Kavli Affiliate: V. S. Ramachandran
| Authors: Devica Ranade, Priti Bangal, Bhoj Kumar Acharya, Peroth Balakrishnan, Sahas Barve, Malyasri Bhattacharya, Aparajita Datta, Mousumi Ghosh-Harihar, Govindan Veeraswami Gopi, Farah Ishtiaq, Soumya Iyengar, Manjari Jain, Girish Jathar, Rajah Jayapal, Panchapakesan Jeganathan, Ashish Jha, Monica Kaushik, Anil Kumar, Raman Kumar, Suresh Kumar, Gopinathan Maheswaran, Shirish S. Manchi, Prachi Mehta, Shomita Mukherjee, PO Nameer, Rohit Naniwadekar, Madhumita Panigrahi, Dhanashree Paranjpe, J Praveen, Suhel Quader, Vivek Ramachandran, Ajai Saxena, Parveen Shaikh, Anusha Shankar, Hilloljyoti Singha, Ankita Sinha, Suryanarayana Subramanya, Kulbhushansingh Suryawanshi and Ashwin Viswanathan
| Summary:
India has a rich history of ornithology, and bird research in this field has expanded considerably in recent decades, spurred by a growing number of birdwatchers and ornithologists. Despite this progress, critical gaps remain. This paper highlights key areas where further research is needed and identifies pressing questions that will shape Indian ornithology in the coming years. Drawing from diverse inputs, we present a curated list of 101 research questions spanning across the various disciplines in ornithology – Natural History, Physiology and Disease Ecology, Behaviour, Population and Community Ecology, Habitat Ecology, Macroecology and Biogeography, Population Genetics and Evolution, Applied/Economic Ornithology and Conservation. The list was compiled through a multi-stage process, starting with a public open call for questions, followed by review and curation by a smaller panel of subject specialists. Each question was independently scored by a panel of experts based on three criteria: generality, novelty, and relevance. To account for variation in scoring styles, scores were normalised using Z-scores. The top 101 research questions were then selected based on these standardised scores. Each question is accompanied by an annotation that describes the significance of the question, and highlights opportunities to address it. While our list of research questions highlights significant research priorities, it is not intended to be exhaustive. Rather, it reflects the perspectives of those involved in its curation, who deemed these questions particularly relevant and impactful towards advancing Indian ornithology. We expect these questions to spark new project ideas among students, researchers, and citizen scientists, while guiding funders, managers, and policymakers toward priority research areas.