scholarly journals Changed avian assemblage of Savitribai Phule Pune University campus in last four decades

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 17990-17998
Author(s):  
Kiran Choudaj ◽  
Varsha Wankhade

Savitribai Phule Pune University is known for its biodiversity in Pune.  In the present study, we have analyzed changes which have occurred on the campus and surrounding area over the last 40 years.  Of the 90 bird species reported in the campus and Khadki pond in 1976, we failed to notice 34 species in 2018.  A major reason for the decline in bird diversity could be changes in the campus habitat from low scrub jungle, fallow lands and grassland to buildings, roads, and exotic plantations.  Increase in human settlement surrounding the campus may also be a contributing factor.  Replacing exotic plants by indigenous plant species and control of land use can prevent further loss of biodiversity.

2019 ◽  
pp. 84-95
Author(s):  
Jocelyn Serrano ◽  
Jonathan Guerrero ◽  
Josiah Quimpo ◽  
Giovani Andes ◽  
Erwin Bañares ◽  
...  

With the lack of baseline information on avifauna within Bicol University and the adjacent forest fragment, this research aimed to identify bird species and compare their presence between an urbanized and forest areas. Avian diversity was documented within the Kalikasan Park and Bicol University Main Campus adjacent ecosystems, representing a forest fragment and semi-urbanized ecosystems, respectively. Bird survey was carried out through point count method. Identification was aided by existing taxonomic keys. A total of 44 species were recorded with eleven as Philippine endemics. Lonchura malacca(Chestnut Munia) and Aplonis panayensis (Asian Glossy Starling) were among the most frequently sighted. Bird species sighted was higher in the forest fragment as compared with the main campus area. The study recommends that Bicol University Main campus be transformed into an avian buffer and safe zone for the protection and conservation of these species and to provide policies to maintain high bird diversity.


2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 317-325
Author(s):  
Manoj Singh ◽  
Krishan Kumar ◽  
T. K. Roy ◽  
Yashmita Ulman

The Jawaharlal Nehru University campus is a unique campus which habours not only the natural ridge ecosystem but also a huge avifaunal biodiversity. The survey was done for a period of three years from January 2013 to December 2016. Data was collected using line transects in different habitats all across the campus. A total of 114 bird species belonging to 19 orders and 52 families were identified during the study period, including 3 near threatened species, 2 vagrants, 3 summer visitors, 4 passage migrants, 26 winter visitors and 79 resident species. Of these, 47 species were insectivorous, 33 species were omnivorous, 14 species were carnivorous, 7 species were frugivorous, 6 species were gramnivorous, 4 species were herbivorous, 2 species were piscivorous and 1 species was nectarivorous. It was observed that the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus supported very rich and diverse avian fauna assemblages all year round due to the presence of the ridge ecosystems. Long-term conservation programmes must be adopted in order to protect the natural ecosystems and bird diversity present in the campus.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (16) ◽  
pp. 6472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akib Hasan ◽  
Miguel Montoro Girona ◽  
Guillaume Grosbois ◽  
Narayan Saha ◽  
Md Abdul Halim

One of humanity’s most significant challenges in the process of attaining the established sustainability goals is balancing the growing human demand for food and the need to conserve biodiversity. This challenge requires appropriate land uses that are able to conserve biodiversity while ensuring ample food supply. This study compares bird species diversity and abundance in areas undergoing land sharing and land sparing in northeastern Bangladesh (West Bhanugach Reserved Forest). Birds serve as useful biologic indicators because of their presence within different trophic levels and their well-studied ecology. To survey birds, we selected a total of 66 sampling sites within land-sharing (33) and land-sparing (33) land-use areas. Between May and June 2017, we observed and recorded bird calls within a 50-m radius around each sampling site. We counted 541 individuals from 46 species of birds. The Shannon bird diversity was higher in the land-sparing sites (1.52) than in the land-sharing sites (1.23). We found approximately 30% more bird species (39 vs. 30) and 40% more individuals (318 vs. 223) in the land-sparing areas than land-sharing areas. Three bird species, Arachnothera longirostra, Micropternus brachyurus and Copsychus malabaricus, were significantly associated with the land-sparing sites. This study shows that land sharing negatively affects bird diversity, richness and abundance compared to land-sparing. The use of chemical fertilizers and the lack of food, such as insects, for birds can explain the lower diversity, richness and abundance of birds in the land-sharing areas. Although land sharing is an effective means of producing food, land sparing is the most effective land-use practice for preserving bird diversity in northeastern Bangladesh.


