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Background Habitat heterogeneity clearly distinguished in terms of availability of food and habitat resources and landscape features (natural or human-modified) play a crucial role in the avian species composition and population structure. To examine this, a study was carried out in Bhubaneswar, India, to understand the ecological niche distinction in birds based on habitat heterogeneity. Regular sampling was conducted in 30 sampling sites covering six different habitat types in a predominantly urban landscape of Bhubaneswar for understanding the ecological niche in birds. The birds were classified into 11 types of foraging guilds. Results The insectivorous guild had the highest bird species richness (181 species) and the omnivorous guild had the lowest (11 species). The piscivorous guild and wetland habitat had the strongest linkage, followed by the insectivorous guild and agricultural land. The frugivorous guild was significantly correlated with forest habitats (r = 0.386, p < 0.01) and park and garden habitats (r = 0.281, p < 0.01). This urban area hosted a higher number of bird species in certain habitat types, viz., agricultural lands (52%, 115 species) and forest patches (50%, 111 species). Conclusion The present study highlights the importance of agricultural lands, forest patches, parks and gardens, and wetlands inside the cityscape for supporting avifauna. It is therefore suggested that such habitats should be conserved inside an urban area to protect native avifauna. Thus, the city development plan must invariably include strategies for conserving the forest patches inside the urban area. Measures must be taken to restrain the degradation of agricultural lands and reduce their utilization for non-agricultural purposes, which will help in further reducing the bird population decline in the urban landscape.

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Food consumption is one of the principal reasons of human exposures to pesticides. The research analyses the relation between pesticide contaminations and their possible adverse health impacts. Rice grain and soil samples were collected from seven blocks of Bargarh district, Odisha. Gas Chromatography‐Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) was used for the analysis and characterization of various pesticides present in rice grain as well as in soil samples. The identified pesticide residues in rice grain samples were found to be in the sequence of ∑DDT > chlorpyrifos > chlorothalonil > vinclozolin > chlorthal‐dimethyl > endosulfan‐1 > lindane. Detected pesticide concentrations were found to exceed the Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) set by the Codex Alimentarius International Food Standards with DDT having the highest concentration of 29.27 mg/kg (which is 292 times the MRLs) and lindane with the least concentration of 4.35 mg/kg (which is 435 times the MRLs). Estimated average daily intake (EADI) was found to be higher for DDT and lower for lindane. The Health Risk Index (HRI) for DDT was higher and lower for chlorothalonil in all the samples. Results of one‐way ANOVA reflected no significant differences in variance between the concentrations of pesticides in rice grain samples. Result showed that the residual levels of ∑DDT in soil ranged between 7.8 and 29.3 mg/kg which was the maximum concentration among all the pesticides. Lindane and chlorthal‐dimethyl showed the least concentration ranging between 1.2–4.2 and 1.6–4.1 mg/kg, respectively. DDT had the highest bioconcentration factor (BCF) ranging between 1 and 4. Lindane and endosulfan‐1 had the lowest BCF ranging between 1 and 2. BCF value of other pesticides were found between the range of 1 and 4. Bioconcentration factors of pesticides in rice and soil samples indicated that pesticides in soil could get accumulated in rice. It was observed that the health risk associated with the consumption of rice could be because of its contamination by the pesticides in the study area or of the biomagnification of pesticides from the soil. It is necessary to spreading the awareness regarding safer use, storage and disposal of pesticides should be given utmost importance at the moment as an attempt to reduce or eliminate the environmental contaminations caused by them. National authorities should enforce proper rules and regulations in order to monitor and control the vigorous use of chemical loaded pesticides in agriculture and various other fields. It would be even better to substitute the chemical pesticides with the organic component‐based Bio‐pesticides as a safer option for the mankind and its environment.

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