My research lies at the interface of ecology, evolutionary theory, and conservation biology, spanning specific fields such as population ecology, quantitative genetics, theoretical ecology, community ecology, and experimental conservation biology. central theme of my work has been to explore how ecological and evolutionary dynamics influence population and community resilience.
Existing studies often fail to holistically integrate eco-evolutionary dynamics with network structure and species traits and their impact on resilience of ecological systems, particularly in systems with mixed feedback dynamics (e.g., mutualistic versus food web networks). My research aims to bridge these gaps by integrating population ecology, community ecology, and evolutionary dynamics using theoretical models, empirical datasets, and experimental and/or field approaches to explore resilience and biodiversity maintenance in ecological networks. See Baruah & Lakaemper 2024, Baruah 2022, Baruah and Wittmann 2025, and Baruah et al 2022.
In diverse ecological communities, species interact with other species in the community temporally and/or spatially. Understanding the mechanisms behind maintenance of species diversity has been one of the central goals of ecological research for decades. I am primarily interested in understanding the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms underpinning species coexistence, particuarly the role of higher-order interactions (HOIs) in species coexistence. See Singh and Baruah 2020, and Baruah et al .
Ecological networks can suddenly transition to undesirable states due to small changes in environmental conditions. Recovering from such a collapse can be difficult as restoring the original environmental conditions may be infeasible. I am particularly interested in understanding the factors that lead to undesirable transitions in communities as well as the theoretical exploration of the recoverability of complex ecological networks from a collapsed state. See Baruah and Wittmann 2024 and Patnaik and Baruah 2024.
My research is also focused on ecological forecasting, particularly in understanding the factors that impact the predictability of population declines, and using trait-based models to improve forecasting of populations and communities. See Baruah et al 2022, Baruah et al 2019 etc.