Vijay Ramesh

Postdoctoral Fellow

Expertise

Bioacoustics • Community science • Historical ecology

My research is focused on understanding how the environment shapes the ecology and behavior of tropical montane birds. I use an interdisciplinary and collaborative approach that borrows from conservation bioacoustics, community science, and historical ecology. Specifically, I study the role of climate and habitat in structuring bird communities of the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot. Previously, my work incorporating acoustic data showed how bird species have responded to ecological restoration. Additionally, I have worked with eBird data and historical datasets of species occurrence to identify how birds have responded to a century of global change.

As a postdoctoral fellow, I am exploring how the environment—specifically, climate and vegetation structure—drives bird community assembly and acoustic structure along an elevational gradient in the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot.

Education

Ph.D., Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology, Columbia University
M.A., Conservation Biology, Columbia University
B.Tech., Biotechnology, RV College of Engineering

Recent Publications

Darras, K. F. A., R. A. Rountree, S. L. Van Wilgenburg, A. F. Cord, F. Pitz, Y. Chen, L. Dong, A. Rocquencourt, C. Desjonquères, P. M. Diaz, T.-H. Lin, et al. (2025). Worldwide soundscapes: a synthesis of passive acoustic monitoring across realms. Global Ecology and Biogeography 34:e70021.
Sethi, S. S., A. Bick, R. M. Ewers, H. Klinck, V. Ramesh, M.-N. Tuanmu, and D. A. Coomes (2023). Limits to the accurate and generalizable use of soundscapes to monitor biodiversity. Nature Ecology & Evolution:1–6.
Ramesh, V., P. Hariharan, V. A. Akshay, P. Choksi, S. Khanwilkar, R. DeFries, and V. V. Robin (2023). Using passive acoustic monitoring to examine the impacts of ecological restoration on faunal biodiversity in the Western Ghats. Biological Conservation 282:110071.
Ramesh, V., T. Gopalakrishna, S. Barve, and D. J. Melnick (2017). Finer spatial resolution improves accuracy of species distribution models in heterogeneous landscapes--a response to Praveen J. Biological Conservation 213:247–248.
Ramesh, V., T. Gopalakrishna, S. Barve, and D. J. Melnick (2017). IUCN greatly underestimates threat levels of endemic birds in the Western Ghats. Biological Conservation 210:205–221.
Ramesh, V., S. Pavithra, S. Meghana, and S. Laurel (no date). [In press] Why is the early bird early? An evaluation of hypotheses for avian dawn-biased vocal activity. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society Special Issue on Passive Acoustic Monitoring.
A man stands in a forest with recording equipement.
Center K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics
Email vr292@cornell.edu

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Golden-cheeked Warbler by Bryan Calk/Macaulay Library