Sathyabhama Das Biju (born May, 1963) is an Indian

amphibian Amphibians are tetrapod, four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the Class (biology), class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terres ...

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animal species (biology), species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous ...

conservationist and heads the Systematics Lab at the

University of Delhi Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and is recognized as an Institute of Eminence (IoE) ...

, Department of Environmental Studies. He is dubbed as the "Frogman of India" by media for his passion for frogs and for bringing fresh fascination for Indian amphibians. In a recent interview with Sanctuary Asia, he was introduced as "one of the world's foremost

experts". In 2010, Biju in collaboration with national and international institutions launched the nationwide Lost! Amphibians of India campaign to rediscover species thought to be

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

. In 2011, Biju was the recipient of the Sanctuary Wildlife Service AwardSanctuary Asia "Wildlife Service Award" 2011 , http://www.theearthheroes.com/the-awards/2011-awards/191-sathyabhama-das-biju for his "extraordinary passion which led to the discovery of several new

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

". In 2008, the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

recognized his "extreme dedication to discover and conserve the vanishing amphibian fauna" by conferring him the Sabin Award.IUCN/ASG Sabin Award 2008
/ref> In 2006, he established the Systematics Lab at the

to bring together and train young researchers in the field of

herpetology Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians (gymnophiona)) and rept ...

. Currently, Biju is a Senior Professor at the Department of Environmental Studies University of Delhi. He is also an Associate of the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University. He served as the Head of the Department of Environmental Studies (2019–2022) and Dean of the Faculty of Science (2019–2020) at University of Delhi. In 2022, he was honoured with Kerala Sree Award, third highest civilian award given by the Kerala Government.

Early life

Sathyabhama Das Biju was born in May 1963 and was raised in rural

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

in the town of

Kadakkal Kadakkal is a historic town located in the eastern part of Kollam district, Kerala. History Kadakkal was where one of the notable movements of the Indian independence movement, the Kadakkal Riot Case, led by Franco Raghavan Pillai, took plac ...

Kollam Kollam (), also known by its former name Quilon , is an ancient seaport and city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. The city i ...

. Biju did not receive a proper formal school education. He completed his master's degree in

Botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

from

Kerala University University of Kerala, formerly the University of Travancore, is a state-run public university located in Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital of Kerala, India. It was established in 1937 by a promulgation of the Maharajah of Travancore, Chit ...

in 1987 and obtained his first PhD in Plant

Systematics Biological systematics is the study of the diversification of living forms, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees (synonyms: cladograms, phylogenetic tre ...

in 1999 from

Calicut University The University of Calicut, also known as Calicut University, is a state-run public university headquartered at Tenhipalam in Malappuram district of the state of Kerala, India. Established in 1968, it is the first university to be set up in nor ...

. During 1992 to 2003 he was a scientist at the Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute (formerly Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute) (TBGRI), and during his brief stint as a plant systematist, he published seven new plant species, resolved long-standing taxonomic and systematic problems of plants belonging to the families

Convolvulaceae Convolvulaceae (), commonly called the bindweeds or morning glories, is a family of about 60 genera and more than 1,650 species. These species are primarily herbaceous vines, but also include trees, shrubs and herbs. The tubers of several spec ...

and

Rubiaceae The Rubiaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the coffee, madder, or bedstraw family. It consists of terrestrial trees, shrubs, lianas, or herbs that are recognizable by simple, opposite leaves with interpetiolar stipules ...

, besides publishing several research articles and books on plants.Publication's Page, Systematics Lab, University of Delhi, ''Official website''
/ref>

Amphibian research

Biju became increasingly fascinated with frogs that he encountered during the several field expeditions he conducted in the Western Ghats in search of plants. To be able to fully explore the world of amphibians Biju eventually quit his research in plant science in 2000 and joined at the Amphibian Evolution Lab,

Vrije Universiteit Brussel The Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) () is a Dutch and English-speaking research university located in Brussels, Belgium.The Vrije Universiteit Brussel is one of the five universities officially recognised by the Flemish Community, Flemish gov ...

and obtained his second PhD, this time in Amphibian Systematics.Saumya Tewari, Indian Education Review, 23 March 2012
/ref> In less than a decade of his professional career as an amphibian systematist, Biju's efforts have already thrown up over 100 new species and formally described 96 new

, eight new

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

and two new families of amphibians. Remarkable among his discoveries are the entirely new and famed

purple frog The purple frog (''Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis''), Indian purple frog, or pignose frog is a frog species of the genus '' Nasikabatrachus''. It is endemic to the Western Ghats in India. Although the adult frog was formally described in Octobe ...

family Nasikabatrachidae from the Western Ghats of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, published in the journal ''Nature.'' This discovery was heralded as a once-in-a-century find because the last time a new family of amphibians was described was almost 100 years ago. His second discovery of a new

family was in 2012, the

Chikilidae Chikilidae is a family of Indian caecilians, the 10th and most recent (2012) family of caecilians (legless amphibians) to be identified, although the type species, ''Fuller's caecilian, Chikila fulleri'' (formerly ''Herpele fulleri'') was first d ...