Author(s):  
Olinda Maira Alves Nogueira ◽  
Ana Filipa Palmeirim ◽  
Carlos A. Peres ◽  
Manoel dos Santos-Filho

AbstractMaximizing biodiversity persistence in heterogeneous human-modified landscapes is hindered by the complex interactions between habitat quality and configuration of native and non-native habitats. Here we examined these complex interactions considering avian diversity across 26 sampling sites, each of which comprised of three sampling points located across a gradient of disturbance: core native habitat fragment, fragment edge, and non-native adjacent matrix. The 78 sampling points were further nested within three neotropical biomes—Amazonia, Cerrado and Pantanal—in central-western Brazil. Matrix type consisted of cattle pastures in the Amazon and teak plantations in the Pantanal and Cerrado. We considered the interactive effects of (1) disturbance-context: fragment core, edge and adjacent matrix, (2) matrix type: tree plantation or cattle pastures, both subject to varying land-use intensity, and (3) native habitat configuration (fragment size, shape and isolation) on bird species richness, abundance and composition. Based on point-count surveys, we recorded 210 bird species. Bird species richness and abundance declined across the disturbance gradient, while genus composition only differed within the adjacent matrix, particularly cattle-pastures. The effect of native habitat area was positive but only detected at fragment edges. Overall bird diversity increased at sites characterized by higher availability of either relict trees within pasture landscapes or old-growth trees within teak plantation landscapes. The core of native fragments played a primary role in ensuring the persistence of bird diversity, regardless of fragment size. In contrast to pastures, tree plantations likely harbour a higher proportion of forest-dependent species while bird diversity can be further enhanced by reduced management intensity in both matrix types. Strategies to maximize avian persistence should not only include retaining native habitats, but also maximizing the size of core native habitats. Likewise, more structurally complex matrix types should be encouraged while maintaining low levels of land-use intensity.


2012 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 369-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esteban Pineda-Diez de Bonilla ◽  
Jorge L. León-Cortés ◽  
José Luis Rangel-Salazar

Abstract:Habitat heterogeneity is an important ecological determinant of species richness. We evaluated the diversity within bird feeding guilds as related to habitat heterogeneity and land-use cover in a human-modified tropical landscape. To quantify this process, fine-scale bird census and habitat heterogeneity data were collected for a bird community in a 22.5-km2fragmented landscape in southern Mexico. Land-use cover data derived from field surveys were used to calculate habitat heterogeneity index values and the extent of each land-use cover type in 239 grid cells of 300 × 300 m. Bird diversity values were obtained based on 1195 point-counts in these cells. Product-moment correlations and linear regression analyses were used to evaluate the relationship between bird-guild diversity values and habitat heterogeneity. A total of 109 resident bird species grouped in six feeding guilds were recorded: insectivores (42%), frugivores (21%), granivores (17%), nectarivores (9%), omnivores (8%) and carnivores (3%). Diversity values for the entire bird community were significantly positively related to habitat heterogeneity, but feeding guilds showed contrasting responses to habitat heterogeneity and the amount of land-use cover: insectivores and frugivores were more diverse and abundant in secondary forests than in any other land-cover. Our findings illustrate the importance of small landscape fragments as potential key refuges for the most diverse and specialized feeding guilds, such as granivores and insectivores.


2010 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 230-235
Author(s):  
Ming MA ◽  
Bao-wen HU ◽  
Yu MEI ◽  
Thomas McCarthy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luz Garcia-Longoria ◽  
Jaime Muriel ◽  
Sergio Magallanes ◽  
Zaira Hellen Villa-Galarce ◽  
Leonila Ricopa ◽  
...  

