Bird community structure in natural and urbanized habitats along an altitudinal gradient in Pauri district (Garhwal Himalaya) of Uttarakhand state, India

Abstract

In the Indian subcontinent there is hardly any study that compares the bird community structure of urban/suburban areas with those of forest habitat. The present survey identified diverse assemblages of birds in the Pauri district at different elevations. A total of 125 bird species belonging to 40 families including two least count species (Lophura leucomelanos and Pucrasia marcolopha) were recorded during this survey in the forest and urbanized habitats of Pauri District (Garhwal Hiamalaya) of Uttarakhand state, India. The high elevation (Pauri 1600-2100 m a.s.l.), mid elevation (Srikot-Khanda 900-1300 m a.s.l.) and low elevation (Srinagar 500-900 m a.s.l.) contributed 88.8%, 63.2% and 58.4% of the total species respectively. Rarefaction analysis and Shannon diversity index showed that the high elevation forest habitat had highest bird species richness (BSR) and bird species diversity (BSD) followed by the mid and then the low elevation forests. BSR and BSD fluctuated across seasons at all elevations but not across habitat types. Present study provides a base line data about avian community composition in urbanized and natural habitats along altitudinal gradient in the study area. This information may be useful to the conservation biologists for the better management and conservation of the avifauna in the Western Himalaya, a part of one of the hot biodiversity spots of the world.

Avifaunal Assemblage along Rural-Urban Gradients in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India

“…The current study concludes that avifaunal richness, diversity and composition are influenced by urbanization in Aligarh district as well consistent with the previous studies in India (Naithani and Bhatt, 2012;Sengupta et al, 2014;Kale et al, 2018;Pal et al, 2019). The low richness and diversity of birds in urban area as compared to the semiurban, semi-rural and rural-natural is in line with earlier studies across the globe (Blair, 1996;Marzluff, 2001;McKinney, 2002;Pauchard et al, 2006;McKinney, 2008;Garaffa et al, 2009;Naithani and Bhatt, 2012;Sengupta et al, 2013;Pal et al, 2019).…”

“…India supports around 1300 species of avifauna accounting 13% of the world (Grimmet et al, 1998). Though India has experienced a rapid urbanization; 26.6% to 37%, between 1995(UN-Habitat, 2016), yet only scarce evidences existed on the effect of urbanization, restricted to some biogeographic zones such as Himalaya (Bhatt and Joshi, 2011;Naithani and Bhatt, 2012), coast (Sengupta et al, 2013;Kale et al, 2018) and Deccan plateau (Pal et al, 2019) and none in Gangetic plains. To fill the calculated by dividing total bird encounter at a point by the area covered.…”

The database of the PREDICTS (Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems) project

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Community Structure of Migratory Waterbirds at Two Important Wintering Sites in a Sub-Himalayan Forest Tract in West Bengal, India

“…The wetlands of the Himalayan foothills have been chosen for ages by various species of migratory birds as suitable wintering and staging sites with ample foraging resources (Chatterjee et al 2017). Altitudinal gradients, varied forest types, and habitat heterogeneity support diversified flora and fauna at the foothills of the Himalayas, including rich avifauna (Mohan and Kumar 2010, Acharya et al 2011, Joshi et al 2012, Naithani and Bhatt 2012, Chatterjee et al 2020. Pandit et al (2007) cautioned that large-scale deforestation in the Indian Himalaya would lead to the extinction of endemic taxa, including the Himalayan foothills.…”