The Event 

A total of 24 talks were selected for SPEEC-Up 2017 and these were divided into two themes- Ecology and Conservation. The speed talks presented in each theme were evaluated by a panel of judges.  

	A	B
1	Participant	Talk Title
2	SESSION 1	Ecology
3	Vignesh Venkateswaran	Resource dispersion influences dispersal in fig wasp communities
4	Nikita Zachariah	Building mud castles: a perspective from brick-laying termites
5	Kruttika Phalnikar	Butterflies and their bacteria!
6	Aparna agarwal	The microbe advantage: Adaptation to a novel diet through a change in the microbiome
7	Ebi George	Individual Differences and Social Regulation of the Honey Bee Waggle Dance Activity
8	Karthik Teegalapalli	Linking tree growth rates and functional traits in savannas
9	Rittik Deb	Understanding the ecology and evolution of host-microbiome interaction
10	Harish Prakash	Foraging ecology of the lesser false vampire bat, Megaderma spasma
11	Viraj R. Torsekar	Predation risk of alternative mate finding strategies in acoustically communicating crickets
12	Manvi Sharma	Oviposition site selection response to larval predation risk in a mosquito
13	Pratibha Yadav	Breaking into a safe: Host location by exploiters in a nursery pollination mutualism
14	Priti Bangal	Finding allies: What rules govern the formation of mixed-species bird flocks?
15	Aparna Lajmi	Aridification drives evolution of terrestrial geckos in Indian subcontinent
16
17	SESSION 1	Conservation
18	Shawn Dsouza	Shifts in the butterfly communities of the Tamhini-Sudhagad Sanctuary
19	Hugo Francisco de Souza	Who let the Cerberus out? : Population estimation and morphometric description of Cerberus rynchops from its type locality in Ganjam, Odisha.
20	Aditya Shekhar Malgaonkar	Can Snow Leopards Survive in a Multi-use landscape ?
21	Trisha Gupta	Fish or Chips? Impact of a potential dietary shift on Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus) chicks
22	Sahila Kudalkar	How do microhabitats affect rodent abundance in northeastern India's forests?
23	Chetan Rao	Effects of fishing practices on sea snake assemblages of the Sindhudurg coast, Maharashtra
24	Aniruddha Marathe	Drivers of ant species richness across elevation gradients in the Eastern Himalaya (India)
25	Dincy Mariyam	Human-Wildlife Interactions around Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve
26	Ishaan Khot	Long term monitoring of pole and line tuna fishery dynamics in the Lakshadweep Islands through community-based approaches
27	Ridhi	Conflict to coexistence: Can “ecotourism” be a game changer?
28	Muralidharan Manoharakrishnan	Who endangered the olive ridley: Threats, ecology or conservation?

The Winners

Ecology: Viraj Torsekar (1st prize), Aparna Agarwal and Vignesh Venkateswaran (joint winners of the 2nd prize)
Conservation: Trisha Gupta (1st prize), Aniruddha Marathe (2nd) and Chetan Rao (3rd prize)