Sparrows in urban complexity: macro and micro-scale habitat use of sympatric sparrows in Guwahati City, India

Nath, Anukul; Singha, Hilloljyoti; Haque, Minarul; Lahkar, Bibhuti P.

doi:10.1007/s11252-019-00876-4

Cited by 18 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…We retained the variables that better explained the parameter of interest based on: ecological relevance, correspondence with earlier studies, ease in data collection across the study areas, and simplest in explanation of the model outcomes (parsimony). Prior to modelling, all continuous site covariates were scaled, (x -x ̅ )/SDx, to facilitate estimation of parameters using numerical optimization techniques and to make estimates comparable between parameters (Sunarto et al 2012;Nath et al 2019b;Jornburom et al 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community, conflict and conservation: response of mammalian fauna to ecological and anthropological correlates ‒ a critical habitat in Indo-Bhutan transboundary landscape urges multiagency cooperation

Nath

Lahkar²,

Brahma

et al. 2021

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The impacts of conflict on nature are devastatingly adverse but differ widely in different socio-political regimes. Armed conflict often facilitates illegal plunder and unsustainable use of natural resources, variously by rebel groups and impoverished or displaced people challenged with limited subsistence options. We studied the response of mammals in Ripu Reserve Forest (Assam) that suffers prolonged anthropogenic pressure due to armed conflict instigated by social unrest. We used standard single-season (spatial-dependence) occupancy models using sign survey to assess the factors affecting the space use of mammals and subsequently build capacity of conservation volunteers for long-term sustenance of Ripu. Our study revealed that Ripu has a high proportion of occupied area by prey species of large carnivores. Asian elephant, barking deer, and wild pig occupied most of the habitat, whereas gaur, sambar and spotted deer restricted themselves to selected patches within the Ripu. Common leopards found to be positively associated with prey occupancy. The studied mammals responded variably to different ecological and anthropological covariates and urge for species-specific management alongside landscape scale conservation approach. Our ground effort to strengthen community patrolling and operational execution of various alternative livelihood has helped to empower the economic condition of patrolling staff. Strategic implementation of law enforcement could support dispersal of tigers from Phibsoo WLS (Bhutan), potentially linked with the larger tiger and elephant landscape far west (Buxa Tiger Reserve) in the Terai region of India. Community-based conservation initiatives required continuous support from various agencies, including national, international, and local bodies, to restore this critical habitat.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community, conflict and conservation: response of mammalian fauna to ecological and anthropological correlates ‒ a critical habitat in Indo-Bhutan transboundary landscape urges multiagency cooperation

Nath

Lahkar²,

Brahma

et al. 2021

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“…of single & multistoried house, no. of tin and concrete roof) (for details see Nath et al 2019). Before performing PCA analysis, we transformed all the variables into Z-score.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We used the radiation measurements of the maximum average for ve minutes in the V/m unit. Subsequently, we also collected microhabitat information of 12 ecologically important (see Nath et al 2019) variables on each sample location: distance to closest green patch-delineated the boundary of nearest green patch using Google Earth and measured the closest distance of the boundary of the patch from the center of the 30 m radius circle; (ii) green cover-digitized green cover (tree + grass cover) using Google Earth; (iii) grass cover-we used handheld laser range nder and Google Earth to estimate the percent grass cover; (iv) Plant diversity-counted the number of individuals of plant species (trees and sapling) and calculated Shannon (H´) diversity index (v) distance to closest marketplace-generated the center point of the open market places (open daily markets, congested areas with hotel restaurants, shopping malls, crowded places nearby busstops and railway station etc.) and measured the distance from the center point of 30 m radius circle; (vi) Food shops-number of hotels, restaurants, grocery shops within the 30 m radius.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Later, from November 2014 to March 2015, we also collected data on the spatial scale in the eastern part of Guwahati City, where the overlap of both sparrow species was higher compared to other parts of the city (Nath et al 2019). A total of 168 locations were surveyed over the urban gradients and the number of House Sparrow and (avoid using ampersand in a running text, use word 'and') Tree Sparrow was counted, and the value of electromagnetic radiation was also measured using EMF Detector as mentioned above.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Urbanization, Electromagnetic Radiation and Sparrows: A Case Study from Guwahati, India

