Journey so far, the first three years. by Gubbi Labs

Consolidated Report 2010-2012

About the Logo The logo depicts a male House Sparrow. The word 'Gubbi' is inspired from the name of a town, Gubbi in Tumkur district of Karnataka. The place got its name after House Sparrows, Passer domesticus

following a historical event involving the Sparrows. House Sparrows are typically distributed

and

around

human

settlements and thus epitomize the human-environmental interactions.

Gubbi Labs LLP | Journey so far, the first three years.

Consolidated Report for 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13.

Reference, partial reproduction and transmission by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise are allowed if the copyright holder is acknowledged. Any commercial use of this material requires the written consent of the copyright owners.

Published by Gubbi Labs, 2013.

Copyright ÂŠ Gubbi Labs Authors: Gubbi Labs Team Cover page: Poster Painting of River Sharavathi valley view near Gerusoppa, Shimoga District, Karnataka by Ramya Badrinath.

Photo Credits: Gubbi Labs Team.

Journey so far, the first three years.

Table of Contents Table of Contents .................................................................................................................... i About Gubbi Labs ................................................................................................................. 1 Director’s Note ...................................................................................................................... 3

Highlights ............................................................................................................... 4 Societal Impact ............................................................................................................... 4 Important Recognitions ..................................................................................................... 4 Formal Collaborations ....................................................................................................... 4 Publications .................................................................................................................... 4

Research ............................................................................................................... 5 Biodiversity outside Forests ............................................................................................... 5 Planning for Evolution of Cities ........................................................................................... 6 Ecology and Conservation of Amphibians of Western Ghats and Beyond ............................... 7 Bicycle for Cities .............................................................................................................. 8 Diatoms of Indian Sub-continent ........................................................................................ 9 Alternative Energy .......................................................................................................... 10 Geo-informatics and Satellite Remote Sensing .................................................................. 11

Projects and Consulting .......................................................................................... 13 A Biological Survey of the Freshwater Algae and Benthic Macroinvertebrates of Rivers of the Western Ghats, India ..................................................................................................... 14 Bicycle Friendly Streets in Jayanagar, Bangalore ................................................................ 15 Bicycle Trailer | BT 1.0 ................................................................................................... 16 Conserving the Kavals of Karnataka ................................................................................. 16 Conserving Threatened Anurans in Myristica Swamps of Central Western Ghats .................. 17 Crop Area Estimation using Remote Sensing .................................................................... 18 Ecological Explorations ................................................................................................... 18 Frog Find – an android app for identifying frogs in the field ................................................... 19 Geospatial Database for a Protected Area ........................................................................ 20 Geovisualization of Public Health System Data ................................................................... 21 Introduction of Bus-based Public Transport System in Tumkur and Hassan cities, Karnataka ... 21 Land-use Land Cover Change Analysis for Urban Areas..................................................... 21 Mixed Media for Community Development ........................................................................ 22 Namma Cycle – a community bicycle sharing system ........................................................ 22 Parking Policy for 9 Tier-II Cities in Karnataka ..................................................................... 23 Pre-feasibility study for establishing a biomass-based power plant for a capacity of 2 MWe at Gubbi .......................................................................................................................... 24 SimRiver – DiatomProject ............................................................................................... 24 Solar power at neighbourhood scales .............................................................................. 26 Solar powered mobile charger | SPMC 1.0 ...................................................................... 27 Spatial Planning Support Systems for Towns and Cities ..................................................... 27 Stream scape ecology and conservation in fragmented landscape in central Western Ghats using diatoms and amphibians and systems approach ...................................................... 28 Tank Ecosystems: Developing an Integrated Methodology for Evaluating the Health and Enhancing the Sustainability of Human-made Wetland Ecosystems ..................................... 29

Training ................................................................................................................ 31 Mapping Essentials........................................................................................................ 32 Research and Statistics Essentials ................................................................................... 33 Exploring Natural History ................................................................................................. 33 Amphibian Workshop at Bisle ......................................................................................... 33 Past courses / workshops ............................................................................................. 34 Future courses.............................................................................................................. 34

Publications .......................................................................................................... 35 Books .......................................................................................................................... 36 Gubbi Labs LLP

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Pictorial Guide to Frogs and Toads of the Western Ghats ................................................ 36 On A Trail with Ants: A Handbook of the Ants of Peninsular India ....................................... 37 An Illustrated Guide to Common Diatoms of Peninsular India............................................. 37 Research output ........................................................................................................... 37 Books and Journal Articles .......................................................................................... 38 Research Reports ...................................................................................................... 39 Conference Papers .................................................................................................... 39 Posters ..................................................................................................................... 40 Popular Articles / Opinions ........................................................................................... 40

Media and Outreach .............................................................................................. 41 Conferences, Workshops and Invited Talks....................................................................... 42 On YouTube ................................................................................................................. 43 Gubbi Labs' Eco-station ................................................................................................. 44 News Reports ............................................................................................................... 45

People ................................................................................................................. 49 People associated with Gubbi Labs................................................................................. 50

Partners and Collaborations..................................................................................... 53 Memorandum of Understandings (MoU) ........................................................................... 54 Partners and Clients ...................................................................................................... 54

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About Gubbi Labs Gubbi Labs is a private research collective with strong foundations in research and underpinnings of a social enterprise. The Labs work on a host of domains ranging from sustainable ecosystems to liveable settlements. The Labs is powered by a collective with interdisciplinary expertise and focus on research, development and consultancy. Gubbi Labs was incorporated on 3rd February 2010 as a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) firm with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India [LLPIN: AAA-0691]. The Labs has an extreme focus for taking theory to practice and vice-versa with expertise in geospatial science and technologies, field ecology, urban and regional planning, and transportation. Gubbi Labs has three primary agenda: Research; Training; and Projects and Consulting. The graphic depicts the linkages of these agenda. At the core of Gubbi Labs lies the Research agenda that gets the highest priority. This is followed by Training and Projects and Consulting, the other core activities of the Labs. Typically, Projects and Consulting are pursued that is in alignment to the Labs core agenda. Projects and Consulting are also pursued as revenue streams that can sustain the Research undertaken by the Labs. Training is pursued in the form of short-courses and workshops as a means to disseminate knowledge and experience gained through both Research and Projects and Consulting. The Labs pursues pure and applied research primarily in areas of Urban Systems (spanning from land-use land cover change, transportation, parking, and non-motorized transport - policy and planning), Biodiversity, Conservation Biology, Geo-informatics and Remote Sensing, and Alternative Energy. As an enterprise, Gubbi Labs is committed for sustainable development and empowerment of society through application of appropriate science, technology and management practices. The Labs is committed for enhancing the social capital and to work on enabling opportunities for overall societal empowerment and its development. The success of Labs efforts, besides financial metrics, is measured by societal impact â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the overall reach to number of people it has impacted, direct and indirect, through its combined efforts in research, projects and consulting.

Journey so far, the first three years.

V i s i o n

Sustainable ecosystems and liveable settlements. ●

●

M i s s i o n

Production and application of knowledge and knowledge based services to individuals, institutions and governments impacting lives of people and societies in meaningful and effective ways, producing larger socio-economic benefits, ensuring sustainability and environmental conservation. ●

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V a l u e s

Freedom of Thought and Expression, Collaboration and Innovation. ●

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S t r a t e g y

To pursue the mission through a combination of research, publications, training, consulting and advisory services.

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Journey so far, the first three years.

Directorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Note Greetings from Gubbi Labs! Gubbi Labs completed three years on 3rd February 2013. Our journey since its inception as a research enterprise has been very eventful and memorable. In these years, we have tried to carve out a niche both as research organization on one hand and as an enterprise providing consulting and advisory services on the other. This is in line with what we call ourselves: a private research collective with underpinnings of a social enterprise. Private research enterprises are perhaps very few in India and we are proud to be one among them. Having set on an unchartered path, it is important to reflect and assess our goals and direction at this juncture. This report is an articulation of our journey thus far. The core philosophy that drives us is different than the normal for-profit enterprises. During the first three years of inception the priority of the Labs has been shaped by the desire to address burning societal and environmental issues. Although the efforts of pure and applied research take years to bear fruits, we have managed to balance our focus on research and garner nominal revenues registering marginal profits during these formative years. Looking ahead, we plan to build on the momentum and concentrate on achieving higher profitability and generate revenues commensurate with the experience of the team while keeping our focus on research intact. The collaborations we have with leading academic institutions and think-tanks are bearing fruits in the form of joint projects, publications in peer-reviewed international journals and conferences. The coming year looks promising, with the grant from National Geography â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Committee for Research Exploration for a research that will be jointly undertaken with University of Colorado, Boulder, ATREE and Zoological Survey of India. Beyond research, projects and consulting, we are streamlining our training through a series of short-courses and workshops. We have also successfully built and deployed our shop store setting up the payment gateway for selling our publications. In the coming days, we are planning to sell ecofriendly crafts that are produced by women self-help groups through our online store. Watch out for these on http://shop.gubbilabs.in. In the journey, we have also received special commendation and award along with our collaborators. As stated elsewhere, the success of Labs efforts, besides financial metrics, is measured by societal impact â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the overall reach to the number of people we have impacted, direct and indirect, through our combined efforts in research, projects, consulting and training. This is not to claim the entire credit of bringing positive change, but we are happy to be the key catalyst in bringing about this change with support and collaborations from different quarters. As we take these small steps, the challenge of achieving our vision of sustainable ecosystems and liveable settlements remains. We thus, rededicate ourselves with humility and renewed focus in pursuing this challenge.

H. S. Sudhira Director, Gubbi Labs May 2013

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Journey so far, the first three years.

Highlights Societal Impact 

Directly about 5 lakh citizens in Tumkur and Hassan – through the introduction of dedicated busbased public transport system.

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Directly more than 5000 cyclists and indirectly more than 5 lakh residents of Jayanagar, Bangalore through the implementation of Bicycle Friendly Streets in Jayanagar, Bangalore.

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Directly about 3000 persons inside the Indian Institute of Science Campus through the implementation of Namma Cycle – the campus based public bicycle sharing system.

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Directly about 2000 students and researchers through a variety of workshops, training and courses conducted till date;

Important Recognitions 

DiatomProject received Japan’s best e-Learning educational software award on 21 Nov 2011.



Bicycle Friendly Streets, Jayanagar and Namma Cycle Bicycle Sharing Program at IISc received Special Commendation at the 2nd edition of the Volvo Sustainable Mobility Awards on 29th Oct 2012.

Formal Collaborations        

Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bangalore Centre for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (C-STEP) EMBARQ India Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore National Geographic Society – Committee for Research and Exploration Ride-A-Cycle Foundation (RAC-F) University of Colorado, Boulder Zoological Survey of India

Publications 

Three books, 12 peer-reviewed journal articles, two international conference papers, two posters and two research reports. 

First handbook on Indian Ants.



First Pictorial Guide for Frogs and Toads of the Western Ghats.

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First ever Illustrated Guide on Freshwater Diatoms for Indian Sub-continent.

So far, Gubbi Labs has directly impacted more than 5 lakh people in a span of three years.

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Research

Journey so far, the first three years.

Biodiversity outside Forests Biodiversity estimations have been typically carried out mostly in protected areas for a long time now. However, there remains an un-estimated diversity outside forests or the non-protected areas which are mostly not sampled and estimated scientifically. The objective of the research is to initially estimate the biodiversity in the non-protected areas of south-central Deccan Plateau between the Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats. The estimations involve assessment of ants, amphibians, birds, butterflies, fish, flora, and mammals. Some key questions that the research aims to answer are: 1. What is the diversity profile in different ecosystems outside the protected areas? 2. What is the variation in diversity across agricultural ecosystems under single and mixed crops? 3. Do occurrences of certain species throw any light on the Biogeography of the region? 4. Are there any relationships or patterns that a few groups favour specific ecosystems in non-protected areas? Projects that have been / being pursued under this theme are: 

A Biological Survey of the Freshwater Algae and Benthic Macroinvertebrates of Rivers of the Western Ghats, India

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Conserving the Kavals of Karnataka

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Conserving Threatened Anurans in Myristica Swamps of Central Western Ghats

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Ecological Explorations

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Stream scape ecology and conservation in fragmented landscape in central Western Ghats using diatoms and amphibians and systems approach

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Tank Ecosystems: Developing an Integrated Methodology for Evaluating the Health and Enhancing the Sustainability of Human-made Wetland Ecosystems

Planning for Evolution of Cities The evolution of human-social organization to live in large agglomerations – called urban areas, in the process of urbanization has posed new and complex challenges for planning and governance in meeting the necessary demands of infrastructure and amenities, while minimizing the implications on environment and resources. In the process of organic urbanization, despite the city-size distributions confirming to the scaling laws (Zipf’s law) resulting in hierarchical organization of societies, the urban primacy is continuously increasing. As a consequence, only a few cities are growing rapidly resulting in urban sprawl that is often unplanned and uncoordinated outgrowths beyond the geometrically laid out land-use plans and governed by idealized zoning regulations and building bye-laws. Thus, cities selfGubbi Labs LLP

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Journey so far, the first three years.

organize and continuously adapt to find newer ways of managing its resources and meet the perpetually increasing demands. Planning has until now restricted to preparation of idealized geometric land-use plans that grossly ignored the interactions among different sub-systems and the ensuing dynamics. Two key subsystems that demand integration In other words, cities evolve and they are treated as are land-use and transportation complex systems. Building on the 'science of cities' our systems in forecasting future urban growth. Research on research works on planning for evolution of cities. methods of modelling urban systems have now demonstrated agent-based modelling as one plausible approach that when combined with System Dynamics can offer a better understanding of the complex urban systems. Research at Gubbi Labs is focusing on building an integrated and comprehensive understanding of how cities evolve. This is achieved combining the understanding and insights gained from system dynamics for different sub-systems, institutional ethnographic studies, policy analyses through spatially explicit simulations using agent-based models.

Projects that have been pursued under this theme are: 

Parking Policy for 9 Tier-II cities in Karnataka

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Introduction of Bus-based Public Transport System in Tumkur and Hassan cities, Karnataka

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Bicycle Friendly Streets in Jayanagar, Bangalore

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Land-use Land Cover Change Analysis for Urban Areas

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Spatial Planning Support Systems for Towns and Cities

Ecology and Conservation of Amphibians of Western Ghats and Beyond Amphibian population decline across the globe at an alarming rate has enthused researchers to probe for the cause. Habitat alteration including fragmentation, degradation, modification and rapid urbanization are considered to be key factors in such declines. In addition, fungal diseases, use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers are also negatively influencing the amphibian population. It is still not clear how these causalities work, individually, collectively or synergistically? This scenario is not different in the Western Ghats that harbours over 183 species of amphibians of the total 342 recorded for India and interestingly there are more species yet to be discovered from the region. Nearly 88% of amphibians recorded from Western Ghats are endemic and hence emphasizes need to understand Gubbi Labs LLP

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Journey so far, the first three years.

the ecology and conservation of amphibians of the region. A decade long research on amphibians of the Western Ghats has strengthened our view that amphibian research should also move beyond Western Ghats and Protected Areas, and should look into varied human modified land-uses, which harbours unknown refuge populations of amphibians.

