Uma Ramakrishnan wins Parker/Gentry award for work on tigers

Biodiversity ecologist Uma Ramakrishnan, a scientist at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) who is working to save the country's tigers, has become the first Indian to win the Parker/Gentry Award presented by the Field Museum.

"Uma Ramakrishnan is the first Indian to win the Parker/Gentry Award. She is currently an associate professor at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bengaluru. As a molecular ecologist, her work focuses on population genetics and the evolutionary history of mammals, including work to save India's tigers," said a statement from NCBS on Tuesday.

Every year, the Parker/Gentry Award honours an individual, team or organisation for outstanding effort in the field of conservation biology.

According to Ramakrishan, humans are the reason why tigers are reduced to occupying just seven percent of the lands over which they once roamed.

"So I believe that it is our responsibility to work on saving this species, and I also believe that conservation and landscape genetic studies will provide important insights in this endeavour," Ramakrishan said in a statement.