Avifaunal Diversity of Institute of Forestry Complex, Hetauda Metropolis, Nepal

Abstract

Avifaunal diversity is the measure of species diversity via species richness and evenness. To this aim, avifaunal survey was conducted in the Institute of Forestry Complex, Hetauda from November 2017 to June 2018. Using line transect and point count methods, 132 species of birds were recorded, representing 15 orders and 44 families. Three species of these birds are in IUCN Red List while 90, 27 and 15 species are residential, visitor and migrant respectively. Higher Shannon diversity index (4.47) and Margalef index (18.78) indicate marked diversity and richness of bird species. A high value calculated for the Simpson index (0.98) represents higher evenness within the species individuals. Although, Pielou’s evenness index (0.92) shows uniformity in the species distribution, Shannon index seems to be influenced by diversity index, species richness and evenness values. The avifaunal diversity in the study area shows the importance of the Institute of Forestry Complex as a suitable bird habitat.

Avifaunal diversity inside and outside protected area: A case of Sundarijal Forest and Changunarayan Forest, Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

“…Moreover, higher bird diversity in Changunarayan might be due to the presence of many ponds, abundant food sources such as fishes, aquatic plants, planktons, invertebrates and suitable habitat for breeding. Nevertheless, our result contradicts with the findings made by Bhusal et al (2021) and Bajagain et al (2020) where a greater variety of species was reported in the Machhapalan complex than in Institute of Forestry complex despite being relatively small in area coverage.…”

“…These results also align with a study in Machhapalan Complex, Hetauda (Bhusal et al 2021). In contrast to our study, the highest number of species was reported under the Corvidae family in the study made by Bajagain et al (2020) and Chaudhari et al (2009). The reason behind the Muscicapidae found as the most diverse family might be because of being one of the largest bird families with great variability in morphology and behavior (Zhao et al 2023) where they have clearly stated that none of the threatened species recorded in the areas falls under the protected bird species list of Nepal.…”

“…There have been substantial efforts in avian research in Nepal; however, it is biased to critical areas and species (Inskipp et al 2017). For examples: 132 species of birds belonging to 44 families were recorded during the study carried out at the Institute of Forestry Complex, Hetauda (Bajagain et al 2020). Dhakal et al (2020) had recorded 33 species of water birds in Khaste Lake Complex, Nepal.…”

“…In each habitat type, three transects were established (Forest, Agricultural land, and Wetland). Along transect, a bird survey was conducted using the "Point count" approach (Bajagain et al 2020;Bhusal et al 2020). Depending on the shape of the wetland, agricultural land, and forest patch, the length of the transect walk ranged from 400 to 500 meters.…”

Analysis of Vegetation Dynamics of Tree Species inside the Forest of Institute of Forestry, Hetauda

“…Most of them are carried out in community forests while studies on national forests is lacking. The forest area of IoF supports 98 species of butterflies (Chhetri, 2017), 91 species of birds (Pokharel, 2017), and 11 species of snakes (Pradhan et al, 2020) and a population of spotted deer (Axis axis) (Bhusal et al, 2020). The study area is surrounded by human settlements on the north, east, and south sides, highlighting the urgent need for conservation intervention (Bajgain et al, 2020).…”