We are channelizing our effort in conservation of amphibians with several research and outreach programmes. As a stepping stone in this direction was bringing a pictorial guide to identify the species of amphibians, which was lacking for almost two decades, with revised taxonomy and easy to use in field. Projects that have been / being pursued under this theme are: ď&#x201A;ˇ

Ecological Explorations

ď&#x201A;ˇ

Conserving Threatened Anurans in Myristica Swamps of Central Western Ghats

ď&#x201A;ˇ

Stream scape ecology and conservation in fragmented landscape in central Western Ghats using diatoms and amphibians and systems approach

Bicycle for Cities Mobility forms an important aspect of any urban system. With rapid urbanization, fossil fuel powered motor vehicles have seen significant rise in usage in the developing world causing concern on its sustainability. Contrary to the existing and conventional modes of transport, i.e., personalised motor transport (two-wheelers and four wheelers), intermediate public transport (taxis and auto-rickshaws), and public transport (buses), bicycles are the most practical and convenient alternatives for undertaking short trips apart from walking. As bicycles require little space and aid in reduction of greenhouse gas emissions they are gradually emerging as a viable mode for Gubbi Labs LLP

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Journey so far, the first three years.

sustainable urban transport that abets not only in reducing congestion but also the automotive exhausts. The other advantage from bicycling is that they can serve as excellent alternative for last-mileconnectivity when facilitated at all the key mobility (transport) hubs, enriching the multimodal options for undertaking short trips. The need for effective public transport and encouraging non-motorized transport has been never as important as it is today. The National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP) by the Government of India has already set the guiding principles for ensuring safe, convenient and sustainable transportation systems in cities. In order to realize one of the significant components of the policy, the Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT), Government of Karnataka has evinced a lot of interest in encouraging non-motorized transport especially for bicycles in cities. In pursuant of this, Gubbi Labs is aggressively engaged in different aspects of promoting bicycle as a sustainable mode of transport in cities. Projects that have been pursued under this theme are: 

Bicycle Friendly Streets in Jayanagar, Bangalore

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Namma Cycle – a community bicycle sharing system

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Bicycle Trailer BT | 1.0

Diatoms of Indian Sub-continent Diatoms are microscopic algae and characterized by their unique silica based cell wall with species-specific ornamentation. Diatoms are incredibly species rich with nearly 20,000 known species and few hundred thousands of species are yet to be described. The silica cell walls, called frustules show a wide diversity in form and shapes but usually groups diatoms into two types pinnate (elongated shape) and centric (Circular shape). They potentially account for 40% of the world’s primary production, generate much of the energy that drives aquatic ecosystem. Being placed at the basic of the food chain, they also regulate biodiversity at all levels of food chain. They are found to grow abundantly as a thick brown mat or on submerged plants or on sediment top, and in every type of environment such as rivers, streams, lakes, waterfalls and wetlands. Diatom communities are tested to be potential tool for monitoring environmental conditions, commonly used in water quality studies. Distribution and presence of each diatom species is influenced by land use type and water quality parameters. Diatom distribution is unique to varying environments that vary from one region to another. In this context, "SimRiver" - part of the DiatomProject is one such attempt in this direction to study the relationship between presence of diatom species at respective watershed region either it could be forest or human settlements. Projects that have been pursued under this theme are: 

Ecological Explorations

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DiatomProject: SimRiver

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Stream scape ecology and conservation in fragmented landscape in central Western Ghats using diatoms and amphibians and systems approach

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Journey so far, the first three years.

Alternative Energy Energy forms a critical resource for sustainable development. Yet, the dependency on nonrenewable forms of energy primarily, fossil fuels, has led to irreversible damages besides posing grave challenges for sustaining the economy with their limited and dwindling supply. With increase in urbanization, the demand for petroleum products has seen a sharp increase bearing a significant impact on the foreign exchange reserves. According to the recent Economic Survey (Ministry of Finance, 2012) the impact of global crude oil prices has resulted increased imports of petroleum, oil and lubricants (POL) by 29.4 per cent in April-January, 2011-12. The rise in oil imports has gone up by 38.8 per cent at US $ 118 billion. Evidently, at this rate of consumption of oil, on the one hand, our nation’s economic progress and its environmental effects on the other stand to affect. New and non-conventional energy sources are essential in meeting the rising power demand and are the only sustainable alternative. Among the non-conventional and alternative sources, solar is probably the cleanest and unlimited source and biomass is next only to solar that is abundantly available source. Besides solar, biomass is another promising resource that is explored as a viable source for alternative energy. Research at Gubbi Labs is currently undertaking certain studies and trying out a few hands-on experiments to ensure use of alternative energy sources.

Projects that have been pursued / being under this theme are: 

Pre-feasibility study for establishing a biomass-based power plant for a capacity of 2 MWe in Gubbi

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Energy Conservation at Department of Management Studies, IISc

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Solar powered mobile charger | SPMC 1.0

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Solar power at neighbourhood scale

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Journey so far, the first three years.

Geo-informatics and Satellite Remote Sensing In the recent years, the advances in geographic information sciences (GISc) and the availability of satellite remote sensing data has enabled the scientific community to use these for a variety of studies concerning development and even aiding at times of disaster. The tools of GIS and satellite remote sensing data are very useful in mapping natural resources and urban growth, while characterizing and monitoring land-use and land cover change.

Gubbi Labs is leading with its cutting edge research and development of methods for application of geospatial science and technology. The Labs has developed expertise in designing and developing specific geospatial applications besides undertaking applied research on geospatial simulations for a variety of complex phenomena. In several of its studies and projects, it uses satellite remote sensing data, primarily the Landsat and MODIS datasets. With the archived data of the Landsat missions are made available at no charge by the USGS since October 2008, this has boosted the usage of these datasets. Though the Scan Line Corrector (SLC), which compensates for the forward motion of Landsat 7 (Landsat ETM+ dataset), failed on 31st May 2003, Gubbi Labs has developed methods in rectifying this and has applied these in a variety of studies and projects. Projects that have been pursued under this theme are: 

Geospatial database for a protected area

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Crop Area Estimation using Remote Sensing

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Land-use Land Cover Change Analysis for Urban Areas

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Geovisualization of Public Health System Data

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Journey so far, the first three years.

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Assessment of biomass potential for power generation and evaluating optimal sites for location of decentralized biomass powered plants within Gubbi taluk

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Web-GIS app to visualize GPX tracks

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Spatial Planning Support Systems for Towns and Cities

Million-plus cities/urban agglomeration in India from 1951 to 2011. Diameter of the circle is proportional to population in the respective year (Sudhira and Gururaja, 2012)

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Projects and Consulting

Journey so far, the first three years.

A Biological Survey of the Freshwater Algae and Benthic Macroinvertebrates of Rivers of the Western Ghats, India The freshwater algae, especially diatoms, are not well known from Indian subcontinent, despite over 150 years of work (Ehrenberg 1854) and nearly 408 publications (Karthick et al. in review). And even this large body of research has not found India to be unique in its diatom flora. The Western Ghats is the catchment to 33 rivers and associated wetlands that harbour a high diversity of freshwater organisms. Aquatic ecosystems of the Western Ghats are one of the greatest freshwater biodiversity hotspots in the world (Subramanian, 2010) yet we know very little about the base of the food chain in the aquatic systems in western India. Rivers of Western Ghats supply water to approximately 245 million people who live in the peninsular Indian states. However, these rivers have been altered for hydroelectricity, agriculture and industrial uses, and freshwater biodiversity in these systems is threatened. While central, state and local agencies monitor water quality with physical and chemical means, the use of algae and invertebrates as bio-assessment tools is less well-developed in the region. The bio-monitors are used in many other parts of the world and in addition to their scientific value as sensitive to water conditions, and statistically-robust, the fact that they represent living species has meant humans may better understand their loss and the data associated with them.

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Journey so far, the first three years.

This project explores the biodiversity of 2 major rivers basins (Krishna and Cauvery) of the Western Ghats for freshwater algae and invertebrates in collaboration with Natural History Museum of University of Colorado, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment and Zoological Survey of India. In this project, we will undertake the first systematic collections of algae and benthic macroinvertebrates from the major river systems of the Western Ghats; this will produce a baseline of collections against which future change can be measured. Followed by we will compare riverine species richness and community structure of the algal and invertebrate groups in the Western Ghats with northern temperate regions, to see if approaches to water quality monitoring developed in temperate regions can be applied to systems in the tropics. This will be followed by search for indicator species that can help in conservation and preservation of oligotrophic water systems in the region. The project is funded by National Geography â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Committee for Research and Exploration and is slated to commence from Aug 2013.

