Mihir R Kulkarni

About

Mihir Ravindra Kulkarni is an aquatic ecologist who studies the patterns of freshwater biodiversity and the underlying ecological and evolutionary processes to develop ecological management strategies for urban freshwater habitats. He uses environmental monitoring, biodiversity surveys with traditional and high-throughput molecular methods for both observational and experimental studies.

Mihir specialises in freshwater invertebrates and has studied them across peninsular India during his PhD from Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, and subsequent postdoctoral research at the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad. At IIHS, Mihir is involved in the Long-Term Urban Ecological Observatory (LTUEO) at the Kengeri Campus. He has taught postgraduate courses on freshwater biodiversity and ecology at IGNFA, WII and NCBS.

Apart from research, Mihir has contributed to urban water body management plans as an external expert. He also conducts workshops to improve public awareness about these highly threatened habitats and their unique biodiversity.

Employment

• IIHS University Assistant Professor
  2025 - Present
• Indian Institute for Human Settlements Consultant
  2023 - Present

Education

• Savitribai Phule Pune University Ph.D.
  2014 - 2019
• Savitribai Phule Pune University M.Sc.
  2009 - 2011
• Savitribai Phule Pune University B.Sc.
  2006 - 2009

Projects & Funding

Projects & funding information is unavailable.

Publications (16)

• Temporal and spatial variations drive the phytoplankton communities in rock pools in a semi-arid region
  Aquatic Ecology 2024 DOI: 10.1007/s10452-024-10097-3
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• Local‐scale abiotic factors influence the organization of rock pool arthropod communities in a biodiversity hotspot
  Limnology and Oceanography 2023 DOI: 10.1002/lno.12427
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• New leptestherid clam shrimps (Pancrustacea: Branchiopoda: Spinicaudata: Leptestheriidae) from peninsular India
  Zootaxa 2023 DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5264.2.3
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• Does habitat restoration disturb? A case study of a shallow urban water reservoir in western India using cladoceran zooplankton
  2021 DOI: 10.1101/2021.06.18.448979
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• Freshwater gastropod richness patterns along an urbanization gradient in tropical India
  Journal of Urban Ecology 2021 DOI: 10.1093/jue/juab035
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• Hydroperiod and species-sorting influence metacommunity composition of crustaceans in temporary rock pools in India
  Inland Waters 2019 DOI: 10.1080/20442041.2018.1548868
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• NDVI is not reliable as a surrogate of forage abundance for a large herbivore in tropical forest habitat
  Biotropica 2019 DOI: 10.1111/btp.12651
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• Occurrence data of large branchiopods in the Northern Western Ghats, India
  Freshwater Metadata Journal 2019 DOI: 10.15504/fmj.2019.41
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• A new species of genus Eulimnadia Packard, 1874 (Branchiopoda: Spinicaudata: Limnadiidae) from India with an updated key for some Indian species
  Zootaxa 2018 DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4399.3.4
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• A new species of Megadiaptomus Kiefer, 1936 (Copepoda: Calanoida: Diaptomidae) from the Western Ghats of India, with notes on the biogeography and conservation status of the species of the genus
  Journal of Crustacean Biology 2018 DOI: 10.1093/jcbiol/rux097
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