Devaka Weerakoon

University of Colombo · Department of Zoology

This study assessed perceptions of the peripheral community around two protected areas (PAs) in Sri Lanka, on issues related to the Human Wildlife Conflict (HWC). The two selected PAs were the Minneriya National Park (MNP) and the Kumana National Park (KNP). A semi-structured questionnaires covering many aspects of the HWC were administered to a to...

Railways negatively impact wildlife owing to the risks of collision. In Sri Lanka, elephant-train collisions are a matter of concern as they pose risks to this 'endangered' species. The present study focused on analyzing elephant collision data for four selected railway lines of the Eastern and Northern railway network in Sri Lanka: Maho-Gal Oya, G...

This research investigates the role of private tea estates managed by Kelani Valley Plantations PLC (KVPL) in Sri Lanka's biodiversity conservation. Sri Lanka is known for its rich biodiversity but faces challenges due to habitat loss. The study analyzes data collected across 25 KVPL estates from 2017-2020 and finds a significant variety of specie...

Turtle-based tourism (TBT) is a form of eco-tourism centered on the conservation and observation of turtles in their natural habitats and conservation centers. Kosgoda is a key TBT destination due to its diverse sea turtle species and nesting sites, playing a significant role in the Sri Lankan tourism industry. This study was conducted to assess th...

Biodiversity of Sri Lanka facilitates more opportunities in ecotourism generating a significant amount of revenue. The proposed research and ecotourism model (REM) based on the unique biodiversity at Halgolla estate, Kegalle, Sri Lanka managed by Kelani Valley Plantations PLC, is a sustainable financing approach where enthusiastic researchers condu...

This paper is about the importance of biodiversity conservation in plantation agriculture, specifically in Sri Lanka's wet zone where a significant portion of land is managed by Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs). The study focuses on Kelani Valley Plantations PLC that manages 13,000 hectares of land and has national and international sustainabil...

Many Asian elephant populations inhabit fragmented human‐dominated landscapes. Human–elephant conflict (HEC) has intensified in such regions, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of people and elephants each year. Controversy between stakeholders then arises as people debate the merits of HEC mitigation approaches, stifling progress. We conducted a...

Railway ecology addresses the adverse impacts of railways on biodiversity. Train-related elephant mortality is a threat to elephant conservation and is of socio-economic significance. We investigated correlates of elephant-train collisions in Sri Lanka, assessing specific landscape and railway-related features along four selected railway lines: Mah...

Preliminary molecular phylogeographical analysis of the endemic freshwater fish Belontia signata (Anabantoiformes: Belontiinae) in three river basins of Sri Lanka

Electric fences are widely used in human–elephant conflict mitigation. However, elephants constantly challenge and overcome fences, which is a growing concern. We studied how elephants crossed the perimeter electric fence around the Udawalawe National Park (UWNP), Sri Lanka. Using camera traps, we monitored 18 fence posts and an open gate in the fe...

Sri Lanka supports a high biodiversity and nearly one third of its mammalian fauna comprise of bats. Sri Lanka’s bats are understudied with few data available about their roosting habits, particularly in agricultural ecosystems. Here we report the findings of a preliminary survey, conducted to explore how bats use available anthropogenic structures...

Linear infrastructures (LIs) such as roads, railroads, and powerlines are expanding rapidly around the globe. While most future developments are projected to take place in tropical regions, available information on impacts of LIs is biased towards single species studies of solely road impacts in temperate regions. Therefore, we investigated impacts...

Environmental DNA (eDNA) has become a rapidly emerging technology during the last decade. Although eDNA applications are used worldwide, none of the eDNA metabarcoding studies have been conducted solely in Sri Lanka yet. Detection rate of species through DNA metabarcoding technique varies with the availability of gene sequences in reference databas...

Tributyltin (TBT) is an organotin endocrine disruptor that can be toxic to aquatic organisms when released to surface waters. A recent study reports a presence of 303 ng/L in the coastal surface waters of Sri Lanka. This is much higher than the ambient TBT levels recommended for protecting aquatic life from chronic toxic effects. This study investi...

The distribution and biogeographic patterns of Sri Lankan Odonata were reviewed using updated occurrence records. Occurrence data of 132 described species and several undescribed species were mapped in a 10x10 km grid covering the land area of Sri Lanka. Spatial distribution patterns are discussed first with respect to all Odonata, and then the Sub...