Bicycle Friendly Streets in Jayanagar, Bangalore Having dedicated bicycle lanes in Bangalore has been talked for some time now. For a variety of reasons this did not see any light all these days. However, in the recent past, with the arduous efforts of the Ride-A-Cycle Foundation (RAC-F), the Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT), Urban Development Department, Government of Karnataka this is taking shape. To start with, it was thought to explore some workable measures by means of identifying Bicycle Friendly Streets in certain localities of Bangalore. As a pilot initiative, it was thought best to identify these networks in Jayanagar, Bangalore. At the instance of DULT, Gubbi Labs prepared a report for Evolving Bicycle Friendly Street Network in Jayanagar, Bangalore. The primary goal of this initiative would be to: Create bicycle friendly streets in certain localities of Bangalore in a phased manner to encourage cycling as a mode of safe, convenient and sustainable mode of urban transport. Gubbi Labs undertook the study and planned bicycle friendly streets in Jayanagar identifying the key measures and interventions required along side. The report was submitted to the Government in January 2011. Beginning March 2011, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) accepted the report and initiated the works for creating the first-ever bicycle Gubbi Labs LLP

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friendly street network in Jayanagar based on our proposal. The project on its completion was formally inaugurated by the Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Home and Transport, Government of Karnataka Mr. R. Ashoka on 22nd September, 2012 along with Mr. Vijay Kumar, MLA, Jayanagar Assembly Constituency and Mr. D. Venkatesha Murthy, Worshipful Mayor of Bangalore.

Bicycle Trailer | BT 1.0 During the run-up to the introduction of Namma Cycle, the public bicycle sharing system at IISc campus, a need was felt to transport bicycles from one node to other so as to balance the supply at other stations. To this end, Gubbi Labs designed, developed and got a bicycle trailer fabricated at Gubbi. The trailer can carry 5 bicycles at once. Field testing and usage is on at IISc campus. Bicycle trailer (BT 1.0) designed by Gubbi Labs for Namma Cycle program for Indian Institute of Science.

Conserving the Kavals of Karnataka The Deccan Plateau is blanketed by arid plains dominated by scrub jungles and dry grasslands. These plains do harbour a variety of biodiversity, culture and associated traditional knowledge. These grazing lands are colloquially called as Kavals. Kavals are known to be inhabited by rare and endangered species such as blackbuck, wolves, Indian fox, leopards and several species of rare birds including Indian Courser. Recognising the richness of biodiversity, in 2011 the Karnataka State Government declared one of the Kavals as â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;conservation reserveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Today, these Kavals are spread over an estimated 65,925 acres in 62 villages of six districts Tumkur, Hassan, Chitradurga, Chikmagalur, Shimoga and Mandya.

Traditionally, these have been key centres for breeding livestock and support local livelihoods. In spite of this cultural and ecological importance, these arid plains, especially grasslands with sparse woody vegetation, are increasingly being termed as wastelands. Thus, they are also prone to land-use changes and unscientific management that can have adverse effects on biodiversity and the livelihoods of people depending on it. Information on extent of these Kavals, their ecology and history are sparse. Gubbi Labs LLP

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The current effort is to create a repository of information on ground realities and traditional knowledge using scientific methods. This knowledgebase comprising maps and data will be made available to civil society groups and other stakeholders working towards preservation of Kavals which will serve to strengthen efforts for sound policies. Gubbi Labs is working with Jahnavi Pai and Maithreya Parisara mathu Grameena Seva Trust, an NGO based in Tiptur, Tumkur District of Karnataka that has worked extensively towards biodiversity conservation of the Kavals at the grassroots-level.

Conserving Threatened Anurans in Myristica Swamps of Central Western Ghats Western Ghats, one of the global biodiversity hotspots show a high endemicity towards amphibians. Among the three orders: Anura, Caudata and Gymnophiona; Anura is widespread and of the 157 species found in Western Ghats, nearly 30 % are threatened and few are critically endangered. They are found in terrestrial, aquatic and arboreal ecosystems and reside in various habitats like forests, plantations, shrub-lands as well as lentic or lotic aquatic habitats. One such ecosystem is the Myristica swamps, a unique and relictual ecosystem of Western Ghats. These swamps harbour many endangered and endemic anurans. The swamps once formed a long network across Western Ghats but now are fragmented due to agriculture, logging and hydroelectric projects. Conservation of these swamps and anurans residing in them is of utmost priority and forms the major goal of the study. The project mainly focuses on stream dwelling anurans which are very vulnerable to any change in swamp conditions. Overall the study will look into the impacts of changing climate and habitat fragmentation on the stream dwelling of Myristica swamps by using ecological methods, GIS and remote sensing tools and bioacoustics. The project also aims to highlight the importance of conserving the swamps and stream dwelling frogs and toads to local people and school children and as a part of knowledge dissemination, posters/flyers, educational programs and video documentaries will be developed for better conservation.

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Journey so far, the first three years.

Crop Area Estimation using Remote Sensing The Labs undertook applied research for an international organic certification agency on Crop Area Estimation using Satellite Remote Sensing Data. The Labs was involved in development of algorithms and methods for estimating the growth and areal extent for particular varieties of crop. Further, with the availability of Landsat ETM+ satellite data at a spatial resolution of 30 m for no charge since Oct 2008 has opened up access to unlimited and consistent data feeds. Despite the anomaly in the data products due to the Scan Line Corrector's (SLC) failure, the Labs has already developed expertise in rectifying the SLC-off Landsat ETM+ satellite data products. The agency was provided with estimates of crop yield of two crop types spanning across about 15 districts of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh states. The research employed satellite remote sensing data (Landsat ETM+ and MODIS) available from NASA and developed algorithms for classification of remote sensing data.

Currently, the Labs is involved in characterizing spectral signatures from different multi-spectral satellite data to distinguish popular crops in Tumkur district, Karnataka. With this, it is aimed to periodically release information on extent and nature of vegetation in the region.

Ecological Explorations Ecological explorations primarily aim to map flora and fauna in both protected and non-protected areas. Mapping the flora and fauna in and around fields, gardens etc. is undertaken to emphasize about their importance and evolve conservation strategies involving the local communities around and create awareness amongst them. In certain regions, detailed investigations on anuran amphibians, their call patterns, ecology and others are undertaken. Explorations under this project have led to discovery of new species of amphibians. A new species of the shrub frog genus Raorchestes is described as Raorchestes kakachi sp. nov. from Agastyamalai Gubbi Labs LLP

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hill region in the southern Western Ghats, India. The small sized Raorchestes (male: 24.7–25.8 mm, n = 3 and female: 24.3–34.1 mm, n = 3) is distinguished from all other known congeners by the following suite of characters. Snout oval in dorsal view; tympanum indistinct; head wider than long; moderate webbing in feet; colour on dorsum varying from ivory to brown, blotches of dark brown on flanks, brown mottling on throat reducing towards vent; inner and outer surface of thigh, inner surface of shank and inner surface of tarsus with a distinct dark brown horizontal band which extends up to first three toes on upper surface. A detailed description, advertisement call features, ecology, natural history notes and comparison with closely related species are provided for the new species. Some of the key projects envisaged under this are:  Mapping anuran amphibians of Karnataka: Karnataka harbours about 90 species of anurans. Much is known from the Western Ghats region, while for the rest of the Karnataka, there is no documentation. The present work is a photo documentation and mapping of anurans in both protected and non-protected areas in Karnataka with the support of Karnataka State Forest Department. 

Effects of different types of sounds on plants: How does it affect the growth and well-being of plants? An experimental study.

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Mapping the call patterns of Anurans of Karnataka: How to recognize and identify Frogs through their sounds. Acoustic methods to identify frogs based on their calls.

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Study of ecology and distribution of Anuran tadpoles of Western Ghats.

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Modelling stream dwelling frogs of Myristica swamps threatened with fragmentation using Agent based models.

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Information transfer and eye design in ants.

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Role of invasive species in structuring/destructing ant communities.

Recently, Gubbi Labs team participated in the biodiversity exploration survey at BRT Tiger Reserve along with scientists from IISc and ATREE during August and October 2012.

