Research

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Plants are interesting to us because they can choose to change their genders, they can propagate vegetatively as well as sexually, they evolve with their interacting animals, they can polyploidize, hybridize and respond to chemical signaling. These fascinating features are investigated over several projects in the lab using molecular, chemical, ecological, and simulation-driven approaches.

Molecular phylogenetic approach:

i) Morphological trait evolution – evolution of floral and vegetative characters
ii) Biogeography – species diversification over large geographic spaces
iii) Speciation – phylogenetic relationships to resolve species complexes
iv) Flexistyly – evolution of flexistyly in Alpinia using NGS

Chemical ecology:

v) Floral fragrance: evolution of floral fragrance in Zingiberaceae

Field ecology:

vi) Coevolution – Understanding geographic variations in plant-animal interactions
vii) Gender expression – Role of andromonoecy in plants
viii) Conservation – Role of forests as important pollinator source to agricultural crops

- Field site: Western Ghats, Maharashtra

Simulation-driven:

vii) Emerging traits – Model-based approach to understand emerging traits and trends in ecology and floral morphology

Collaborators

Dr. Mark Newman, Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, UK
Dr. Alex Twyford, University of Edinburgh, UK
Dr. Jana Leong-Škorničková, Singapore Botanic Gardens, Singapore
Dr. W. John Kress, Smithsonian Institution, USA
Dr. Michael Möller, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, UK
Dr. Bhaskar Adhikari, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, UK
Dr. Piyakaset Suksathan, Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden, Thailand, India
Dr. Advait Edgaonkar, Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal, India
Dr. Nesatalu Hiese, Nagaland Science and Technology Council, Nagaland, India
Under the Mango Tree
Dr. Marlina Ardiyani

Publications

Ashokan, A. & Gowda, V. (2024). Etymological histories of all names in Hedychium (Zingiberaceae), Part I. HSI bulletin.
Rhuthuparna, S.B. & Gowda, V. (2024). Microchirita karaketii (Gesneriaceae), a new record for India from Meghalaya. Rheedea
Francila, F. A., Prasanna, N. S., Shrotri, S., Nawge, V., & Gowda, V. (2023). Life amidst debris: Urban waste management affects the utilization of anthropogenic waste materials in avian nest construction, Tropical Ecology, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42965-023-00302-z
Ashokan, A., Leong‐Škorničková, J., Suksathan, P., Newman, M., Kress, W. J., & Gowda, V. (2022). Floral evolution and pollinator diversification in hedychium : Revisiting Darwin's predictions using an integrative taxonomic approach. American Journal of Botany, 109(9), 1410–1427. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajb2.16039
Ashokan, A., Xavier, A., Suksathan, P., Ardiyani, M., Leong-Škorničková, J., Newman, M., Kress, W. J., & Gowda, V. (2022). Himalayan orogeny and monsoon intensification explain species diversification in an endemic ginger (hedychium: Zingiberaceae) from the Indo-Malayan Realm. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 170, 107440. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107440
Ranavat, S., Becher, H., Newman, M.F., Gowda, V. and Twyford, A.D. (2021). A Draft Genome of the Ginger Species Alpinia nigra and New Insights into the Genetic Basis of Flexistyly. Genes, 12(9), pp.1297.‌
Prasanna, N.S. and Gowda, V. (2021). Didymocarpus vickifunkiae (Gesneriaceae), a New Species from the Indo-Burma Hotspot and Lectotypification of D. aureoglandulosus. Systematic Botany 46(1): pp. 229–234.
Surveswaran, S., Gowda, V. and Sun, M. (2020). Cryptic species and taxonomic troubles: a rebuttal of the systematic treatment of the Asian ladies’ tresses orchids (Spiranthes species; Orchidaceae) by Pace et al. (2019). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 194(3), pp.375–381.
‌Saryan, P., Gupta, S. and Gowda, V. (2020). Species complex delimitations in the genus Hedychium: A machine learning approach for cluster discovery. Applications in Plant Sciences, 8(7).
Albal, A., Azad, G., Shrotri, S. and Gowda, V. (2020). When to be a male? Role of resource-limitation and pollinators in determining gender in an andromonoecious spiderwort. Preprint available on BioRxiv
Prasanna, N.S. and Gowda, V. (2020). Rediscovery of four narrow endemic Didymocarpus species (Gesneriaceae) from Mizoram, India, with revised species descriptions and lectotypifications. PhytoKeys, 148, pp.1-19.
Prasanna, N.S., Liu, D.T., Saryan, P., Duan, S.Z., Cai, L. and Gowda, V. (2020). Didymocarpus sinoindicus (Gesneriaceae), a new species from India and China. Rheedea, 30(1), pp.135-142.
Saryan, P. and Gowda, V. (2020). Low‐cost FloPump for regulated air sampling of volatile organic compounds. Applications in Plant Sciences, 8(4): e11343
Ashokan, A., and Gowda, V. (2019). Hedychium ziroense (Zingiberaceae), a new species of ginger lily from Northeast India. PhytoKeys, 117: 73-84.
Jiang, L., Wang, Q., Yu, J., Gowda, V., Johnson, G., Yang, J., Kan, X., Yang, X. (2018). miRNAome expression profiles in the gonads of adult Melopsittacus undulatus. PeerJ, 6: e4615.
Surveswaran, S., Gowda, V., and Sun, M. (2018). Using an integrated approach to identify cryptic species, divergence patterns and hybrid species in Asian ladies’ tresses orchids (Spiranthes, Orchidaceae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 24: 106-121.
Ashokan, A., and Gowda, V. (2018). Describing terminologies and discussing records: More discoveries of vivipary in the genus Hedychium J. Koenig (Zingiberaceae) from Northeast India. PhytoKeys, 96: 21-34.
Verma, A.K., Diwan, D., Raut, S., Dobriyal, N., Brown, R.E., Gowda, V., Hines, J.K., and Sahi, C. (2017). Evolutionary Conservation and Emerging Functional Diversity of the Cytosolic Hsp70:J Protein Chaperone Network of Arabidopsis thaliana. G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics, 7(6): 1941-1954.
Gowda, V. and Kress, W.J. (2013). A geographic mosaic of plant-pollinator interactions in the Eastern Caribbean Islands . Biotropica 45: 224-235.
Zhang, L., Wang, X. Li, Gowda, V., Wang, M., Li, X., and Kan X. (2012). The Mitochondrial Genome of the Cinnamon Bittern, Ixobrychus cinnamomeus (Pelecaniformes: Ardeidae): Sequence, Structure and Phylogenetic Analysis. Molecular Biology Reports. 39(8): 8315-8326.
Gowda, V., Kress, W. J., and Htun, T. (2012). Two new species of gingers from Myanmar. PhytoKeys 13: 5-14.
Gowda, V., Erickson, D. L., and Kress, W. J. (2012). Development and characterization of microsatellite loci for two Caribbean Heliconia (Heliconiaceae: H. bihai and H. caribaea). American Journal of Botany (Primer Notes & Protocols) 99: e81-3.
Gowda, V., Temeles, E. J., and Kress, W. J. (2012). Territorial fidelity to nectar sources by Purple-throated Caribs, Eulampis jugularis. Wilson Journal of Ornithology. 124(1): 81-86.
Côrtes, M.C., Gowda, V., Kress, W.J., Bruna EM, Uriarte M. (2009). Characterization of ten microsatellite markers for the understory Amazonian herb Heliconia acuminata. Molecular Ecology Resources 9(4): 1261-1264.
Borges, R. M., Gowda, V., and Zacharias, M. (2003). Butterfly pollination and high-contrast visual signals in a low-density distylous plant. Oecologia 136(4): 571-573.