The Research Ethics Committee on Social Sciences and Humanities of theFaculty of Arts has held a panel discussion titled ‘Researching within and across disciplines’ with the aim of initiating such a dialogue among researchers representing a diverse array of disciplines. Panelists representing a wide range of disciplines from performance studies to...

Linear infrastructure (LI) has varying effects on landscapes depending on different ecosystems' sensitivity and threat levels. Economically developing tropical countries are particularly at risk from LI. Therefore, understanding a country’s current LI network and planning future developments to avoid further fragmentation and disturbance is crucial...

Aversive geofencing devices (AGDs) or animal-borne satellite-linked shock collars might become a useful tool to mitigate human-elephant conflict (HEC). AGDs have the potential to condition problem elephants to avoid human-dominated landscapes by associating mild electric shocks with preceding audio warnings given as they approach virtual boundaries...

Animal-borne aversive geofencing devices (AGDs, or satellite-linked shock collars) are commercially available and used on livestock to restrict their movement within a virtual boundary. This technology has potential application as a human-wildlife conflict mitigation tool, where problem animals might be conditioned to avoid human-dominated habitats...

Linear infrastructure (LI) has varying effects on landscapes depending on different ecosystems' sensitivity and threat levels. Economically developing tropical countries are particularly at risk from LI. Therefore, understanding a country's current LI network and planning future developments to avoid further fragmentation and disturbance is crucial...

In this study adult common and golden palm civet mandibles were analysed by geometric morphometric method. For this purpose, the materials were photographed in accordance with the procedure and analysed using computer programs. No allometric component was detected in the comparison of the mandibles. Te first principal component defined 28.657% of t...

Aversive Geofencing Devices (AGDs) are designed to emit audible warning signals followed by electric shocks when animals reach virtual fences (VFs) with the intent that animals will learn to turn away at audio warnings and thereby avoid receiving shocks. AGDs are a potentially useful tool for mitigating human-elephant conflict, but a greater unders...

This is the latest update of the National Red List assessment of the Birds of Sri Lanka. The book provides the latest Red List status of 244 birds that have breeding populations in Sri Lanka. The book also provides an overview of the taxonomy, evolutionary trends, biogeography, habitats and their status, threats to the birds and analysis of the glo...

This book provides an overview about the biodiversity of the Ampara district, the drivers that affect the biodiversity and the current trends in the biodiversity in the district.

This book provides an overview about the biodiversity of the Mannar district, the drivers that affect the biodiversity and the current trends in the biodiversity in the district.

Animals’ space requirements may vary according to life-history and social considerations. We observed 516 wild adult Asian elephants from both sexes, over 9 years, to investigate how life-history traits and social behavior influence protected-area (PA) use at Udawalawe National Park, Sri Lanka. Male PA-use, quantified in terms of average between-si...

Asian elephants are a principal cause of human-wildlife conflict. This results in the death/injury of elephants and humans and large-scale crop and property damage. Most current human-elephant conflict (HEC) mitigation tools lack the flexibility to accommodate the ecological needs of elephants and are ineffective at reducing HEC in the long-term. H...

This study aims to determine the differences in skull between Asian and golden palm civets by geometric morphometric method. The landmarks were marked on these photographs, and principal component, classical cluster and canonical variance analyses were performed. The method of geometric morphometry of the skull is a powerful tool used to differenti...

Pelecanus philippensis (Spot-billed Pelican) was once common across much of Asia, but suffered a widespread decline causing it to be listed as a threatened species in 2003. However, its population has recovered due to conservation measures resulting in it being down listed to the near threatened category in 2007. Spot-billed pelican is the only res...

Pahiyangala forest reserve is located in the Kalutara district near a small hamlet called Yatagampitiya about five km from the Bulathsinhala town. The forest fragment is better known due to Fa Hsien’s cave (more commonly referred to as the Pahiyangala cave), which is one of the largest natural caves in Asia. It is approximately 175 feet tall and ov...

The government of Sri Lanka has taken a decision to ban oil palm cultivation and replace the land that is currently used for oil palm cultivation to rubber or other environmentally friendly crops as oil palm is perceived to have a number of negative social and environmental impacts. However, a detailed analysis of the concerns raised about the impa...

Sri Lanka is a moderate sized continental island with an extent of 65610 km2 of which inland waters make up 2905 km2. Further, Sri Lanka has a maritime area of 517,000 km2 which is almost 8 times larger than its land area. Although a small island, Sri Lanka is endowed with a rich natural capital. This paper aims to present an overview of the natura...

