Department of
Biology

Research

Ashish is a plant community ecologist interested in understanding what boosts, maintains, and erodes the biodiversity of tropical savannas. Specifically, the current focus of his lab is to disentangle the contributions of climate, land use, and disturbance regimes in plant community assembly. Much of the current work in the lab is set in the stunning savannas of western Maharashtra, which, due to the broad climatic gradient they span, are a microcosm of global tropics. Through his work, Ashish hopes to improve the scientific and public recognition of tropical savannas, particularly those in India, to eventually provide solutions to halt the ongoing global biodiversity crisis. Fun fact: he can identify and name all the grass species on the campus!

Selected Publications

Nerlekar, A. N., & Patil, D. (2025). Utilizing traditional literature to triangulate the ecological history of a tropical savanna. People and Nature.

Nerlekar, A. N., Spalink, D., & Veldman, J. W. (2025). Grass functional traits reflect the long history of fire and grazers in the savannas of Texas. American Journal of Botany, e70013.

Nerlekar, A. N., Munje, A., Mhaisalkar, P., Hiremath, A. J., & Veldman, J. W. (2023). Tillage agriculture and afforestation threaten tropical savanna plant communities across a broad rainfall gradient in India. Journal of Ecology, 112(1), 98-109.

Nerlekar, A. N., Chorghe, A. R., Dalavi, J. V., Kusom, R. K., Karuppusamy, S., Kamath, V., ... & Kambale, S. S. (2022). Exponential rise in the discovery of endemic plants underscores the need to conserve the Indian savannas. Biotropica, 54(2), 405-417.

Nerlekar, A. N., & Veldman, J. W. (2020). High plant diversity and slow assembly of old-growth grasslands. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(31), 18550-18556.