Frog Find – an android app for identifying frogs in the field "Frog Find" is an android app that helps to identify frogs and toads of the Western Ghats. This is based on our popular publication, 'Pictorial Guide to Frogs and Toads of the Western Ghats' by Dr. K. V. Gururaja published last year. One can use this app to venture in the field and use this interactive app on their mobile phone. It facilitates easy identification of frogs in the field using this standalone app. The app provides information on 55 species of frogs and toads from the Western Ghats, which is about a third of currently known species from the Western Ghats. Gubbi Labs LLP

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The app is now available on Google Play Store: http://goo.gl/CeXG1

Geospatial Database for a Protected Area Gubbi Labs completed its first consulting assignment that involved the creation of geospatial database for a protected area. It was undertaken in two stages. In the first stage, the base layers were created by obtaining data from standard sources. In the second stage, thematic layers depicting the different jurisdictions within the protected area, terrain, major transportation networks, major human settlements, key landmarks and land cover were generated. Several layers were additionally generated depicting the Ranges, Beat, Terrain, Drainage, Antipoaching camps and patrol routes. Some geospatial data prepared by the Karnataka State Remote Sensing and Applications Centre (KSRSAC) were made available by the Karnataka Forest Department. These were further collated along with the Survey of India toposheets at 1:50000 scale to validate the various locations, boundaries and Gubbi Labs LLP

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other landscape features. The maps were rectified and composed using open-source geospatial software like Quantum GIS. The maps were finalized in close coordination with the Assistant Conservator of Forests and Range Forest Officers of the Bhadra Wildlife Division, Karnataka Forest Department.

Geovisualization of Public Health System Data Recently, Gubbi Labs has started working with the Institute of Public Health (IPH), Bangalore in a joint work on Geovisualization of Public Health System data for Tumkur district of Karnataka. The Labs, with its expertise on a few free and open source tools, is harnessing its potential in presenting intuitive visualization and analytics. This is a web-based geo-interface that aims to present various spatial and temporal datasets of health related indicators across different public health centres in Tumkur district. The beta-site http://health.gubbilabs.in is under development.

Introduction of Bus-based Public Transport System in Tumkur and Hassan cities, Karnataka

Gubbi Labs worked with the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) to plan for introducing bus-based public transport system in tier-II cities of Karnataka. To start with, Tumkur and Hassan were studied and the Labs provided detailed reports for their introduction. The services were introduced during February 2011 and March 2011 respectively at Tumkur and Hassan. Gubbi Labs also provided on-site training and orientation to the KSRTC staff especially in catering to changing paradigms of urban transport system as against long-distance inter-city services. KSRTC bagged “Award for Excellence -2011” for providing Sustainable Mobility for Medium and Small towns such as Tumkur and Hassan, Karnataka under the category of ‘Best Practice in Urban Transport for inclusive Development’ by the Ministry of Urban Development, Govt. of India during 4th Annual Urban Mobility Conference held during December 2011.

Land-use Land Cover Change Analysis for Urban Areas Gubbi Labs undertook Land-use and Land Cover Analysis for the top 200 cities for the 1991, 2001, and 2010-11 time periods coinciding with the Census data collection years. This was undertaken at the instance of Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) as part of their Urbanization Atlas project. This was a massive effort that involved processing of raw satellite remote sensing data for almost 600 scenes. IIHS is in final stages in bringing out the Atlas of Indian Urbanization based on this dataset. Gubbi Labs LLP

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Mixed Media for Community Development Gubbi Labs is exploring the utility and application of Information and Communication Technologies through Mixed Media for fostering community development. One such initiative is Radio Gubbi, a community radio station to be set up at Gubbi pending regulatory approvals. An online version has already been setup. Members of Gubbi Labs also volunteer with India Literacy Project (ILP), a developmental support organization that works in partnership with local Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and networks in India to play the role of a catalyst for literacy. ILP has established one of its Multi-Dimensional Learning Space (MDLS) with support from Gubbi Labs that is working with high school students of Government High Schools in Gubbi.

Namma Cycle – a community bicycle sharing system Namma Cycle is a community bicycle sharing system. The name is inspired from ‘namma’, which means ‘ours’ in Kannada, and signifies the concept of shared ownership. Bicycle sharing is an efficient system of using a common pool of bicycles to meet short commuting needs. A pilot initiative at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore was launched on 6th August 2012. This has been started with 150 cycles sponsored by TI Cycles India, part of the Muruguppan Group based out of Chennai, and 4 bicycle station racks sponsored by BCIL, a biodiversity company based in Bangalore will soon be expanded to include more bicycles, stations and a wider area. Gubbi Labs is one of the key partners in this endeavour. Other partners in this initiative are Imagine Bangalore; EMBARQ India, a non-profit that helps implement sustainable urban mobility solutions; and CiSTUP, a centre of advanced research and training in transportation engineering. Gubbi Labs LLP

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Gubbi Labs has built the software for the system, which will soon be free and open source to make it easily replicable for similar programs around the country. Users pay a nominal charge as per pricing scheme that best suits them and use the shared bicycles whenever they want to make short trips. The project works on a simple Sign-Up, Select, Ride and Return system where students can sign-up via the website and get a registration ID, select a cycle from any of the station racks, ride the cycle to their destination and return it to the nearest station. Based on the success of the pilot, the project will be expanded to a 2 km radius around the campus to students and faculty living in the area. This then has the potential to grow into a wider network, which would involve greater partnerships with the local municipal authorities to improve road infrastructure for cyclists. Please visit http://www.nammacycle.in for more details and regular updates.

Parking Policy for 9 Tier-II Cities in Karnataka Gubbi Labs in association with M/s Craphts Consultants (I) Pvt. Ltd. prepared Parking Policy for 9 Tier-II Cities in Karnataka (i.e. Mysore, Mangalore, Hubli-Dharwad, Belgaum, Gulbarga, Bellary, Bijapur, Tumkur and Davanagere) for DULT. The parking policy was evolved after extensive stakeholder consultations in all the 9 cities and parking surveys conducted during 2010-11. The overarching principle of the parking policy is to facilitate a comprehensive route map towards economic, efficient and socially acceptable parking policy for each of the above mentioned cities that could effectively ensure adequate facilities for the present without jeopardizing the prospects of the future. The policy has been accepted in-principle by the Government of Karnataka which recommends some innovative mechanisms to confront on-street parking challenges in the tierâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;II cities of Karnataka in tune with the National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP, 2006).

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Pre-feasibility study for establishing a biomass-based power plant for a capacity of 2 MWe at Gubbi In a study by the Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited (a Govt. of Karnataka entity), it has estimated that Gubbi taluk has a biomass potential for generating power through gasification of at least 2 MWe. It is important to recognize that Gubbi taluk has the highest acreage under coconut plantation in the district and perhaps across all taluks of Karnataka. Thus, the availability of coconut husk and other biomass in and around Gubbi is being explored for design and development of such a gasifier. Currently, Gubbi Labs is assessing the biomass availability through using satellite remote sensing data and geospatial analysis for evaluating the seasonal variations and arriving optimal sites for the location of decentralized biomass powered plants within the taluk. During 2013-14, appropriate scale of gasifier will be designed and tested at Gubbi Labs’ Eco-station.

