Urbanization plays an important role in biodiversity loss across the globe due to natural habitat loss in the form of landscape conversion and habitat fragmentation on which species depend. To study the bird diversity in the peri-urban landscape, we surveyed four habitats—residential areas, cropland, water bodies, and sal forest; three seasons—monsoon, winter, and summer in Baripada, Odisha, India. We surveyed from February 2018 to January 2019 using point counts set along line transects; 8 transects were established with a replication of 18 each. During the survey, 6963 individuals of 117 bird species belonged to 48 families and 98 genera in the study area, whereas cropland showed rich avian diversity. Based on the non-parametric multidimensional scale (NMDS) and one-way ANOVA, bird richness and abundance differed significantly among the habitats. Cropland showed higher species richness than other habitats; however, water bodies showed more abundance than others. The similarity of bird assemblage was greater between residential areas and cropland than forest and water bodies based on similarity indices. Among seasons, we observed the highest bird species richness in winter and the highest similarity of species richness in monsoon and summer. In conclusion, our study reported that agricultural and degraded landscapes like cropland play important roles in conserving bird diversity in peri-urban landscapes. Our findings highlighted and identified the problems that affect the local biodiversity (e.g., birds) in the peri-urban landscape. It can assist the local government in urban planning and habitat management without affecting the local biodiversity, including birds.

No abstract

Across the tropics, human settlements and agricultural lands have rapidly replaced the natural habitat; however, our understanding of the biodiversity value in such human-dominated landscapes is limited. To study the effects of heterogeneous habitats on bird diversity in the peri-urban landscape, we surveyed four different habitat types (residential areas, cropland and wasteland, water bodies, and sal forest) from February 2018 to January 2019. During the survey, 117 bird species were recorded belonging to 48 families and 98 genera in the study area. We observed that cropland and wasteland harboured rich avian diversity, among other sites. Both the Non-parametric Multidimensional Scale (NMDS) and one-way ANOVA Significant Test showed significant variations in bird species composition among habitats. Our study could be helpful in future conservation and management of the birds' diversity to make peri-urban habitats more favorable.