Himender Bharti

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Dr Himender Bharti is engaged in taxonomy of Indian Ants and is preparing data base. He is building up reference ant collection in India with inputs from museums and fellow myrmecologists. Indian ants display a remarkable range of diversity with many more taxa still to be discovered. Currently, the Indian ant fauna is representative of this diversity, and includes 12 of the 22 known subfamilies (Aenictinae, Amblyoponinae, Cerapachyinae, Dolichoderinae, Dorylinae, Ectatomminae, Formicinae, Leptanillinae, Myrmicinae, Ponerinae, Proceratiinae, Pseudomyrmecinae). The current species list includes approximately 600 species from 80 genera and will continue to increase in number as researchers begin to systematically explore the diverse habitats of ants across the region. Ants in India occupy a variety of habitats such as leaf litter, trees, soil, and dead logs, while tramp species prefer human-modified habitats.
Besides ant taxonomy, Dr Bharti’s prime area of interest is Evolutionary Biology, speciation patterns and role of ants in ecology, ants as indicators of eco-system health. He is also involved in conservation and red listing of ants.

Research Projects (Already completed)
>Young Scientist project awarded by Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, New Delhi in 1999 to study diversity of ants from North-Western India
>Second Young Scientist Project awarded by Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, New Delhi in 2001 to study diversity of ants from India
>Third Young Scientist Project awarded by Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, New Delhi in 2005 to study Ant Diversity of Himalayas : A Fragile Ecosystem

Research Projects (ongoing)
a)Social Parasitism in Himalayan Ants and their Speciation Patterns (Major Research Project sanctioned by Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, New Delhi)
b)Study of ant species abundance and composition with respect to functional groups from lower Siwalik range of North-west Himalaya (Major Research Project sanctioned by Ministry of Environment and Forest, Govt. of India, New Delhi)
c) ICAR Network Project on Insect Systematics (Major Research Project sanctioned by Indian Council of Agriculture Research, New Delhi)
d)Evaluation/trials on Imidacloprid 0.03% Ant Gel-Maxforce Quantum (Research Project sanctioned by Bayer Crop Science limited)

Research Collaborations/Associations

Pheidole working group (http://academic.evergreen.edu/projects/ants/pheidoleworkinggroup/index.ht

President ANeT(International network for study of Asian ants)
Database of Indian Ants (California Academy of Sciences)
Ants of India (Harvard University)
Red listing of Ants
DNA barcoding with Dr Carsten Bruhl, University of Landau, Germany and Dr. Noriko Azuma Division of Marine Life Science Faculty and Graduate School of Fisheries Sciences Hokkaido University 3-1-1 Minato Hakodate 041-8611 JAPAN
Insect Biodiversity Network for Asia

Organisation for Conservation and Study of Biodiversity(NGO)
Editor(Halteres and Asian Myrmecology)

Taxon Editor

ANTS IN BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION IN ASIA

Mountain Forum