Studies on the Status and Diversiy of Avian
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MANAS A Set of Technical Article cli: STUDIES ON Ser THE STATUS AND DIVERSIY OF AVIAN Jar FAUNA IN 5"( MANAS BIOSPHERE RESERVE, ASSAM. the P' K' saikia & A' Rabha' for TNTR'DUCTT'N exl Conservation of Biological diversity in tr6pissl forest for ecosystems is under threat throughout Southeast Asia owrn= to various anthropogenic problems (Byron and Gillman, ma 1998; Will,ot et. at,2000;Hjll, et al. 2001). The most widesprea: human related problems of tropical forests such as encroachments of forest land, i[egal logging, shifting agriculture causec the forest disturbance which leading to open up the dis canopy (Hill et. al., 2001). As iorest-iandscapes become increasinglr disturbed, ecosystem inputs and outputs are. altered, Gr ani'pieuiously existed core habitats become exposed to external conditions, ail of which results in a progressive erosion of biologicat diversity (Terborgh & winter, l9g0; Tilmwr et al., 1994)' The creation of rapid forest edges exposed open str, to habitats can severely modifiedihe local microclimatic conditions. increasing tree moftality and promote the establishment inr of non-forest species (Lovejoy et at., 19g6;Kapos, l9g9; Laurance et al 1998; Tabarelli et al, 1999). cal It is asserted that the avian faunas are the convenient an( indicators of biodiversity (ICBR 1992) andalso useful for monitoring environmental changes (Furness der &_Greenwoo d,, lgg3).Again, the avian communities are suitable study subject for the of community response to disturbance. For birds, studies for in NJtn America have generally indicated that forest birds. pecies are rulnerable to destruction for of breeding habitat (Askirs oi, rceoy.Although the effect birds have not been studied thoroughly "t of (Leck,1979;Willis, 1979; Bierregaard and Lovejoy, l9g9: of the tropical Th, birds species, for example white-winged I uck- Cairina scutulata,Rufous-neckec Hornbill- Aceros nipalensis, coI many other endemic species such as Arborophilla mendalai, Heterophasia yuhinc bakeri' gracilis, spelaeornis longicaudata, Brach teryx hyperythra, etc. lde are even more vulnerable to habitat destruction than anr birds to such habitat modification vary among species with some forest bird st predation and brood parasitism il;* Dic (Brittingharn& Temple, 1983; Donovan et al, 1995: Su o p r l anrs and an i mar s an d i s v ery . offi fi"ff $ ii] l::#,.ffi f n iiffi JJTffi"i ll;11 ?r':":, "i;;; The species present in disturbed forest and closed ?ffi: ; canopylorest has differ in their conservation values in which restrictei ranges species are of higher conservation priorities (collins eith and Morris, I9g5; New 1991; Spitzer et al, 1997). These endemic species are threatened and sensitive to global mel extinction as the closed tropical forests are disappeared 4.7 million hectares every year since 1990 and which could predicted rec( be extinction of 1-10 % biodiversity in the coming 25 yean (Thiollay, 2002). rec( In recent decades, the formation of artificial forest trot gaps in many tropical forests is much higher in rate than it could be predicted, owing to extensive tree felling. This is particui'aiy rec( true for the smaller pockets of tropical rain forests in North Eastern region, especially in Assam, where illegal tree scol fellers haa formed most gaps as a result of illegal logging throughout the state' since 1992' The present study aimed to find out differences rvitl between butterfly community composition in closed forests fragments and in grasslands/open areas and wetland habitat protected con in a ..u Lf Munus Biosphere Reserve and to evaluate the priority species for conservation. \\'gr METHODS Study area The investigations were carried out from 1994 to 2004 Dat inthe core area of Manas Biosphere Reserve (MBR) in the state of Assam in Northeast India. The MBR is located within the latitude of 25o45,- 26o50, N and Longitude g0o 30,- g1" 26' E' situated in the north bank of river Brahmapritra -'r'hir and about 200 km north of Guwahati city. The northern boundary of MBR is the common international boundary of Bhutan Himalayas. The study area is a foothill of lower Himalayas and undulating in the norlhern boundary and then gradually merging ;alc inio low lying flat plain on the southern side. The river Manas is the largest Himalayan tributary of the rivei :e$ Brahmaputra flowing from the northeastern to western boundary area. - - ------'J of the study *.llc Tropical moist deciduous, :. I tropical semi-evergreen and wet alluvial grasslands characterize area' the vegetation of Studl The invasive trees on the alluvial grassland habital have forming the characteristic tropical scattered forest of MBR. The 68 MANAS A Set ofTechnical Article \- c: :-. r t: cr !e E- L' T. The identification of forest bird's species was based on the information -\ Dickension, (t975). of Ali and