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I am a conservation ecologist working at the critical intersection where human communities and wildlife meet. My research addresses a pressing question: how can we coexist with large mammals when habitats shrink and human populations expand?
My work focuses on India’s Western Ghats, the single largest continuous conservation landscape for tigers. Through my doctoral research, I investigate the social and ecological drivers of human-large mammal interactions, studying tiger, leopard, dhole, elephant, and gaur across Tamil Nadu. I’m driven by the urgency of escalating conflicts that result in human casualties, livestock losses, crop damage, and retaliatory killings- collectively imposing devastating burdens on governments and rural communities. Beyond the immediate costs, I explore how modern technological advancements can reduce these conflicts before communities turn decisively against wildlife, potentially triggering local extinctions of species vital to ecological stability.
My interdisciplinary approach combines field ecology with social science and technology. I’ve analysed large mammal occupancy patterns across landscape gradients, mapped corridor connectivity to pinpoint conservation bottlenecks, and identified forest management gaps that inadvertently escalate conflict. My methodological toolkit spans questionnaire surveys, ecological sign surveys, and GIS mapping- integrating perspectives to inform practical conservation strategies and policy.
I am currently pursuing my Ph.D. at the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), Coimbatore. Before my PhD, I contributed to landscape genetics research on Asian elephant subpopulations. I hold a Master’s in Ecology and Environmental Sciences from Pondicherry University and Bachelor’s in Zoology from St. Xavier’s College for Women, Aluva. I teach Ecology, Conservation Biology, Evolution, and Animal Behaviour, helping students recognize that humans hold disproportionate power to sustain or destabilize ecosystem balance, and the responsibility to choose wisely.
“Man cannot discover new oceans until he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” – André Gide
Milda, D., Ashish, K., Ramesh, T., Kalle, R., & Thanikodi, M. (2023). Evaluation of anthropogenic pressure on the occupancy patterns of large mammals in the Western and Eastern Ghats. Landscape Ecology, 38, 409–422. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10980-022-01592-9
Milda, D., Ramesh, T., Kalle, R., Gayathri, V., Thanikodi, M., & Ashish, K. (2022). Factors driving human–wild pig interactions: implications for wildlife conflict management in southern parts of India. Biological Invasions, 25, 221–235. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10530-022-02911-6
Milda, D., Ramesh, T., Kalle, R., Gayathri, V., & Thanikodi, M. (2020). Ranger survey reveals conservation issues across Protected and outside Protected Areas in southern India. Global Ecology and Conservation, 24, e01256.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989420307976
Ramesh, T., Milda, D., Kalle, R., Gayathri, V., Thanikodi, M., Ashish, K., & Giordano, A. J. (2022). Drivers of human-megaherbivore interactions in the Eastern and Western Ghats of southern India. Journal of Environmental Management, 316, 115315. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S030147972200888X
Ramesh, T., Kalle, R., Milda, D., Gayathri, V., Thanikodi, M., Ashish, K., & Giordano, A. J. (2020). Patterns of livestock predation risk by large carnivores in India’s Eastern and Western Ghats. Global Ecology and Conservation, 24, e01366 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989420309070
Chouhan, K.,Kumar P.R., Priya M.M., Ashish, K., Arora B., Milda, D., Ramesh, T., Kalle, R., Singh, A., Hiranmai, R.Y. (2024). Ecological association of pheasants to predators, habitat, and disturbances in southern India. Ornithology Research, 1-12. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989420309070
Milda, D., Ashiq, P,P. (2023). Tusks and fences: the dilemma of human-elephant coexistence. Trumpet, 3 (3):44-51.
Ramesh, T., Milda, D., and Gayathri, V. (2022). Assessing anthropogenic threats to large carnivore population in forest divisions of Tamil Nadu. Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India, Technical Report (PR220), Submitted to SERB-DST, Government of India.
Received Hasmukh Shah Memorial Award 2024 (Research Category) from Gujarat Ecology Society (GES) (Kachnar Trust) (November, 2024)
Received Travel Grant from Science Engineering and Research Board (SERB) (International Travel Scheme) that covered travel and registration costs to attend the 2024 Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting, held at Long Beach, California, USA (ESA 2024) (August, 2024)
Received Travel Grant from British Ecological Society (BES) to cover travel expenses to attend the 2024 Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting, held at Long Beach, California, USA (ESA 2024) (August, 2024)
Received Travel Grant from American Society of Mammalogists and Internatinal Federation of Mammalogists for attending the 13th International Mammological Congress (IMC-13), Anchorage, Alaska, USA (July 14-20, 2023)
Received Global Grants from Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) for presenting my research paper at ATBC conference 2023
Got scholarship for BSc. final year project from Kerala State council for Science and Technology under SPytiS (Scheme for Promoting Young Talents in Science) at St. Xavier’s College for Women, Aluva (2015-2016).