Nath

Singha

Lahkar³

2021

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The persisting growth of wireless telecommunication technology causes increased electrosmog. Exposure to wide-ranging radiofrequency electromagnetic fields is thought to be a concern for all the living species across the globe. Studies have shown possible effects of electromagnetic radiation on various organisms including electromagnetic radiation risk on birds, but the outcomes were inconsistent. Here, we investigated if there is any impact of electromagnetic radiation on the abundance and habitat use of sympatric House Sparrow and Tree Sparrow in Guwahati City, India. In addition, we did a comparative analysis of previous work that had been conducted on possible effects of EMR on wild birds in field condition. We collected sparrow abundance in selected urbanization gradients temporally over a period of two years in 45 locations and spatially covering 168 locations in the eastern part of Guwahati City. Point counts were carried out, and successively we measured the electromagnetic radiation along with other ecological covariates. It was observed that ecological variables contributed significant variation to explain the habitat use of sparrows in Guwahati City compared to electromagnetic radiation. We observed that House Sparrow had quadratic relationship and Tree sparrow had negative association with increasing urbanization. Studies carried out in the past on the impacts of electromagnetic radiation on birds outside the lab condition had not considered other ecological covariates, which could also influence the life history needs of the bird species. Our study emphasized that the ecological covariates should be taken into consideration while studying the effect of electromagnetic radiation on wild organisms.

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“…We used the generalized linear model (hereafter GLM) to test our hypothesis (Guisan et al 2002, Zhao et al 2017. Prior to run analysis, we reduce multicollinearity and remove highly correlated predictor variables (r > 70%) using the spearman rank correlation test (Nath et al 2019). Leopard and lion independent captures at each site were used as response variable while variables defined in section ecological and anthropological variables were used as a predictor variables.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the effect of ecological and anthropogenic variables on site use by sympatric large carnivores in Gir protected area, Gujarat, India

et al. 2020

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Habitat destruction is one of the major causes of large carnivore decline worldwide. he present study assesses the ecological and anthropogenic determinants of site use by leopard and lion in the Gir forest. Data on leopard and lion site use was collected through camera traps and modeled using prey availability, proximity to water, woody cover, proximity to human habitation and grazing intensity as the predictor variable. A generalized linear model was used to ind the efect of a predictor variable on leopard and lion site use intensity. Leopard site use intensity was positively associated with chital, nilgai, and sambar availability, and grazing intensity while negatively associated with proximity to water. Lion site use intensity was positively associated with nilgai availability, woody cover and grazing intensity while negatively associated with sambar availability, and proximity to water. he present study indicated that habitat might have a substantial role in determining prey-predator spatial relationships. Also, humans provide resources such as artiicial water holes could potentially afect the distribution of both the predators in our study area. he present study could be useful while making management decisions in Gir.

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Sparrows in urban complexity: macro and micro-scale habitat use of sympatric sparrows in Guwahati City, India

Cited by 18 publications

References 31 publications

Community, conflict and conservation: response of mammalian fauna to ecological and anthropological correlates ‒ a critical habitat in Indo-Bhutan transboundary landscape urges multiagency cooperation

Community, conflict and conservation: response of mammalian fauna to ecological and anthropological correlates ‒ a critical habitat in Indo-Bhutan transboundary landscape urges multiagency cooperation

Urbanization, Electromagnetic Radiation and Sparrows: A Case Study from Guwahati, India

Evaluating the effect of ecological and anthropogenic variables on site use by sympatric large carnivores in Gir protected area, Gujarat, India

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