Documentation of Avian Species Composition and Assemblage in Agricultural Landscapes of Karnal, Haryana
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.48165/bpas.2023.42A.2.6Keywords:
Aves, Agriculture Landscape, Biodiversity-friendly agriculture, ConservationAbstract
Avian communities maintain ecological balance by eliminating pests, providing ecosystem services, and acting as biological indicators, thereby playing a pivotal role in conserving agricultural landscapes’ integrity and stability; thus from an environmental monitoring standpoint, assessment of bird aggregations in various landscapes is necessary. A three-year (2021, 2022 and 2023) bird survey was conducted to document the checklist, density, and diversity of bird species assemblage of agricultural landscapes in the Karnal district of Haryana, India, to obtain the richness of birds in different agricultural habitats. A total of 79 bird species from 36 families and 14 orders were recorded; two bird species (Alexandrine Parakeet and Black Headed Ibis) are listed as Near Threatened in the ‘IUCN’ (2010) category. Seventeen avian species with global declining population trends are present in the study area. The Passeriformes order, with 44 species, is the most diverse in the study area. In all habitats, analysis of food and feeding guilds, as well as perching activity, revealed that the insectivorous guild (29) is dominant, followed by Omnivore (25), Carnivore (11), Granivore (7), Frugivore (5), and Nectarivore (2). The results of this study indicate that, in order to enhance the quality of bird habitat in agricultural landscapes, biodiversity friendly farming practices should be adopted.
Downloads
References
Abdar, M. R. (2014). Seasonal diversity of birds and ecosystem services in agricultural
area of Western Ghats, Maharashtra state, India. Journal of Environmental Science, Toxicology and Food Technology, 8(1), 100-105.
Ali, S. (2002) In: The Book of Indian Birds, 13, Oxford University Press, Mumbai. 3. Andrade, R., Bateman, H. L., Franklin, J. and Allen, D. (2018). Waterbird community composition, abundance, and diversity along an urban gradient. Landscape and Urban Planning 170, 103-111.
Egwumah, F. A., Egwumah, P. O. and Edet, D. I. (2017). Paramount roles of wild birds as bioindicators of contamination. International Journal of Avian & Wildlife Biology, 2(6), 194- 200.
Flohre, A., Fischer, C., Aavik, T., Bengtsson, J., Berendse, F., Bommarco, R. and Tscharntke, T. (2011). Agricultural intensification and biodiversity partitioning in European landscapes comparing plants, carabids, and birds. Ecological Applications, 21(5), 1772-1781.
Gaston, K. J. (2022). Birds and ecosystem services. Current Biology, 32(20), R1163- R1166.
Grande, J. M., Orozco-Valor, P. M., Liébana, M. S. and Sarasola, J. H. (2018). Birds of prey in agricultural landscapes: The role of agriculture expansion and intensification. Birds of Prey: Biology and Conservation in the XXI Century, 197-228.
Grimmett, R., Inskipp, C. and Inskipp, T. (2001). Birds of the Indian Subcontinent. 2nd ed. London: Oxford University Press & Christopher Helm, 1-528pp.
Gupta, N. and Singh, N. (2014). The abundance of avifauna in an agricultural landscape: a benefit of community conservation initiatives in Haryana, India. Indian Journal of Science and Technology, 7(4), 537-541.
Hallmann, C. A., Foppen, R. P., Van Turnhout, C. A., De Kroon, H. and Jongejans, E. (2014). Declines in insectivorous birds are associated with high neonicotinoid
concentrations. Nature, 511(7509), 341-343. 11. Heleno, R. H., Ross, G., Everard, A. M. Y., Memmott, J. and Ramos, J. A. (2011). The role of avian ‘seed predators’ as seed dispersers. Ibis, 153(1), 199-203.
Hossain, A. and Aditya, G. (2016). Avian diversity in agricultural landscape: records from Burdwan, West Bengal, India. Proceedings of Zoological Society, 69(1), 38-51.
