Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago

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In this interview, we sit down with Ankita Gupta as she discusses her research on how seasonal changes in wetland extent influence waterbird communities in agricultural landscapes and who has inspired her research thus far.

Ankita Gupta is a PhD candidate at the Nicholas School of the Environment and a von der Heyden Fellow 2024-2025 at the John Hope Franklin Center. Her dissertation aims to understand the role of water availability from irrigation canals in shaping the hydrology and ecological value of small wetlands in a rural agricultural setting. Centered on the wetlands of Gujarat, India, her research employs a mix of field surveys, remote sensing, GIS, and spatial modeling to understand waterbird distribution in relation to land use, water management, and agriculture.

Photos provided by Ankita Gupta.

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