Visakhapatnam: If hearing the word "conservation biologist" plants a visual image of a male in his prime years in your mind, Aparna Surampudi, will have a hearty laugh.
A city-based conservation biologist and a research scholar at Andhra University, Ms Aparna is adept at preserving life and habitat of Eastern Ghats. She has been the first person to create an inclusive space for local communities to participate in the biodiversity conservation in the Eastern Ghats. She is also involved in a variety of biodiversity monitoring programmes with several reputed organisations. Ms Aparna is one of the 25 young scientists handpicked for the prestigious 'Darwin Scholars programme' across the world.
Making it further interesting, she has set out on an endeavour to raise money through crowd-funding platform, BitGiving, to join the scholarship. The programme offers comprehensive biodiversity training to upcoming scientists to help address the global shortage of skills in this area. She was also shortlisted for this programme in 2015 also but couldn’t make it due to fund constraints. Anybody can contribute to her "Darwinian Dream" through BitGiving.
When asked what did draw her into biodiversity conservation, she said; "The Eastern Ghats is geographically rich but hasn’t been explored much. In the past few years, I have recorded 113 coastal sand dune flora and 187 avifaunal species in the coastal area of Visakhapatnam and recently reported the first sighting of thick-billed green pigeon."
Explaining about the ‘Darwin Scholars Programme’, she said it was designed for young scientists from around the world or studying or working in biology or ecology to instill the spirit of Darwin’s love of nature and observing the natural world in them.
"The workshops and other activities will focus on skills of observation and identification, recording biodiversity and communicating biodiversity to different target groups. I opted for crowd-funding as it’s a norm for this programme. I believe this programme would help me tremendously with my research," she added.
Ms. Aparna has been working with the Eastern Ghats Wildlife Society as a co-principal investigator in community-based conservation initiatives to conserve small wildcats. She is also leading "The Vizag Bird Watchers Society" to document the avifaunal diversity in the region as a local coordinator. She is also an active member in Annual Waterfowl Count conducted each year by the "Bird Watchers Society of Andhra Pradesh."
