In the field: an interview with Rohini Balakrishnan

Abstract

Rohini Balakrishnan is a Professor at the Indian Institute of Science, where she investigates animal communication and bioacoustics. After her undergraduate degree in Biology at Mount Carmel College, Bangalore, she completed a Master's degree in Zoology at the University of Pune, India, and a PhD in neurogenetics at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, before undertaking postdoctoral research at McGill University, Canada, and the University of Erlangen, Germany. Telling us about her research experiences in the Kudremukh National Park, India, Rohini Balakrishnan reflects on working with crickets, bushcrickets, bats and elephants, explaining how these animals communicate against loud background noise and why silent female bushcrickets are more vulnerable to bat predation than noisy males.