India, Jan. 9 -- Renowned ecologist and Pune's Fergusson College alumnus Madhav Gadgil, who passed away late Wednesday night, made transformative contributions to ecological science in India by systematically integrating mathematics into the study of nature and human-environment relationships.

Trained in evolutionary biology at Harvard University, Gadgil was among the earliest Indian scientists to use mathematical models to explain processes such as natural selection, population dynamics, resource allocation and ecological sustainability. His work helped shift Indian ecology from largely descriptive studies to analytically rigorous, theory-driven research.

During his long and influential tenure at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc),...