Knowledge on social and cultural systems is essential for comprehensive understanding of ecosystem changes, monitoring biodiversity, development and implementation of resource management strategies. Social values of coastal landscapes reveal the attributes of locations and their relative importance for people. Aim of the study was to evaluate the c...

Pethia bandula (syn. Puntius bandula) is a point endemic freshwater fish restricted to a 3 km long stretch of a stream at Galapitamada in the Sabaragamuwa Province. The type locality is located outside the protected area network and the stream flows through highly human influenced habitats such as paddy fields, rubber estates and home gardens. Ther...

The aim of this chapter is to provide a brief overview of the positive and negative developments that took place during the year 2020, which has direct and indirect impact on Sri Lanka’s rich biodiversity resources. Since biodiversity is referred to as the variability within and between species and the variability of the complex systems that result...

Provides a comprehensive report on the status of species in Sri Lanka, including new species discovered during 2020, species recorded for the first time in Sri Lanka, changes in the distribution status of species, changes in nomenclature, new invasive species recorded and overall update on the statistics of the species.

Sri Lanka due to its rich biodiversity and strategic location has engaged in international trade of wildlife since ancient times. At present, international trade of wild fauna and flora is a multimillion dollar industry which is also a major conservation issue, especially as many of the traded species are threatened species or international trade h...

After the 30-year long civil war was over, the Government of Sri Lanka commenced an accelerated programme to develop the Northern Province. If not carefully planned, such a programme will result in the loss of biodiversity and the consequent loss of services that ecosystems provide humans. Therefore, documenting the biodiversity found within coasta...

Recreation and tourism represent a major opportunity and nexus for managing the interaction between ecosystems and people, including particularly to urban ecosystems, where people living in an environment, that its' contact with natural or semi natural ecosystems is often limited. The Negombo lagoon has proven to be an important recreational site i...

A total of 61 endemic species were assessed. Of these, 12 point endemic species were listed as Critically Endangered (CR); 24 range-restricted species were Endangered (EN); and nine species were Vulnerable (VU). In addition, five species were Near Threatened (NT); two were listed as Data Deficient (DD); and the remaining were listed as Least Concer...

Coastal wetlands are important foraging and breeding habitats for waterbirds. Studies on foraging and nesting habitats of waterbirds are essential for the conservation strategies. The present study was carried out in Mankumban to identify significant waterbird habitats for foraging and nesting in the Jaffna Peninsula. Three counting blocks in lengt...

The objective of this study was to establish a baseline set of data for heavy metal contaminants in diverse ecosystems in Sri Lanka using bird feathers as a bio monitoring tool. During May to July 2014 heavy metal concentration (Hg, As, Cd and Pb) was assessed in bird feathers and regurgitated materials of Little Egrets (Egretta garzetta) as well a...

Community-based tourism provides livelihood, minimize leakage from the local economy and strengthen conservation. Three decades of armed conflict kept the northern region off limits for avitourism development. The aim of the present study investigated spatio-temporal patterns of waterbirds in Kavutharimunai (9 0 34' N 80 0 7' E) to identify high po...

Waterbirds use many kind of coastal wetlands including swamps, lagoons, estuaries, bays, mudflats and open beaches. The present study was conducted to assess the community structure of waterbird families in Thadduvankoddy, Kapputhu and Nagarkovil in Jaffna Peninsula. Three counting blocks in length of 500 m with open width was selected in each site...

Waterbirds use wetlands due to the diversity of microhabitats for feeding, nesting and resting. Surveys were conducted to determine the diversity and habitats used by waterbird communities in Mandaitivu, Northern Province, Sri Lanka (90 37’ to 90 38’ N latitude and 79 0 59’ to 80 0 00’ E longitude) from December, 2016 to November, 2017. Birds count...

Waterbirds use wetlands due to the diversity of microhabitats for feeding, nesting and resting. Surveys were conducted to determine the diversity and habitats used by waterbird communities in Mandaitivu, Northern Province, Sri Lanka (90 37’ to 90 38’ N latitude and 79 0 59’ to 80 0 00’ E longitude) from December, 2016 to November, 2017. Birds count...

Assessment of the ecological damage resulted due to an unauthorized forest clearance by a contractor in Nawaneliya - Beligoda Reserve Forest in Sri Lanka. The Project Management Unit of the Mahaweli Water Security Investment Project engaged IUCN Sri Lanka to undertake the assessment. Due to time and data limitations, this assessment was performed u...