Abstract Characterizing the diversity and structure of host-parasite communities is crucial to understanding their eco-evolutionary dynamics. Malaria and related haemosporidian parasites are responsible for fitness loss and mortality in bird species worldwide. However, despite exhibiting the greatest ornithological biodiversity, avian haemosporidians from Neotropical regions are quite unexplored. Here, we analyse the genetic diversity of bird haemosporidian parasites (Plasmodium and Haemoproteus) in 1,336 individuals belonging to 206 bird species to explore for differences in diversity of parasite lineages and bird species across five well-differentiated Peruvian ecoregions. We detected 70 different haemosporidian lineages infecting 74 bird species. We showed that 25 out of the 70 haplotypes had not been previously recorded. Moreover, we also identified 81 new host – parasite interactions representing new host records for these haemosporidian parasites. Our outcomes revealed that the effective diversity (as well as the richness, abundance, and Shannon-Weaver index) for both birds and parasite lineages was higher in Amazon basin ecoregions. Furthermore, we also showed that ecoregions with greater diversity of bird species also had high parasite richness, hence suggesting that host community is crucial in explaining parasite richness. Generalist parasites were found in ecoregions with lower bird diversity, implying that the abundance and richness of hosts may shape the exploitation strategy followed by haemosporidian parasites. These outcomes reveal that Neotropical region is a major reservoir of unidentified haemosporidian lineages. Further studies analysing host distribution and specificity of these parasites in the tropics will provide important knowledge about phylogenetic relationships, phylogeography, and patterns of evolution and distribution of haemosporidian parasites.


Biologia ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emilia Grzędzicka ◽  
Katarzyna Kowalik ◽  
Barbara Bacler-Żbikowska

AbstractInvasive plants are non-native, but in most cases naturalised, species that have successfully spread outside of their native range. Aliens invaded all habitats, are competing with native plants, thus, after the direct destruction of habitats, invasions are recognised as the second largest danger for biodiversity. Northern Red Oak is one of the most common invasive tree species dispersed primarily by birds, but new studies have shown that it is also spread continuously in a forest stand. The main aim of our research was to check how strong is the invasion of Northern Red Oak in Silesia Park, where it was introduced together with other alien plant species, and how this invasion interacts with bird diversity. Silesia Park was created 65 years ago on the surface largely ravaged by coal industry. Because many studies indicate birds as vectors of alien plants invasion, we examined the bird fauna in a described area, looking for species that can contribute to spreading oaks. Research showed the diversity of 50 bird species. Surface with a presence of Northern Red Oak was characterised by greater participation of alien plant species than the patch of natural forest, which existed there long before the park creation. The greatest bird diversity was found in the most natural part of Silesia Park, and the lowest in the area of invasion, especially in the case of species classified as “forest birds”. The presence of alien plants increased number of “non-forest” birds, mostly synanthropic species. We also found that Northern Red Oak spreads by spontaneous seed dispersal.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-106
Author(s):  
Evgeny Abakumov ◽  
Evgeniya Morgun ◽  
Alexandr Pechkin ◽  
Vyacheslav Polyakov

AbstractThe post-anthropogenic and soil cover transformations of former agricultural soils on the abandoned lands in the Russian Arctic territory are poorly investigated due to the active growth of the city complexes and increasing area occupied by agricultural lands. That is lead to an increase in the area of the arable lands surrounding the polar urbanized territories. Today, most of that land allocated for agricultural needs has been abandoned or affected by other types of land use. This study aimed to investigate the abandoned lands surrounding some of the settlements in the central part of the Yamal region. The soil diversity, morphology, and chemical and agrochemical properties were investigated with special reference to the specific transformations that occur to fallow lands under permafrost-affected cryogenic-ecosystem conditions. Analysis of data show that these soils are characterized by features relating to both, previous (and existing), anthropogenic impacts and natural processes such as cryogenic mass transfer. The degradation of the arable humus-enriched horizon was not as pronounced as it has been in more humid boreal environments over recent decades. The organic carbon content in topsoil depends on the land use and varied considerably among the soil types. The former arable topsoil horizon has been stable over time in terms of its morphological features and agrochemical state. Despite the high soil acidity levels, thenutrient content in the anthropogenically impacted soils was still high, even though being abandoned for 20 years.


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