Biogeography and invertebrate conservation in one of the world’s “hottest” biodiversity hotspots: the pseudoscorpions of India’s Western Ghats.

This project investigates biogeographical patterning and species distributions in one of the World’s hottest biodiversity hotspots, the Western Ghats of India. We are testing a Gondwanan model of hotspot biogeography, a geological model of endemism formation and diversity patterns, and an ecological model of speciation modes in high-altitude “shola” forests using pseudoscorpions as a model group.

Team: Mr. Jithin Johnson (UHH & Sacred Hear College India), Dr. Danilo Harms (UHH), Dr. Mathew M. Joseph (Sacred Heart College India).

Funding body: CSIR (India) & German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD Germany)