SimRiver – DiatomProject Environmental pollution and its management stand pose significant challenge to conservation scientists and administrators in developing countries. Water pollution proves to pose severe impact on health of ecosystems as well as economy of the region; further more it is also very tricky to handle! Water pollution is caused by multiple factors ranging from natural floods to human induced destructions primarily due to poor water management and that can lead to loss in Biodiversity. Since the last few decades, concern on water issues has increased but this lacks appropriate awareness and proper management goals. Environmental education initiation for school children and awareness among common people plays an important role in prevention of pollution and promotes restoration practices to bring back pristine environment. Across the globe, mainly in developing countries there are many environmental education programs developed and implemented in school and college curriculum. In this context, "SimRiver" - part of the DiatomProject is one such attempt in this direction. “SimRiver” is a free web-based software application developed by Dr. Shigeki Mayama of Tokyo Gakugei University mainly to educate common people and students to understand the relationship between human activity and its impacts on river pollution. SimRiver was originally developed for use in Japanese middle and high school science classrooms. Recently, the developers of SimRiver collaborated with diatom researchers across continents and brought this program in multi-lingual format, which is termed as “DiatomProject”. This project is a free online application as well as it can be downloaded on any computer and works without Internet connection as well. SimRiver allows the user to learn by creating a watershed from the origin of river to its mouth. Further, the user can configure the kind of land use in the catchment area such as forests, agriculture and urban settlements as well as one can control the efforts to restore degraded river water quality like construction and operation of a sewage treatment plant. The type of land use will help to create a set of diatom species and its identification using online key identification pages. Based on the watershed characters and conservation efforts river water quality is determined, so as the diatoms which live in the river. This enables users to study and understand the relationship between human activity, river environments and diatoms. This web based tool helps to understand the impact of pollution on river ecosystems. As alterations in river environments usually take place over an extended period of time, it can be difficult for students to understand the actual process of environmental change within short-term Gubbi Labs LLP

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classroom settings. On the contrary, Diatom study requires on site observation prior to in depth analysis under microscope. In SimRiver, simulated environment is developed so as to make students create and learn about both environment and its impact on biodiversity of a region. Therefore, students tend to accept information regarding environmental degradation of rivers as mere knowledge, with a lack of meaningful context. As experience-based exercises are often most effective in science learning, we developed SimRiver, a software simulation package. In this program, land use, population, the presence of sewage treatment plants, and the seasons can be manipulated, allowing students to create a variety of river environments. Students can evaluate the impact of environmental manipulation through the use of computer-generated diatom communities reflecting the water quality in electronic river systems (Katoh et al., 2004; Mayama, 2006). Students utilizing the SimRiver package can therefore better understand the relationships between human activity, river water quality, and diatom communities. The software allows students to learn more about tolerant and sensitive species and based on this classify saprobic status i.e., organic pollution in rivers and streams. In this program, students are assessed before and after use of SimRiver simulation so that effective teaching is communicated. Thus SimRiver outcome helps to understand the change in water quality over time and the cause of pollution through human activities. SimRiver software also launches â&#x20AC;&#x153;Diatoms videosâ&#x20AC;? which is available in three parts and can be viewed on the website or can also be downloaded (zip archive) here http://diatom.gubbilabs.in/root/en/video/index.html

The part 1 video gives an introduction about diatoms, its distribution and variety of beautiful silica structure. Students can also learn about diatom collection at different river sites and preservation methods. Part 2 shows preparation of diatom permanent slide while part 3 elaborates about how to observe diatoms under microscope. These videos were used in classes in Japan for junior high to graduate school students, the reports gave positive results. Thus SimRiver was developed further in many languages like French, Deutsch, Chinese, Indonesia and so on. Recently it was developed in Kannada, Tamil and Marathi representing Indian languages by Gubbi Labs. The primary goal of this project in India was to teach school and college students about intensively increasing river pollution and to monitor using diatoms, the tiny microscopic life forms. Alike in Japan, SimRiver was used in several schools in and around Bangalore as well as ATREEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s environmental educational program for school Gubbi Labs LLP

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kids using both in English and Kannada language; Training workshop on Bio-monitoring of Wetlands at Indian Institute of Science covering all 3 Indian languages. Masters and Bachelors of Science student of Environmental Science department at Kolhapur University, Maharashtra, also used Marathi version of SimRiver. The outcome of all these organized programs showed a constructive result where students view about river pollution and microscopic organisms was refined after the course. The successful development of SimRiver-The Diatom project software was recognized as “The best e-learning educational software” at 8th International Japan award in 2011. At present Gubbi labs has been involved in development of software in other Indian languages such as Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali and Hindi and also producing videos in regional languages. The main objective is to spread awareness about environment particularly knowledge about river water pollution and biodiversity loss among school kids and college students using diatoms as teaching tools.

Currently Gubbi Labs is conducting DiatomProject- SimRiver courses at schools and college in and around Bangalore, Tumkur and Mysore districts of Karnataka, parts of Tamil Nadu and at Shivaji University, Kolhapur of Maharashtra to start with and willing to spread in every region. The software is available here in 3 Indian languages and in English: 

Kannada - http://diatom.gubbilabs.in/root/kannada/index.html

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Marathi - http://diatom.gubbilabs.in/root/marathi/index.html

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Tamil - http://diatom.gubbilabs.in/root/tamil/index.html

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English - http://diatom.gubbilabs.in/root/index.html

Solar power at neighbourhood scales Though research on solar PV materials to make it efficient and energy storage devices are yet to mature, there are challenges in operationalizing and building small scale integrated solar powered systems for domestic and other purposes that are affordable and cost effective. Research and development at Gubbi Labs is addressing these by developing prototypes for domestic utilities and currently testing their effectiveness for storage (12 V batteries with varied ratings: 5 Ah to 150 Ah). One Gubbi Labs LLP

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of the main challenges in propagation of solar powered systems is its cost, and hence Gubbi Labs is working in evaluating optimal design and configuration at neighbourhood scale instead of individual household levels or higher scales that connect to the grid. In the pilot phase, Gubbi Labs will test and implement this in a village near Gubbi by 2014-15 before scaling this in Gubbi town eventually.

Solar powered mobile charger | SPMC 1.0

The increase in mobile phones and their connectivity across the nation has enhanced their usage as well. Alongside, mobile phone handsets require power source to charge its battery and is prone to discharge especially over extended duration of usage (depending on the mobile handset battery capacity). Finding a power source to charge mobile phones in public spaces like terminals are not common. Besides, there is not much incentive for the service provider / utility operator to make provisions for these. However, Gubbi Labs envisions this as an opportunity to propagate clean energy and install solar powered mobile chargers at key public spaces like: bus stations, railway stations, banks and certain government offices. Gubbi Labs is working to obtain advertising rights to display advertisements and sustain the costs with installation and operations of the mobile charger and also spread the message of clean energy to the general public.

Spatial Planning Support Systems for Towns and Cities With the numerous developments in geo-information technologies and spatial analysis, a new domain of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;spatial planning support systemsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; is gradually emerging. Mostly, geo-spatial simulations or geo-simulation technologies are driving the emergence of spatial planning support systems. This involves spatial analyses, advanced modelling and simulations of urban growth (including land-use, transportation, energy, etc.). A dedicated urban modelling platform that will enable decision-making by engaging stakeholders and building support for long-term strategic plans is being developed. Further, most planning support systems allow analysis, evaluation and visualisation only on standalone systems, wherein each stakeholder has to choose / decide the options on same system / platform. This would suggest that all stakeholders have to meet physically to evaluate and decide. Moreover, such initiatives are not normal and very difficult to moderate. In this context, it becomes necessary for a parallel and distributed simulation framework to support planning support system so that all stakeholders and administrators are able to interact, organise, plan, evaluate and decide through a network. Then the challenges are twofold: initially to integrate different models that are required to carry out the simulations, and then to synchronise the model inputs, feedbacks and outputs over Gubbi Labs LLP

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space and time. Design of planning support system with participatory simulation framework will largely contribute to its ready usage in urban planning and decision-making process. Such a system will facilitate participatory and collaborative planning and decision-making true to the spirit of 74th Constitutional Amendment Act of the national parliament.

Stream scape ecology and conservation in fragmented landscape in central Western Ghats using diatoms and amphibians and systems approach Catchments in Western Ghats are heavily altered by humans for a variety of reasons ranging from agricultural practices to large scale developmental activities. The traditional physico-chemical measurements used in water quality monitoring programs are an important guide to environmental change. However, they are only representative of short-term conditions found at the instant of sampling and do not provide information about the effects of these changes on biological communities. Proposed study will look at stream diatoms and amphibian assemblages in agricultural dominated landscape in central Western Ghats. Remote sensing data combined with fragmentation analysis will be used to demarcate agriculture dominated landscapes. This study will initiate and coordinate the integration of data from multiple sites on stream ecosystem responses to non point source pollution from agricultural activities based on two unique bio-indicators. This study will also synthesize these data with a quantitative evaluation of functional responses at the microbial, primary producer, consumer and whole-stream levels. Finally, the study will develop an integrated system dynamics and agent-based model capturing the dynamics that can explain the ongoing processes and provide insights and entry points for conservation. On the outreach aspects, this study proposes to conduct workshops at schools and colleges on nonpoint source pollution and its impact in loss of biodiversity.