Waturana is the local (SInhala) term used to describe freshwater swamp-forests which may have been a quite extensive in the past, but reduced to vestiges today due to conversion of many of these swamp-forests in to other land use types such as plantations and human settlements. Walauwawatta-Waturana is a small swamp-forest patch with an extent of 1...

Kirtisinghe's Rock Frog (Nannophrys marmorata) is endemic to Sri Lanka and is found only on the northeastern slopes of the Knuckles Mountain Range, where a short wet season is followed by a prolonged dry season. The dry season is characterized by high air temperature, low relative humidity, and strong desiccating winds. These frogs take refuge in r...

Weligama coconut leaf wilt disease (WCLWD) causes heavy losses in the coconut cultivations of southern Sri Lanka. The in-house developed and validated indirect ELISA was based on specific polyclonal antibodies raised in female New Zealand White rabbits, against partially purified WCLWD associated phytoplasma. This ELISA has the potential to disting...

Predicted sizes for secA gene fragments following digestion with AcuI, AgsI, ApoI, BsrDI, BstKTI, BtsCI, CviKI-1, DpnI, EcoRI, HinfI, HpyCH4V, MboI, MboII, MnlI, MseI, PleI, PsiI, Sau96I, SetI, TaqI, TspDTI. (DOCX)

Wetlands are important contributors to biodiversity worldwide. In the present study, diversity and abundance of water birds, phytoplankton and zooplankton were investigated to evaluate the importance of Kavutharimunai for water birds in Northern region of Sri Lanka. Three counting blocks in length of 500 m with open width was selected for bird coun...

After the three decade-long civil war was over, the Government of Sri Lanka commenced an accelerated programme to develop the Northern Province. If not properly planned, these developmental projects will result in the loss of biological diversity and, in particular, the consequent loss of services that ecosystems provide humans. One of the importan...

The majority of Sri Lanka’s endemic and Critically Endangered western purple-faced langurs, Semnopithecus vetulus nestor, inhabit fragmented and densely populated areas. Habitat loss and fragmentation resulting from agriculture and development may have an impact on the purple-faced langur’s social organization and create challenges to their surviva...

Tourism contributes to economic growth, sustainable development as well conservation of untouched resources and rich biodiversity in post-conflict areas. Tropical climate, habitat heterogeneity, historical locations with cultural and religious importance and seasonal festivals make Jaffna, an ideal destination for avitourism development. The presen...

Mammalian conservation in Sri Lanka has mostly focused in the protected area network which only covers >30% of the nation's land area. Bats are relatively mobile and their overall fitness depends on landscape-scale features, including habitat suitability both inside and outside protected areas. To study the bat communities outside Sri Lankan conser...

In Sri Lanka, there are 31 species of bats distributed from lowlands to mountains. To document bat diversity and their habitat associations, 58 roosting sites in Maduru-Oya National Park periphery were surveyed. Fifteen bat species were recorded occupying 16 different roosting sites in this area. Among all the species recorded, Rhinolophusrouxii wa...

Biodiversity-rich tropical island of Sri Lanka is not isolated from ongoing global-scale biodiversity loss. Declining populations of native fauna and flora can be attributed to a plethora of human activities. Predominantly, such anthropogenic activities involve deforestation, invasive alien species, global environmental change, modifications in nat...

This Abstract is about diversity of Waterbirds in Kavutharimunai in the Northern Sri Lanka.

The Critically endangered Kirtisinghe’s Rock frog (Nannophrys marmorata) belonging to an endemic genus, is a restricted range species confided to areas within the Knuckles mountain range. Although some basic facts on its ecology have been reported previously, information on morphometry and population dynamics is scanty. The present study was conduc...

The Jaffna Peninsula is one of the main entry and exit points for migratory birds that use the Central Asian Flyway. However, ornithological studies and Avitourism have been rare in the Jaffna Peninsula as the study area was inaccessible for three decades due to the armed conflict. The present study was done to determine spatial variation of water...

Abstract published in the Australasian Ornithology Conference 2017 at Deakin University, Geelong, Australia.

Population health and habitat quality are intimately related and seasonal changes in habitat quality are likely to be reflected in the body condition of animals. We studied seasonal variation of body condition in free ranging Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in Udawalawe National Park, Sri Lanka based on visual scoring of individually identified e...

Nannophrys marmorata Kirtisinge, 1946, is one of the four rock dwelling frogs within this endemic genus. It is categorized as a Critically Endangered species because of its confinement to the Knuckles mountain range, a habitat exposed to severe tropical seasonality (short wet season and prolonged dry season). No information is available to date on...