The curiosity for plant life that developed mainly from the strong family roots in agriculture has made me chose botany for the higher studies. After graduating from the Madras Christian College, Chennai (2003-2008), I worked with Care Earth trust as a Botanist and contributed in many of their projects as a plant expert. I received Ph.D. in botany from Bharathiar University, for which I worked with Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (2009-2012) on the succession of coastal vegetation in the Nicobar Islands that are highly affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami and tectonic subduction inflicted sea level increase. This study has provided basics for the restoration of coastal habitats across the Nicobar Islands. After Ph.D., I worked with the Himalaya Drug Company, Bangalore as a Scientist during 2013-2014 and developed a taxonomy based authentication system for the herbal raw drugs. As a Leibniz-DAAD post-doctoral fellow at Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research, Germany (2014-2015), I studied the successional dynamics of mangroves using high-resolution satellite data and cellular automata model. In a collaborative project with Indo-American Wildlife Society and the University of Kassel, I studied the impact of key invasive alien plant species on the plant and soil microbial communities in Shola-Grasslands of the Western Ghats and Coastal plains in Tamil Nadu. I Joined Wildlife Institute of India in 2016 as a Himalayan Research Associate and studied the ecological and anthropogenic factors influencing traditional agriculture systems in the Western Himalaya. Subsequently, I joined the institute as DST-INSPIRE faculty in August 2018. My research team mainly studies the impacts of sea level change related to tectonic processes on the mangrove ecosystems (including socio-ecological systems) across the Andaman and Nicobar islands

My research focus includes vegetation community responses to various disturbance factors; impacts of invasive alien species on native biodiversity; plant-soil feedback mechanisms; and, ecological restoration of coastal habitats. My long-term goal is to establish a coastal research group that can monitor the mangrove ecosystems across India. I would be glad to collaborating with interested students and researchers working on the similar fields. I can be reached through email at nehrup@wii.gov.in or nehrumcc@gmail.com