Mr. Jithin M. M., Development Coordinator, MSSRF successfully defended his doctoral thesis at M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai. He completed his doctoral research from the University of Madras in Biodiversity Conservation under the supervision of Dr N Anilkumar.
In his study, Mr. Jithin selected nine Rare, Endemic & Threatened (RET) species of Western Ghats with high gum, resin, oil value that are Hopea erosa, Vateria indica, Dipterocarpus indicus, Hopea parviflora, Hopea ponga, Kingiodendron pinnatum, Garcinia rubro-echinata, Garcinia travancorica and Mastixia arborea.
He examined different aspects of the RET species like distribution pattern, phenological chronology, phytochemistry, threat status assessment and ex-situ conservation of these species and he also concluded the study with some new findings on threat factors, scope of yielded chemicals, species and ecosystem based conservation strategies.