India’s Contributions to Ecology: Ecological Studies in Mumbai

摘要

Teaching and research in Plant Ecology started in erstwhile Bombay at the then Royal Institute of Science in 1935 after Dr F.R. Bharucha joined there upon returning home after studying at the Cambridge University in U.K. and obtaining his D.Sc. from Montpellier University in France. The research covered vegetation in several parts of the Indian subcontinent, taking a new approach of phytosociological, ecological and phytogeographical aspects. With the passage of time, new generation researchers at the Institute shifted to urban ecological studies such as plants and vegetation with reference to air and water pollution, land degradation, etc. which was inevitable in the densely populated and industrial-commercial ‘urbs prima’ of India. Research for eco-restoration also attracted scientists who launched multidisciplinary environmental projects.