Ripley, (19g3) and King and Survey techniques : tr - t E - c necessary. Total of 24 different field trips were made throug Data analysis We estimated the diversity in terms of species richnes ss, as . which combines richness and tirrrn*rdex, t abundance into a single measure 9gg). rarefaction (Heck et aI. 19.75). i We estimated species evenness u'ron,s Ii calculate 95%o confidence intervals for -. sed to s between habitats, pair-wise randomizati order to test for differences in diversity re-samples of species following solo 1te'13). percentage cumulz abundance data a/. ) against log species rank (Lambshead 19831 for .;pu;in; diversity between samptes. et The transact data ofthree habitat studied Forestland, wetl nd and grasslands were computed to evaluate the propor- 69 MANAS A Set of Technical Article tional to undisturbed habitat by the following formula: wt/wt + fdt + gt, where wt: total bird census data of habitat 'W'; n = total bird census data of habitat 'F'; and gt: total bird census data of habitat 'G'. The Propund data were Arcsine transformed for analysis. The variables such as food and migration status of the species were compared with Arcsine transformed data through analysis of variance. Only signifrcant results are presented. RESULTS Diversity We observed a total of 5245 individuals from 422 species belonging to 57 families of birds in grassland, wetland and forestland habitat of Manas Biosphere Reserve (see Appendix- I ). The numbers of species were higher in forested habitat than grassland and wetland habitat. The greatest numbers of species were obseryed in forested habitat (n -- 290), compared with grassland (n: 51 species) and wetland habitat (n: 106). Comparison of diversity between habitat samplings showed that, species richness was different among habitats (330.8 -390.8 species, Table. l; use rarefaction mgthods for species richness in each habitat separately). The Shannon Index of diversity was higher in forest habitat compared with 'grassland and wetland habitat' at 5o/o level (Table. l; Forestland vs. Grassland randomization test, ? : - 1.78 P : 0.01; Forestland versus Wetland randomization test, ? : -1.77 P:0.01). The Simpsons D index of diversity was also significantly higher in the Fie forested habitat than grassland habitat (? : 106.16, P: 0.001; Tablel) and wetland habitat at 5Yo level (? : -l 15.54, P : For 0.001). The percentage cumulative abundance plotted (K dominance, Fig. l) against log species rank for comparing diversity oth between samples (F, W & G) showed that, the diversity of Forest habitat (lower line) was higher than Grassland and Wetland Sta habitat (lower line has higher diversity). In wetland and grassland habitat, the K dominance line crosses each other and therefore showed the ranked differently for different diversity indices (see Lambshed et al. 1983). spe pro Table I Species richness, abundance and diversity of avian fauna sampled in three habitats ( F, W A G ). Simpson and Shannon pro means followed by the same letter are not signifrcantly different atthe 5%o level (pair wise randomized test based on 10,000 0.0 random samples). Rarefaction test was done species richness present for based on absent data ofeach transact ofthe habitat 1A F, W &G. Habitat category w G Individuals 2500 2304 441 Species (total:422) 290 106 5l Richness 398.8 380.4 330.8 (SE) (0.2) (0.3) (0.2) Shannon-winner(H') s.23b 3.46a 3.45a (Variance) (0.00037) (0.0010) (0.001e) Simpson Index 130.2 14.67 24.04 F: Forest habitat; W: Wetland habitat: G: Grassland habitat Figt 70 MANAS A Set ofTechnical Article 100 980 E60 540 €zo 10 100 Log Species Ranlr among forest habitat, Grassland habitat and Wetland ersity than others and the wetland and grassland hab et al. 1983). E1 $ o (5 (,L o .o E o o- Lo CL o o 00 Bird families Figure: 2: Mean proportional abundance of avian species belonging to different families in grassland habitat studied. 71 ,:-/ MANAS A Set ofTechnical Article 't.2 Di ! 1.0 (I' thr o the 0) oL .8 He LL o me .b As .o E cie om Lo n hie bar o z Bu (Tl 00 Ap Fr Bird families Pr Pt Figure: 3: Mean proportional abundance of avian species belonging to different families in forest habitat studied. 1.2 oc 1.0 (g o =.8I c .oE .6 o o_ 0 o_r c (5 o 00 Bird famllies Figure: 4: Mean proportional abundance of avian species belonging to different families in wetland habitat studied. 72 MANAS A Set of Technical Article Discussion Appendix: I. comprehensive Checklist of Avian fauna in Manas Biosphere Reserve Family SFerla English Name Local name Status Podicipididae Tac ny\ b ap t us rufi c o I I i s LittleGrebes Ghilahans C,M Pelicanidae P e le camts ph ilippens is Spot-billed pelican Dhera LM,r Phalacrocoracidae Phalacrrcorat niger LittleCormorant Panikawri C,&LM P carbo GreatCormorant Darkola C,RLM P fiiscicollis Indian Cormorant Koi-lang r,M Anhingdae Anhingarnelanogaster Darter Moniori r,RrLM Ardeidae Atdeacinerca GreyHeron HalKheda r,&LM A.