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Dr. Chitra Bahadur Baniya

Lecturer
Ecology and Resource Management
cbbaniya@gmail.com

Research interests:

My research question is mainly focusing on the existing patterns shown by different species along gradients. I am mainly trying to answer through multivariate means of species-environment space. More specific I am interested on:

·         Species richness and composition patterns in high alpine ecosystems in the Himalayas.

·         Old-field succession and glacier foreland succession in the Himalayas.

·         Role of lichen as a model environmental detector.

·         Plant herbivory/specifically lichens and animals.

Education:


  • M. Sc. in Botany, Central Department of Botany, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal (1994-1996). Thesis supervisor: Professor Dr. Govind Prasad Sharma Ghimire.

  • M.Phil. in Biodiversity, ecology and evolution. Quantitative Ecology and Palaeoecology Ecology Research Group (QEPERG), Biology Department, Bergen University Bergen, Norway (2002-2004). Thesis supervisors: Dr. Ole R. Vetaas, Dr. Per H. Salvessen and Dr. Torstein Solhøy.

  • PhD in species richness patterns in space and time in the Himalayan areas. Biology Department, Univerisity of Bergen, Norway (2004-2009). Supervisors: Professor Dr. Torstein Solhøy, Professor Dr. Yngvar Gauslaa and Professor Dr. Mike W. Palmer. (http://www.uib.no/info/dr_grad/2010/Baniya_ChitraBahdur.html)

 

Grant and awards:

·         Norwegian State Education Loan Fund, August 2002 -August 2008 (M Phil and PhD).

·         Fellowship of Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (RONAST), 1995, among top 5 students from the M. Sc. Botany students in class.

·         Nepal Botanical Society (NBS), 1995, award for top 3 students from class. M. Sc.

·         Fellowship from Nagao Foundation, Japan through Conservancy Nepal (Top 2 among enrolled 70 Botany sudents (1994-1996).

 

Teaching and research:

Almost 14 years teaching and research experiences.

 

M Sc students supervised:

            7 students

 

Selected publications: (recent 3)

   Chitra Bahadur Baniya (2010). Vascular and Cryptogam Richness in the World’s Highest Alpine Zone, Tibet. Mountain Research and Development, 30(3):275-281.

   Chitra Bahadur Baniya, Torstein Solhøy, Yngvar Gauslaa and Mike W. Palmer (2010). The elevation gradient of lichen species richness in Nepal. The Lichenologist, 42 (1): 83-96.

  Chitra Bahadur Baniya, Torstein Solhøy and Ole R. Vetaas (2009). Temporal changes in species diversity and composition in abandoned fields in a trans-Himalayan landscape, Nepal. Plant Ecology, 201: 383-399.