Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://192.168.202.180:4000/handle/123456789/1

Browse

Subject: search.filters.subject.Avifauna

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Study of the Bird Community in Agasthyamalai hills, Western Ghats, Kerala, India
    (SACON, 2018) Panigrahi, Madhumita; Azeez, P A
    patterns of occurrence or distribution and generality of the pattern (Weins 1989, Vellend 2010). A community is structured by wide array of factors, competition, niche availability, spatial heterogeneity, predation, climatic stability, productivity, dispersal, speciation and many more (Hutchinson 1959, Pianka 1966, Vellend 2010). On the other hand, distribution of species may be influenced by species composition, abundance, behaviour, morphology and their association with the environment (Weins 1989). Owing to the complexity of the systems and interactions among them, the study of community ecology is rightly stated by Schoener (1986) as the ‘most tumultuous and alluring of ecology’s subdisciplines’. Studies on avifauna have been playing a pivotal role in addressing intricate questions and testing varied hypotheses relating to community ecology. As widely noted, methodological advances, well-studied taxonomy and natural history, mostly diurnal behaviour and conspicuousness make birds an easy species to study
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    IMPACTS OF WIND FARM ON AVIFAUNA OF SAMAKHIALI REGION, KUTCH, GUJARAT
    (SACON, 2017) Kumar, S Ramesh
    Wind energy is one of the most preferred renewable energy across the globe. Although wind energy is widely accepted as a green energy, the impacts of wind farms, especially on wildlife have been reported from different countries over the past two decades. Compared to other taxa, birds and bats get affected mainly due to direct collision with the wind turbines, along with habitat loss & degradation. The collision of birds with turbines is considered as one of the major direct impact, which first came to notice in the late 1980s from USA. The annual bird mortality rate reported by studies across the world varies from 0 to 64 birds per turbine. Studies indicate that many birds tend to avoid areas close to the turbines and some species do not occupy the area even after five years of turbine installation. India is the fourth largest wind energy producer in the world with an installed capacity 27,151 MW as on December 2015 (MNRE, 2016). Moreover, wind energy is the fastest growing renewable energy sector in India with a target of 60 GW by 2022. Available studies on the impact of wind turbines on wildlife are scarce from India and most of the published studies are from Europe and North America. With this background, the present study was conducted in Gujarat, India with the following three major objectives 1) study the avifaunal composition of the area, 2) study the changes in the assemblage of land birds due to wind turbines, and 3) assess the bird mortality risk caused by wind turbines
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Making the Urban Matrix Matter : Characteristics of the Avifaunal Community of the Urban Matrix Relative to the Urban Green Spaces of Dehradun
    (Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2021) Coutinho, Jason Bismarck; Onial, Malvika; Kaushik, Monika
    Urban ecology is a field in science which deals with understanding the ecological synergies within urban systems. This is a relatively new field which started out when ecologists recognized the importance of quantifying human impacts on ecosystems globally. This field is ever so pertinent now that no ecosystem remains which doesn’t have human induced changes. 2. Urban ecosystems are dynamic ecosystems with interactions similar to those of natural ecosystems, but they are also directly influenced by the culture, politics, economics and social organization of human society. Urban has different definitions all over the world with no single consensus and such disparities make it impossible to compare ‘what is urban’ across the globe. Simply urban areas are cities and suburban areas with the landscape being called as the ‘built environment’. Urbanization and the urban sprawl have impacted not only the land covers across an urban area, but also the biodiversity in it. This urbanization filters the biological community at various levels and it is pertinent that we understand this filtering. 3. The urban landscape can be divided into two major categories for simplicity. The urban green spaces are terrestrial areas, both public and private covered with vegetation, made available to users. These are very important to the health of the city. They enhance the wellbeing of the people in the city and also are habitats for urban wildlife. The urban grey on the other hand is the ‘built’ or ‘artificial’ environment. This is usually seen increasing as we reach the center of a city or urban area. 4. The urban matrix is a mix of the greens and the grey and has no clear definition. It is all the habitat patches in the urban landscape that lie outside the urban green spaces. This urban matrix is highly dynamic and every urban area has its own unique habitat mosaic. This important matrix however has not been studied extensively. In most areas of urban ecological research, the matrix’s relevance is undervalued. The current study was conducted in the city of Dehradun from March 2021 to April 2021. To understand the importance of the urban matrix’s contribution in maintaining an urban areas biological diversity, this study aims to quantify the avifaunal community in the urban matrix. Further it looks to understand the relevance of the avifaunal assemblage characteristics of the urban matrix relative to that of the urban green spaces. 5. To study this, the patterns of the avifaunal community in Dehradun were explored. Fundamental properties of biological communities like species richness, abundance, density and composition were looked at the habitat scale. At the landscape scale, potential habitat correlates of the species richness and density were studied so as to shed some light on the factors and processes that might be driving the community assembly in the urban matrix. The comparison of the avifaunal assemblage was done by comparing the overall richness, density and composition in the urban matrix and urban green spaces. 6. In the urban matrix, 109 sampling units were laid and then sampled using a variable radius point count method. A total of 3775 individuals belonging to 81 species were recorded. Feral Pigeon was the most dominant species, habitat-wise species richness was maximum in the built – up areas (54 species) and species density was maximum in scrublands (13.12mean ± 4.35SD per hectare). Ordination graphs showed that plots of green cover were dissimilar from the other habitats. The species richness in the urban matrix was positively influenced by the increasing proportions of open areas and scrublands. Built – up had negative influence on the species richness but showed peaking at moderate levels of human development. Density in the matrix was positively influenced by increasing proportion of scrublands and the landscape heterogeneity. It was negatively influenced by increasing proportions of built – up and green cover. Comparisons of the richness and density of the urban matrix and urban green spaces showed that there was a huge difference in both the parameters, with urban green spaces showing higher values for both. The species composition Venn diagram showed that the matrix and urban green spaces share 64 species among them, with the urban green spaces and urban matrix showing 50 and 17 unique species respectively. 7. In general, the current study shows the relative importance of the urban matrix in maintaining the urban biodiversity and the need of conserving the habitats in the matrix to boost the urban biodiversity.