Since a young age, I've been fascinated by plants, wanting to know their names, how and where they grow, and how they differed from one another. With time, my fascination grew into a desire to learn more about plants, which led me to pursue a bachelor's degree in forestry from the University of Horticulture and Forestry in Himachal Pradesh, as well as M. Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in forestry from the Forest Research Institute University, Dehradun.
I had the privilege of investigating the flora and ecology of the cold-arid and Trans-Himalayan zones of Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve for my doctoral thesis. Delineation of a new biogeographic province in the Trans-Himalaya, designation of Caragana versicolor as a keystone species, flora of NDBR and discovery of few new species in one of the least explored regions of the Western Himalaya were few outcomes of the thesis.
I joined Wildlife Institute of India (WII) as a faculty in May, 2018. Prior to joining WII, I had the honour of teaching Systematic Botany and Forest Botany as a faculty at Forest Research Institute University, Dehradun and as a visiting faculty at Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy, Dehradun.
Plant ecology and field botany are the main focuses of my research. The current research includes understanding vegetation patterns, plant associations, floristic diversity assessment, ethnobotany, and the threatened medicinal plants conservation in the Western Himalaya. I enjoy photographing plants, hiking, biking and playing table tennis.
Dr. Amit Kumar
Wildlife Institute of India, Chandrabani, Dehradun 248001, India.
+91-0135-2646207, +91-9012701362
amit [at] wii [dot] gov [dot] in