characteristics

Abstract: In recent years, a new theory of the evolution of microbes under normal and stressed conditions has emerged, mainly in reference with the development of fractals and of self-organized mapping (SOM) concepts. This theory has much improved our understanding of the growth pattern of microbes like bacteria which determine their dynamics of evolution. In the first part of this paper, the main ideas in the theory of microbial self-organization are outlined, and some remarkable features of the resulting growth patterns are presented. In the second part, we apply conceptual tools developed in the context of fractal geometry to the study of the scaling properties of the bacterial growth in context with SOM patterns. We observe that such growth patterns appear to be more complex than simple fractals, although in some cases a simple fractal framework may be adequate for their description.

Random graphs

Abstract: We will review some of the major results in random graphs and some of the more challenging open problems. We will cover algorithmic and structural questions. We will touch on newer models, including those related to the WWW.

Citation classic - optimal foraging - a selective review of theory and tests

Abstract: Beginning with Emlen (1966) and MacArthur and Pianka (1966) and extending through the last ten years, several authors have sought to predict the foraging behavior of animals by means of mathematical models. These models are very similar,in that they all assume that the fitness of a foraging animal is a function of the efficiency of foraging measured in terms of some "currency" (Schoener, 1971) -usually energy- and that natural selection has resulted in animals that forage so as to maximize this fitness. As a result of these similarities, the models have become known as "optimal foraging models"; and the theory that embodies them, "optimal foraging theory." The situations to which optimal foraging theory has been applied, with the exception of a few recent studies, can be divided into the following four categories: (1) choice by an animal of which food types to eat (i.e., optimal diet); (2) choice of which patch type to feed in (i.e., optimal patch choice); (3) optimal allocation of time to different patches; and (4) optimal patterns and speed of movements. In this review we discuss each of these categories separately, dealing with both the theoretical developments and the data that permit tests of the predictions. The review is selective in the sense that we emphasize studies that either develop testable predictions or that attempt to test predictions in a precise quantitative manner. We also discuss what we see to be some of the future developments in the area of optimal foraging theory and how this theory can be related to other areas of biology. Our general conclusion is that the simple models so far formulated are supported are supported reasonably well by available data and that we are optimistic about the value both now and in the future of optimal foraging theory. We argue, however, that these simple models will requre much modification, espicially to deal with situations that either cannot easily be put into one or another of the above four categories or entail currencies more complicated that just energy.

Data from: Prioritizing tiger conservation through landscape genetics and habitat linkages

Abstract: Even with global support for tiger (Panthera tigris) conservation their survival is threatened by poaching, habitat loss and isolation. Currently about 3,000 wild tigers persist in small fragmented populations within seven percent of their historic range. Identifying and securing habitat linkages that connect source populations for maintaining landscape-level gene flow is an important long-term conservation strategy for endangered carnivores. However, habitat corridors that link regional tiger populations are often lost to development projects due to lack of objective evidence on their importance. Here, we use individual based genetic analysis in combination with landscape permeability models to identify and prioritize movement corridors across seven tiger populations within the Central Indian Landscape. By using a panel of 11 microsatellites we identified 169 individual tigers from 587 scat and 17 tissue samples. We detected four genetic clusters within Central India with limited gene flow among three of them. Bayesian and likelihood analyses identified 17 tigers as having recent immigrant ancestry. Spatially explicit tiger occupancy obtained from extensive landscape-scale surveys across 76,913 km2 of forest habitat was found to be only 21,290 km2. After accounting for detection bias, the covariates that best explained tiger occupancy were large, remote, dense forest patches; large ungulate abundance, and low human footprint. We used tiger occupancy probability to parameterize habitat permeability for modeling habitat linkages using least-cost and circuit theory pathway analyses. Pairwise genetic differences (F ST) between populations were better explained by modeled linkage costs (r>0.5, p<0.05) compared to Euclidean distances, which was in consonance with observed habitat fragmentation. The results of our study highlight that many corridors may still be functional as there is evidence of contemporary migration. Conservation efforts should provide legal status to corridors, use smart green infrastructure to mitigate development impacts, and restore habitats where connectivity has been lost.