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Tank Ecosystems: Developing an Integrated Methodology for Evaluating the Health and Enhancing the Sustainability of Human-made Wetland Ecosystems According to the Ramsar convention, wetlands are transitional areas between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems where the water table is usually at or near the surface, or the land is covered under shallow water. They are the most productive ecosystems, recognized globally for its vital role in sustaining a wide array of biodiversity by providing a multitude of services like water purification, regulation of flows, food in the form of fishes and fodder, energy, habitats for plants, animals and microorganisms, climate stabilization opportunities for recreation and tourism. However despite their important role in maintaining the ecology and economy wetlands in India are endangered by inattention and lack of appreciation for their role. Increased anthropogenic activities caused due to urbanization such as intense agriculture practices, encroachment of wetland catchment, indiscriminate disposal of industrial effluents and sewage wastes have altered the physical and chemical variables as well as the biological integrity of the ecosystem.

The catchment of a water body is the area over which water, and hence diffuse pollutants, will travel (both by overland and subsurface movement) to enter the water body. Organic and inorganic pollutants from agricultural, industrial effluents and sewage run-off into wetlands mainly impacts upon the physico-chemical parameters like pH, temperature, electric conductivity, salinity, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, redox potential, free CO2, biological oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, phosphates, nitrates, ammonia, alkalinity, chlorides, hardness, sodium, potassium and so on. Chemical composition like forms and concentrations of nutrients are also the cause and consequences of the existing conditions. Thus the change in physico- chemical variables is the characteristics of eutrophication and changes to sediment composition in a water body. Many of these pollutants diffuse in nature, reach water bodies, groundwater and make such pollutants difficult to control and mitigate. The biotic components in the wetlands are directly and indirectly affected by the pollutants resulting in toxicity, biomagnification and bioaccumulation, which raise severe health concerns. The pollutants and subsequent contamination of the wetland shows effects such as disappearance of native species, dominance of invasive exotic species, in addition to profuse breeding of disease vectors and pathogens. The intense eutrophication has been recognised by change in primary producers i.e., algae. Due to increased nutrient load such as nitrates and phosphates, the tolerant species group increases and they reflect the pollution status of the water body. The quality of the region's water resources is directly linked to the quality of the watershed surrounding these waters, which will influence the character and hydrological regime of the ecosystems. These impact the quality of ecosystem services significantly. Although natural ecosystems perform many services and are potentially very valuable, these values of wetland is poorly understood and often ignored resulting in the degradation of ecosystems. This project aims in determining the health of a riverine wetland ecosystem by assessing the physico-chemical parameters, which affects Gubbi Labs LLP

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the goods and services of the ecosystem. The study also focuses on the impacts of fertilizers, pesticides and ill effects like toxicity, bio-magnification and bioaccumulation of various pollutants in fishes and hence human health issues.

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Training Courses and Workshops

Journey so far, the first three years.

Gubbi Labs offers specialized training from time-to-time based on specific user requirements. There are also possibilities to design a tailor-made training sessions or organize focused workshops based on need and requirements. In pursuance with this, Gubbi Labs is offering the following courses: 

Mapping Essentials

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Research and Statistics Essentials

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Exploring Natural History (a hybrid 1-day field course on natural history and photography) at Gubbi Labs’ Eco-station, Gubbi

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Agent-based Modelling for Studying Social and Ecological Systems

Mapping Essentials Mapping Essentials is an intense 2-day program for students and professionals alike. This program aims to equip the participants with essentials of mapping, offering insights and hands-on exposure to working with various free-and-open-source mapping applications. The program equip learners to appreciate the key concepts, enabling them to quickly learn, test and apply the techniques in their respective domains and eventually be able to produce maps for their own needs.

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Research and Statistics Essentials Research and Statistics Essentials is an intense 3-day program primarily for researchers who are pursuing their Master's or Doctoral degrees and professionals alike. The course is framed in such a way as to guide both early career researchers and researchers submitting their thesis. The first part of the programme deals with research essentials, aims to enable participants with fundamentals of research and ways to go about carrying out independent research. It will go through aspects of defining the research; literature review; framing the objectives and questions; hypothesis testing, overview of statistical methods and analytical techniques; and conclude with writing and presentation skills. The second part deals with statistics essentials, covering topics on nature of data and data types (parametric and non-parametric); descriptive statistics (describing, exploring and comparing data, graphical representation); distributions; working with R software, inferential statistics; hypothesis testing (t-tests, F-test, etc.) and interpretation of statistical output. The course will provide hands-on exposure to some of the tools like Freemind and Mendeley for research essentials and R for statistics essentials.

Exploring Natural History Exploring Natural History is a one-day field based workshop on Natural History and Photography. The aim of the workshop is to enable participants to identify and appreciate common life forms like plants, trees and animals in their environment. The workshop facilitates participants to understand the different aspects of biodiversity around us. This will be followed by an interactive session moderated by experts to discuss ways and means of contributing to initiatives on biodiversity and conservation. As an added benefit, the workshop will introduce the audience to the basic principles of appreciating biodiversity through photography. Participants will learn tips and precautions to be followed while using photography as a tool to experience biodiversity.

Amphibian Workshop at Bisle A Frog workshop for two days 25th and 26th August 2012 was conducted at Bisle Ghat for 20 enthusiastic participants including non-academics. Bisle is located near Sakleshpur of Hassan district, Karnataka that is part of the Central Western Ghats. The workshop had field visits, hands on training, lectures and interactive sessions.

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Past courses / workshops 

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Conducted sessions on Planning Sustainable Cities: Issues in City Planning at India Centre in Bangalore for the second year (fourth semester) students of Global College, Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus in New York during February 2010, February 2011 and January, 2012. Conducted sessions during the Training Program to impart Training in GIS Methods for Faunal Surveys at the Western Ghats Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Kozhikode, Kerala during 17th – 18th March 2010.

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One-day Workshop on Science Research Methodology and Report Writing for faculty of Mount Carmel College, Bangalore on 15th June 2010.

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Two day Amphibian Workshop at Bisle on 25th-26th August 2012.

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Mapping Essentials was held on 9th - 10th August 2012: This was offered jointly with National Institute for Advanced Studies (NIAS) at IISc Campus, Bangalore.

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Research Essentials was held on 27th October 2012.

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Research and Statistics Essentials was held during 14th – 16th December 2012 at Bangalore.

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Exploring Natural History was held on 22nd December 2012 at Gubbi Labs’ Eco-station, Gubbi, Karnataka.

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Mapping Essentials (Jan 2013)

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Agent-based Modelling for Studying Social and Ecological Systems was held on 13th – 14th February at Bangalore.

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Research and Statistics Essentials was held during 29th – 31st March 2013 at Bangalore.

Future courses Gubbi Labs has planned and published the calendar of short-courses offered during this calendar year on its website here: http://courses.gubbilabs.in/academics. The forthcoming courses for the year are:  Mapping Essentials (June and October 2013) 

Mapping: Beyond Essentials (September 2013)

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Research and Statistics Essentials (July and November 2013)

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Agent-based Modelling for Studying Social and Ecological Systems (August 2013)

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Exploring Natural History

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Experiencing Sustainability (one-day experiential learning based course at Gubbi Labs Ecostation, Gubbi) [Starting in August 2013]

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Publications

Journey so far, the first three years.