Jacobson, S. K., Sieving, K. E., Jones, G. A. and Van Doorn, A. (2003). Assessment of farmer attitudes and behavioral intentions toward bird conservation on organic and conventional Florida farms. Conservation Biology, 17(2), 595-606.
Kiran, Singh, D., Kour, A., Priya, Delu, V. and Kumar, R. (2022). Different strategies adopted by birds to sustain ecosystem: A review. The Pharma Innovation, 11(9), 412- 422.
Kumar, P. and Sahu, S. (2019). Avian Diversity in Agricultural Landscapes of District Panipat, Haryana, India. Asian Journal of Conservation Biology, 8(2), 188-198.
Labuschagne, L., Swanepoel, L. H., Taylor, P. J., Belmain, S. R. and Keith, M. (2016). Are avian predators effective biological control agents for rodent pest management in agricultural systems?. Biological Control, 101, 94-102.
La Torre-Cuadros, M. D. L. Á., Herrando Pérez, S. and Young, K. R. (2007). Diversity and structural patterns for tropical montane and premontane forests of central Peru, with an assessment of the use of higher-taxon surrogacy. Biodiversity and Conservation, 16, 2965-2988.
MacKinnon, J. and Phillipps, K. (1993). A field guide to the birds of Borneo, Sumatra, Java and Bali. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Moreau, J., Rabdeau, J., Badenhausser, I., Giraudeau, M., Sepp, T., Crépin, M. and Monceau, K. (2022). Pesticide impacts on avian species with special reference to farmland birds: a review. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 194(11), 790.
Narayana, B. L., Rao, V. V. and Pandiyan, J. (2015). Avifaunal diversity in different croplands of Nalgonda district, Telangana, Southern India. International Journal of Current Research, 7(7), 17677-17682.
Narayana, B. L., Rao, V. V. and Reddy, V. V. (2019). Composition of birds in agricultural
**********
landscapes Peddagattu and Sherpally area: a proposed uranium mining sites in Nalgonda, Telangana, India. Proceedings of Zoological Society, 72, 380-400.
Plaza, P. I., Blanco, G., Madariaga, M. J., Boeri, E., Teijeiro, M. L., Bianco, G. and Lambertucci, S. A. (2019). Scavenger birds exploiting rubbish dumps: Pathogens at the gates. Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, 66(2), 873-881.
Dahiya, P., Singh, D., Delu, V., Yodha, K., Dahiya, T., Kour, A. and Punia, N. (2022). Role of birds in agroecosystem: A review on agricultural and economic ornithology. The Pharama Innovation, 11(7), 2300-2314.
Sekercioglu, C. H. (2012). Bird functional diversity and ecosystem services in tropical forests, agroforests and agricultural areas. Journal of Ornithology, 153(Suppl 1), 153-161.
Sodhi, N. S., Posa, M. R. C., Lee, T. M. and Warkentin, I. G. (2008). Perspectives in ornithology: Effects of disturbance or loss of tropical rainforest on birds. The Auk, 125(3), 511-519.
Stanton, R. L., Morrissey, C. A. and Clark, R. G. (2018). Analysis of trends and agricultural drivers of farmland bird declines in North America: A review. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 254, 244-254.
Stoeckli, S., Birrer, S., Zellweger-Fischer, J., Balmer, O., Jenny, M. and Pfiffner, L. (2017). Quantifying the extent to which farmers can influence biodiversity on their farms. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 237, 224-233.
Traba, J. and Morales, M. B. (2019). The decline of farmland birds in Spain is strongly associated to the loss of fallowland. Scientific Reports, 9(1), 9473.
Tremblay, A., Mineau, P. and Stewart, R. K. (2001). Effects of bird predation on some pest insect populations in corn. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 83(1-2), 143-152.
Whelan, C. J., Şekercioğlu, Ç. H. and Wenny, D. G. (2015). Why birds matter: from economic ornithology to ecosystem services. Journal of Ornithology, 156, 227-23.