Popular Articles/Media coverage

Popular science article titled Birds use waste to build nests in a Bhopal institute was published in Mongabay-India [online].
Yadav, R., and Gowda, V. (2022). Shining a light on bulbils: Globba L. (Zingiberaceae). The Bulb Garden, 20(2), 1–4.
SciCom article titled Didymocarpus discoveries from India : a taxonomic, historical, and geographic glimpse of six gesneriads from the NE of India. Gesneriads 71(4): 5-16 is out in Gesneriad magazine.
The Discovery of a new species of Gesneriaceae was covered by many newspapers including The Hindu, Times of India, Deccan Herald, Hindustan Times etc. Also check out the TV news coverage in Rajyasabha TV and Northeast Live.
Ashokan, A. and Gowda, V. 2020. Diversity of the genus Hedychium J. Koenig (Zingiberaceae) in the Northeast India-III: Arunachal Pradesh. Heliconia Society International Bulletin. 26(3): 1-15.
Almanza. L.V., Sep. 2020. Virtual scientific conferences open doors to researchers around the world. [online] Science | AAAS.
‌Discoveries and rediscoveries: Stoneflowers in northeast India published in Mongabay-India.
An article titled 'Indian honey bees need some love' published in The Hindu talks about the importance of indigenous bees
An article on Preventing Plant Blindness featuring Vinita Gowda published in IndiaBioscience
Saryan, P., Ashokan, A., and Gowda, V. 2018. Diversity of the genus Hedychium J. Koenig (Zingiberaceae) in the Northeast of India-II: Manipur and Nagaland. Heliconia Society International Bulletin. 24(3): 1-8.
Heliconia Society International Bulletin. 23(2): 1-11.Diversity of the genus Hedychium J. Koenig (Zingiberaceae) in the Northeast of India-I Ashokan, A. and Gowda, V. 2017.
Blog post on Why IISER Bhopal’s Scientist-Parents are Breathing Easy documents Vinita Gowda's initiative to establish a functional crèche and daycare within the IISER Bhopal campus.
Gowda, V. 2011. Island explorations and evolutionary investigations. The Plant Press 14: No.3
Gowda, V. and Kress, W. J. 2008. Nectar characteristics of two Eastern Caribbean Heliconias (Heliconia: Heliconiaceae). Heliconia Society International Bulletin:14-4, pages 6-10.

Presentations

Oral and poster presentations

Teaching

BIO 406/626: Evolutionary Ecology (4 credits)

History of the theory of evolution, introduction to evolutionary biology; experimental design; population ecology; ecological communities; ecosystem ecology; community change and succession; adaptive evolution, neutral evolution, types of selection, evolution of genotype, phenotype, concepts of population genetics: Hardy-Weinberg principle, selection, drift, migration, evolution of sex, life history traits, r and K selection, group selection, extinction; trophic interactions: plant-pollinator, plant-disperser, herbivory, predation, optimal foraging, parasitism, competition, mutualism; conservation ecology. Phylogenetics and molecular ecology.

Tropical Ecology & Evolution Lab

Research

Funding