Books Pictorial Guide to Frogs and Toads of the Western Ghats The â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Pictorial guide to frogs and toads of the Western Ghatsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; is designed to help students, researchers, forest managers, photographers and general public in identifying a species in the field along with its status, ecology and distribution. Simultaneously it also aims at bringing awareness about amphibians among general public. A field guide on amphibians is an essential companion, if one is interested in frogs and toads. Although there are couple of field guides, simple field guides on frogs and toads are lacking, in addition to the taxonomic changes happened in last few years. This book covers 73 species of 156 frogs and toads recorded from the Western Ghats as of date. The guide is structured on the basis of habitats of a species namely terrestrial (including burrowing), semi aquatic/terrestrial, aquatic and arboreal. All these habitats are colour coded. In each habitat, species are arranged alphabetically. Ecological status of species and endemism are also colour coded. Pictograms for activity pattern, group size, and relative size are given for quick reference. Distribution maps and habitat photographs provide valuable information on species locality. Quality photographs with key features on them and minimal text explaining them would definitely make the identification easier and better. This book is funded through ATREEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Small Grants Programme.

Book release event at Gubbi on 29th April 2012.

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Journey so far, the first three years.

On A Trail with Ants: A Handbook of the Ants of Peninsular India The book of ants, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;On A Trail With Ants: A Handbook of the Ants of Peninsular Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; by Ajay Narendra and Sunil Kumar published in 2006 is now part of Gubbi Labs publications. This book is a primer to the life of ants, introducing the reader to the ants of Peninsular India. Over 125 ant species are known from Bangalore and over 670 from India. The book sets a trend in ant studies by enabling the reader to observe and identify ants at home and elsewhere, in a nonintrusive manner. It is suitable for a varied audience, from students, naturalists, entomologists to photographers. The book was published by Ajay Narendra and Sunil Kumar M. in 2006 and during 2012, the authors generously agreed to bring this under Gubbi Labs publications.

An Illustrated Guide to Common Diatoms of Peninsular India This is the first book from India, which illustrates most common diatoms species of Peninsular India authored by B. Karthick, P. B. Hamilton and J. P. Kociolek. This book illustrates nearly 175 species with Light and Scanning Electron Microscopic images. This book will also provide introduction to diatoms and its taxonomy, along with protocols for collection and enumeration of diatoms from some of the common habitats. The book is slated for release in 2013. This is also funded by the ATREE Small Grants Programme.

Research output As a research collective, publication in peer-reviewed journals is of paramount importance. Gubbi Labs is committed to publishing high quality research in leading national and international journals. As it stands the cumulative list of publications by core team at Gubbi Labs has an H-index of 9 based on Google Scholar. A snapshot of the Google Scholar profile page related web link is provided below.

Category-wise Books and Journal Articles Research Reports Conference Papers Posters Popular articles / Opinions Total

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Source: http://scholar.google.co.in/citations?hl=en&user=GQ1RiYIAAAAJ

Books and Journal Articles 1. Harini Nagendra, Sudhira H. S., Madhusudan Katti, and Maria Schewenius, 2013. India: Effects of urbanization on land use, biodiversity and ecosystems. In: Global Urbanization, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services – Challenges and Opportunities, Chapter 4.2, Cities and Biodiversity Outlook (CBO) - Scientific Analysis and Assessment, United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). In press. 2. Sudhira H. S. and Harini Nagendra, 2013. Graying and Greening in Bangalore – Impacts of Urbanization on Ecosystems, Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity. In: Global Urbanization, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services – Challenges and Opportunities, Chapter 4.3, Cities and Biodiversity Outlook (CBO) - Scientific Analysis and Assessment, United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). In press. 3. Karthick B., Hamilton P.B. and Kociolek J.P. (In Press) Illustrated Guide on Common Freshwater Diatoms of Western Ghats. Gubbi Labs. ISBN: 978-81-924461-1-0 4. Karthick B., Supriya G., Alakananda B. and Kociolek J.P. (Under Review) Checklist of the Diatoms of the Indian subcontinent: biodiversity, biogeography and future research. Phytotaxa. 5. Sudhira H. S. 2013. Driving Sustainability in Medium-sized Town: Impact of dedicated bus service in Tumkur. SustainabilityNext, Vol. 1(11), pp. 11-12. 6. Verma, A., Sudhira H.S., Rathi S., King A. Robin and Dash N. 2013. Sustainable urbanization using high-speed rail (HSR) in Karnataka, India. Research in Transportation Economics Vol. 38:67-77. DOI: 10.1016/j.retrec.2012.05.013. 7. Badrinath R. and Gururaja K.V. 2012. Frogs too look for better interior designs. Current Science. 103(6), 620-621. 8. Gururaja K.V. 2012. Pictorial Guide to Frogs and Toads of the Western Ghats. Gubbi Labs. Page 154+xviii. ISBN 978-81-924461-0-3. Gubbi Labs LLP

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9. Karthick B. and Williams D.M. 2012. The International Code for Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants – a significant rewrite of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature. Current Science. 102 (4) 551-552. 10. King A. Robin, Rathi S., Sudhira H.S. 2012. An approach to regional planning in India. International Journal of System of Systems Engineering, Vol. 3(2), pp: 117-128. DOI: 10.1504/IJSSE.2012.048449 11. Priyadarshini Shetty, Shashikala Gowda, Gururaja K.V. and Sudhira H.S. 2012. Effect of landscape metrics on varied spatial extents of Bangalore, India. Asian Journal of Geoinformatics. Vol. 12(1). 12. Seshadri K.S., Gururaja K.V. and Aravind N.A., 2012. A new species of Raorchestes (Amphibia: Anura: Rhacophoridae) from mid-elevation evergreen forests of the southern Western Ghats, India. Zootaxa, 3410: 19-34. 13. Seshadri K.S., Vivek C. and Gururaja K.V. 2012. Anurans from wetlands of Puducherry, along the East Coast of India. Check List, 8(1): 023-026. 14. Sudhira H.S. and Gururaja K.V. 2012. Number Crunch in India: Is it Urban or Still Rural? Current Science, Vol. 103 (1), pp. 37-41. 15. Gururaja K.V., Preeti G., Rajashekhar K Patil and Andrew A Cunningham 2011. Dermal fungal infection in a frog from the Western Ghats, India. Current Science, 101(5): 622-623. 16. Sudhira H. S. 2011. Patterns, Process, Cause and Consequences of Urban Growth. UGEC Viewpoints, 5, pp. 30-32. 17. Ajay Narendra & Sunil Kumar M. 2006. On A Trail with Ants: A Handbook of the Ants of Peninsular India.

Research Reports 1. Sudhira H. S. and Gururaja K. V., 2013. Of House Sparrows and Human Settlements: Distribution of House Sparrows in Bangalore. Working Paper Series, Paper 1. Gubbi Labs. 2. Nagendra H., Sudhira H.S., Madhusudan Katti, Maria Tengö, Maria Schewenius. 2012. Urbanization, ecosystems and biodiversity: Assessments of India and Bangalore. Stockholm Resilience Centre. Stockholm, Sweden. http://www.cbd.int/en/subnational/partners-andinitiatives/cbo/cbo-scientific-analysis-and-assessment 3. Sudhira H. S., 2010. Crop Area Estimation using Satellite Remote Sensing. An exploratory research report to M/s IMO Control (India) Pvt. Ltd. 4. Sudhira H. S., 2010. Tumkur City Transport Service – A research proposal for evaluating the impact of introducing a dedicated city transport service for a medium-size city: Tumkur, Karnataka. Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation and Gubbi Labs.

Conference Papers 1. King A. Robin, Rathi S. and Sudhira H.S. 2011. An approach to regional planning in India. 4th Annual International Conference on Next Generation Infrastructures, Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA, 16-18 November, 2011.

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2. Sudhira H. S., 2010. Planning for Evolution of Cities. International Conference on Urbanization and Global Environmental Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA, 15-17 Oct 2010.

Posters 

Seshadri K.S. and Gururaja K.V. 2012. ‘Anuran Amphibians of Bangalore Metropolitan City’ – a poster, presented at Conference of Parties Convention on Biological Diversity XI held at Pune and Hyderabad from 1-19 October 2012. The poster provides photographs of 17 species of frogs/toads recorded from Bangalore.

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Sudhira H.S. 2010. Urban Land and Governance: An Analysis of Akrama – Sakrama and TDR as Instruments of Land Regularisation and Resettlement in Bangalore, India. International Conference on Urbanization and Global Environmental Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA, 15-17 Oct 2010.