Assessing the bird guild patterns in heterogeneous land use types around Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, India

Abstract

Land-use sprawl in the Himalayas has caused the conversion of natural habitat into human-modified habitats, thus degrading ecosystem health. Adaptation of birds to changing physical environment can be well understood by analyzing their habitat preferences, and foraging dynamics explored to a limited extent in the Himalayan region, as yet. To achieve a comprehensive understanding of avian guild structure, we used multivariate statistical techniques to classify bird species according to their similarities in foraging patterns and habitat preferences. Observations based on habitat and diet affinities accounted for rich avian diversity with a total of 208 bird species (about 15% of country’s avifauna) recorded from six different sites during 1 year survey. Unweighted pair-group average cluster analysis performed on the families revealed ten feeding and fifteen habitat guilds among 63 bird families observed. Subtropical forests harbored more species followed by urban forests and agricultural landscapes. Insectivorous and omnivorous outnumbered other feeding guilds in the study area. Bird assemblages were richer in protected areas and semi-disturbed landscapes and did not show significant variation between the seasons. Results of the study revealed that different functional groups of birds behaved differently, primarily induced by choice of food. The site heterogeneity favored avifaunal persistence by providing favorable foraging, roosting, and nesting opportunities to birds. Composition of avian guilds indicated level of intactness and ecological integrity of ecosystems studied. This outcome thus sets the background for long-term analysis of bird-habitat relationship and their foraging dynamics. The study has the relevance for decision-makers to integrate avian guild structure as an essential ingredient in formulating conservation strategies.

Habitat heterogeneity influences avian feeding guild composition in urban landscapes: evidence from Bhubaneswar, India

“…5), in the form of a dendrogram of similarity index. The most similar cluster is formed between the carnivorous and the avivorous species, indicating that the bird species which feed on birds might also feed on other animals (Sohil and Sharma 2020). In Fig.…”

Spatial Biodiversity of Birds in Land Covers of Wetlands on Jakarta’s North Coast

“…Wetlands in the central and east parts of Jakarta's North Coast, attracted waterfowl, waders, birds of prey, and several other wetland-dependent birds yearround due to abundant food availability such as insects, crabs, shrimp, molluscs, and indigenous fish (Mukhopadhyay & Mazumdar, 2019). Intact forest patches, protected areas, and wetlands as available in the central part of Jakarta's Coast are characterized by an adequate food base and resources were species rich while the patchy landscapes were species scarce, as can be observed in the ecotourism park in the west of the coast (Sohil & Sharma, 2020).…”

Recovery of bird communities following the construction of a large-scale hydroelectric dam

“…Wu et al (2021) suggested that members of the Ardeidae family prefer shallow waters but dislike sandy areas that are likely abundant during the PL phase in which riverbank was not yet inundated. These findings suggest that bird species assemblages were primarily influenced by the habitat type available to them and largely motivated by food availability (Sohil and Sharma 2020). Notably, different land cover types will provide different habitats and food (Wu et al 2019b).…”