Bird community structure as a function of habitat heterogeneity: A case of Mardi Himal, Central Nepal

Abstract

Abstract. Pandey N, Khanal L, Chapagain N, Singh KD, Bhattarai BP, Chalise MK. 2021. Bird community structure as a function of habitat heterogeneity: A case of Mardi Himal, Central Nepal. Biodiversitas 22: 262-271. Community structure of birds at different habitat types is underexplored in the montane environment of the central Himalaya. Therefore, this study explored bird community structure in different habitat types in Mardi Himal of the Annapurna Conservation Area, central Nepal, and tested association of different feeding guilds with the habitats. Data on the avian richness and abundance were collected in the winter and the summer of 2019 by point count method along the elevational gradient in every 100 m rise and analyzed using ordination methods. A total of 673 individuals of 112 bird species from 35 families under 13 orders were recorded. Among the observed orders and families, the order Passeriformes (77 species) and family Muscicapidae (16 species) were the most dominant. A linear species accumulation curve was obtained in both seasons. Species richness and abundance were found higher at forest edges of mid-elevations and insectivores were the most abundant birds. Frugivorous and carnivorous birds showed no specific association with habitat types, whereas, insectivores and omnivores were more abundant in pastureland and forest, respectively. Our results revealed that the community composition of birds varies with the habitat types and their feeding specialization is one of the major determinants.

Influence of environmental factors on bird diversity in and around Kahundanda Hillscape, Pokhara, Nepal

“…Number of fruiting trees present in the forest or agriculture or human settlement areas added more food availability for the herbivore birds. Hence, specific fruiting seasons increased the abundance of herbivore birds (Pandey et al 2021). The avian research conducted by Herzog et al (2005) in the Swiss agricultural landscape reported the pastureland didn't contribute to bird diversity but our study found that agriculture along with settlements and grassland supported higher omnivores and insectivore bird diversity.…”

“…The species discovery curve for Kahundanda clearly showed the sufficient sampling efforts for the birds. Similar type of species discovery curve was also used in the study of birds by La Sorte & Somveille (2020) and Pandey et al (2021). The relative species abundance is a major component of biodiversity and indicate how common and rare species are relative to other species.…”

“…Relative species abundances indicate the specific patterns that provide the scenario and effects of the macro ecosystems on the species distribution (Izsák & Pavoine 2012;Avolio et al 2019). A rank abundance curve or Whittaker plot is a graphical tool that help to visualize species richness and species evenness (Izsák & Pavoine 2012;Yin et al 2018;Avolio et al 2019;Pandey et al 2021). In this study, we used RAC to show the relation between the relative abundance of the birds and their abundance rank in the Kahundanda area.…”

“…Distance to village or settlements, distance to roads, number of livestock present are the major disturbance determinant of the birds. The agriculture land and home garden also provide the nesting and feeding ground to the open area birds (Pandey et al 2021). The fruiting trees also increases the richness of the birds (Pandey et al 2021).…”

Urbanization Favors Some Over Others: Bird Diversity Pattern in the Suburban-Urban Gradient of Butwal City, Central Lowland of Nepal

“…The birds were identified using binoculars and field guide book (Grimmett et al, 2016). Birds were categorized to their feeding guilds following Katuwal et al (2018) and Pandey et al (2021).…”