, popularly called tailless burrowing caecilians or chikilids, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society, Series B. This discovery was called the 'discovery of the year' and 'another giant scientific discovery'. Both these discoveries of

ancient Ancient history is a time period from the History of writing, beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian language, Sumerian c ...

lineages (both the families about 140 million years old) shed significant light on the

biogeographic Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, ...

history of the Earth, particularly that of the

Gondwana Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final stages ...

, and in understanding the present-day continental distribution patterns of organisms–while the closest relatives of the purple frog lives 3,000 km across the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

in the

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, V ...

, that of the chikilids is found 7,000 km in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. Notable among his new species discoveries are India's first canopy frog ''

Raorchestes ''Raorchestes'' is a genus of frogs in the subfamily Rhacophorinae that are found in mountainous regions of South Asia, Southeast Asia, and southern China. A recent study places ''Raorchestes'' as a sister taxon of '' Pseudophilautus''. Befor ...

nerostgona''; India's smallest tetrapod '' Nyctibatrachus minimus'', a frog whose adults do not grow more than 10 mm; and ''Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis'', the famed

. A critical aspect of Biju's work has been the combination of molecular techniques with traditional approaches bringing on par with the international practice in

research. His efforts have resolved long-standing taxonomic and systematic problems and confusions in difficult amphibian groups: the bush frogs ''

Philautus ''Philautus'' is a genus of shrub frogs in the family Rhacophoridae from Asia. Some species in this genus are now considered extinct by IUCN, while others are widespread and abundant (such as the recently described ''P. abundus'', which was spec ...

'' and night frogs ''

Nyctibatrachus ''Nyctibatrachus'' is a genus of frogs endemic to the Western Ghats of southwestern India. Their common name is night frogs. Their scientific name also means "night frog", in reference to their habits and dark color. They are the only extant ...

''. In recognition of his outstanding contribution to India's modern amphibian systematics, scientists named a frog after him ''

Polypedates ''Polypedates'' is a genus of frogs in the family Rhacophoridae, the shrub frogs and Paleotropic tree frogs. They belong to subfamily Rhacophorinae. Members of this genus are collectively known as whipping frogs. They occur in eastern and sout ...

bijui''. Biju's tireless endeavor brought the Indian amphibians into global limelight. The world was taken by surprise to see a frog featured on the cover of a largely macro-economics and business magazine, ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econo ...

'', London.

Conservation career

Biju's conservation concern for the rapidly vanishing

amphibians Amphibians are four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arbore ...

, incidentally the world's most threatened

vertebrate Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () ( chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, ...

group led to the creation of two important conservation initiatives in India. The Western Ghats Network of Protected Areas of Threatened Amphibians (WNPATA),WNPATA, ''Official Website''
/ref> a network for individuals and institutions working on amphibians in the Western Ghats. In collaboration with national and international institutions and individuals, Biju launched a unique nationwide campaign called the Lost Amphibians of India (LAI) to rediscover 'lost' species that have not been sighted in life for as long as two centuries since they were originally discovered and described. The unique feature of LAI is the involvement of civil society including students, members of

NGOs A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

, and other non-amphibian specialists in conservation initiatives and has huge implications on the conservation of

. LAI has over 600 team members and has conducted about 42 field expeditions.Lost! Amphibians of India Campaign (launched November 2010), ''Official Website''
/ref>

Publications

Biju has extensively published in high

impact factor The impact factor (IF) or journal impact factor (JIF) of an academic journal is a scientometric index calculated by Clarivate that reflects the yearly mean number of citations of articles published in the last two years in a given journal, as i ...

and prestigious journals such as ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

'', ''

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

'', ''

Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society The ''Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering zoology published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Linnean Society. The editor-in-chief is Maarten Christenhusz (Linnean Society). ...

'', ''

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America'' (often abbreviated ''PNAS'' or ''PNAS USA'') is a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journal. It is the official journal of the National Academy of Sci ...

'', ''

Proceedings of the Royal Society ''Proceedings of the Royal Society'' is the main research journal of the Royal Society. The journal began in 1831 and was split into two series in 1905: * Series A: for papers in physical sciences and mathematics. * Series B: for papers in life s ...

'', and has written books on both plants and amphibians.

Awards

#Sanctuary Wildlife Service Award (2011) #

Sabin Award (2008) # Kerala Sree Award (2022)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Biju, Sathyabhama Das 20th-century Indian biologists Living people Indian herpetologists Delhi University faculty 1963 births University of Kerala alumni University of Calicut alumni Vrije Universiteit Brussel alumni Scientists from Kerala People from Kollam district Indian conservationists Activists from Kerala Kerala Sree Award Winners

Early life

Amphibian research

Conservation career

Publications

Awards

See also

References

External links