Diversity and status of avifauna in Todgarh-Raoli Wildlife Sanctuary, Rajasthan, India

Abstract

a b s t r a c tUnderstanding the diversity and structure of bird communities is essential to delineate the importance of regional or local landscapes for avian conservation. Birds are very sensitive to environmental changes and are used as a "bioindicator." The study was carried out to explore the diversity and status of avifauna in the Todgarh-Raoli Wildlife Sanctuary, Rajasthan, India, from January 2013 to December 2013. The line transect method was used to cover most of the study area. A total of 142 species of birds belonging to 45 families and 18 orders were recorded. Muscicapidae was the most dominant family with 23 species, and its relative diversity index was also found to be the highest (relative diversity index ¼ 16.19). The analysis of data on residential status revealed that 99 species were residents, six species were winter visitors, three species were summer visitors, and 14 species were passage visitors. The analysis of feeding habits showed that a maximum number of species (44 species) were omnivorous, 42 species were insectivorous, 35 species were carnivorous, 12 species were granivorous, four species were frugivorous, four species were insectivorousenectivorous, and one species was nectivorous. According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, 128 species were in the Least Concern category, one species was in the Endangered category, two species were in the Critically Endangered category, six species were in the Near Threatened category, and two species were in the Vulnerable category. Thus, the Todgarh-Raoli Wildlife Sanctuary supports a sound avifaunal diversity. Its proper management will not only improve the situation for its resident species, but will also attract more migratory and vagrant species in the future.

Present status and diversity of avian fauna in Purbasthali bird sanctuary, West Bengal, India

“…There is approximately 9702 bird species recorded throughout the world (Sibley and Monroe, 1990), out of which Indian subcontinent supports 1313 (over 13%) of them (Grimmett et al 2011). Birds are very sensitive to environmental changes and are used as a "bio-indicator" (Koli, 2014); also, because of their high mobility, birds react very rapidly to changes in their habitats (Morrisson 1986;Fuller et al 1995). But due to some adverse climatic conditions and various anthropogenic activities the global diversity of birds has been decreasing in recent years.…”

Food Variety of Lesser Whistling Duck in Malaysian Lakes

“…Hansson et al, (2010) stated that water quality parameter such as dissolved oxygen, water depth, salinity would affect the presence of macrophytes and aquatic invertebrates in wetlands, hence this might be the major reason why Lesser Whistling Duck avoided lakes that were not rich with this food source. It was also reported that water depth was an important variable affecting the habitat selection in water birds (Koli, 2014;Sulaiman et al, 2018) because it directly determined the accessibility of prey while foraging (McMahon & Moreira, 2014;Jayathilake & Chandrasekara, 2015). Wading birds prefer shallow water because foraging efficiency decreases with increasing water depth.…”

Diversity of Birds in the Foothills of Phulchoki Hill, Lalitpur, Nepal

“…Population of fruiting and flowering trees within the garden area can attract many frugivorous and insectivorous birds to live thereby. It is well known that birds are friends of human as they destroy lots of harmful insects and mosquitoes from the environment (Koli 2014). Therefore, a conservation and awareness plan should be launched by the government with the participation of local communities and institutions to save the resident as well as migratory birds, and also, to know about the ecological functions and values of avifauna.…”