I am a marine biologist and a SCUBA diver with a keen interest lying in the interdisciplinary approaches to address marine biodiversity conservation. Marine mammal and habitat conservation via policy formulation and implementation intrigues me greatly.

Before becoming a faculty member at WII, I completed my Ph.D. research, "Ecology of Seagrass associated fishes and Conservation Perspectives of Seagrass ecosystems in Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar" at WII while holding a master's degree in biodiversity from Pune University. During this time, I was a DST-INSPIRE Fellow. Collaborating with the CAMPA: The Recovery of Dugongs and their Habitats in India program was initiated concurrently with my Ph.D. My research centered primarily on dugong distribution patterns, habitat evaluation, and feeding biology.

Marine mammals and their habitats are the subject of my current research. My research interests revolve around ecological studies of lesser-known marine mammals, including dugongs and humpback whales. Additionally, I am also studying current areas such as blue carbon assessment and the conflict between humans and wildlife in marine environments.

Research Interests: Habitat ecology, Human-wildlife conflict, policy implementation

• Prajapati, S., Ghanekar, C., Pathan, S., Shekar, R., Magesh, K. M., Gole, S., Bose, S., Iyer, S., Pande, A., Sivakumar, K., & Johnson, J. A. (2022, November 25). Understanding dietary differences in Indian dugongs through opportunistic gut sampling of stranded individuals. Current Science, 123(10), 1259. https://doi.org/10.18520/cs/v123/i10/1259-1264

• Srinivas, Y., Pande, A., Gole, S., Jothi, P. P., Magesh, K. M., Pathan, S., Dudhat, S., Shekar, R., Ghanekar, C., Kukadia, D., Johnson, J. A., Mondol, S., & Sivakumar, K. (2020, December 22). Mitochondrial phylogeography reveals high haplotype diversity and unique genetic lineage in Indian dugongs (Dugong dugon). Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 31(4), 818–829.  https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3490

• Johnson, J. A., Kuppusamy, S., Prabakaran, N., Hatkar, prachi, Ghanekar, C., Iyer, S., Gole, S., Pathan, S., Rajpurkar, S., Patel, S., Prajapati, S., Seal, S., Bose, S., Tripura, V., & Dhiman, G. (2023, April). India’s First Dugong Conservation Reserve Notified in Palk Bay, Tamil Nadu: Bringing Hope for Extinction-Prone Dugongs. Sirenews, 77, 19–23.

• Sivakumar, K., Johnson, J. A., Pande, A., Hatkar, P., Saini, H., Seal, S., Tripura, V., Bayyana, S., Ghanekar, C., Bose, S., Patel, S., Gole, S., Dudhat, S., Madhu Magesh, K., Shekar, R., Pathan, S., Rajpurakar, S., & Prajapati, S. (2020). First time celebration of ‘Dugong Day’ in India: a social media campaign to highlight dugong conservation issues in India amidst COVID-19 pandemic. Sirenews, 72, 28–29.

• Hatkar, P., Gole, S., Dudhat, S., Shekar, R., Pathan, S., Madhu, M., Rajpurkar, S., Dikshit, D., Ghanekar, C., Saini, H., Prajapati, S., Mehta, D., Bose, S., Tripura, V., Pande, A., Johnson, J. A., & Sivakumar, K. (2020). Role and importance of training and capacity building of stakeholders for saving dugongs in India. Sirenews, 71, 8–12.

• Sivakumar, K., Johnson, J. A., Pande, anant, Gole, S., Madhu, M., Dudhat, S., Pathan, S., Dikshit, D., Yellapu, S., Hatkar, prachi, Rajpurkar, S., Ghanekar, C., Shekar, R., Saini, H., Prajapati, S., & Mehta, D. (2019). An update on the “Recovery of Dugongs and their Habitats in India: An Integrated Participatory Approach” programme. Sirenews, 70, 29–34.

• Sivakumar K., Johnson J.A., Pande A., Gole S., Dudhat S., Shekar S., Pathan S., Ghanekar C., Magesh M.K, Rajpurkar S., Seal S., Bayyana S., Patel S., Prajapati S., Saini H., Hatkar P., Tripura V., Bose S., Christian G., Annual Progress Report V (2020-21), CAMPA-Recovery of dugongs and their habitats in India: An integrated participatory approach, Wildlife Institute of India, (Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change), Dehradun.

• Sivakumar K., Johnson J. A., Pande A., Gole S., Dudhat S., Shekar S., Pathan S., Ghanekar C., Dikshit D., Magesh M. K., Rajpurkar S., Seal S., Bayyana S., Patel S., Saini H., Prajapati S., Hatkar P., Mehta D., Bose S., Tripura V., Christian G., Yellapu S., Sharma S., Semwal R., Pacha, A. (2020). Annual Progress Report IV (2019-20), CAMPA- Recovery of dugongs and their habitats in India: An integrated participatory approach, Wildlife Institute of India (Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change), Dehradun, pp 313

• Sivakumar, K., Johnson, J. A., Mondal, S., Ramesh, K., Nigam, P., Pande, A., Yellapu, S., Sharma, S., Gole, S., Dudhat, S., Shekar, R., Pathan, S., Ghanekar, C., Dikshit, D., Madhu, M., Rajpurkar, S., Saini, H., Prajapati, S., Hatkar, P., Mehta, D., Bose, S., Semwal, R., Tripura, V., Seal, S., Gokhale, E. (2019). Annual Progress Report III (2018-19), CAMPA-Recovery of dugongs and their habitats in India:  An integrated participatory approach, Wildlife Institute of India

• Ghanekar, C., Iyer, S., Rajpurkar, S., Bose, S., Seal, S., Gokhale, T., Nehru, P., Sivakumar, K., Johnson, J.A. (2023, April 9-11). Protecting the mermaids: Insights from the first Dugong Conservation Reserve of India (Conference poster). 1^st Indian Conservation conference, Mysuru, India.

• Ghanekar, C., Iyer, S., Harini, V., Pande, A., Sivakumar, K., Johnson, J.A. (2020, August 17-28). A study of seagrass habitat utilization by fishes in Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar, India. The 6th International Marine Conservation Congress, Kiel, Germany.