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River Birds As Potential Indicators of Local- and Catchment-Scale Influences on Himalayan River Ecosystems

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River Birds As Potential Indicators of Local- and Catchment-Scale Influences on Himalayan River Ecosystems Ecosystems and People ISSN: (Print) 2639-5916 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tbsm22 River birds as potential indicators of local- and catchment-scale influences on Himalayan river ecosystems Ankita Sinha, Nilanjan Chatterjee, Steve J. Ormerod, Bhupendra Singh Adhikari & Ramesh Krishnamurthy To cite this article: Ankita Sinha, Nilanjan Chatterjee, Steve J. Ormerod, Bhupendra Singh Adhikari & Ramesh Krishnamurthy (2019) River birds as potential indicators of local- and catchment-scale influences on Himalayan river ecosystems, Ecosystems and People, 15:1, 90-101, DOI: 10.1080/26395916.2019.1591508 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/26395916.2019.1591508 © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. View supplementary material Published online: 02 Apr 2019. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 398 View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=tbsm22 ECOSYSTEMS AND PEOPLE 2019, VOL. 15, NO. 1, 90–101 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/26395916.2019.1591508 RESEARCH River birds as potential indicators of local- and catchment-scale influences on Himalayan river ecosystems Ankita Sinhaa, Nilanjan Chatterjeea, Steve J. Ormerodb, Bhupendra Singh Adhikaria and Ramesh Krishnamurthya aWildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India; bCardiff School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY Rivers are affected by changes in catchment land-use and other modifications to their Received 25 May 2018 channel, floodplains and riparian zones. Such changes can affect biodiversity downstream, Accepted 1 March 2019 and specialist river birds might indicate the effects across multiple scales and through EDITED BY different ecological pathways. The risks of catchment-scale effects on rivers are especially Isabelle Durance acute in the Himalayan mountains, where the world’s greatest diversity of river birds occupies one of the most rapidly changing riverine environments on Earth. Here, we use multivariate KEYWORDS analysis on data collected over two years to investigate the distribution of this group of birds Ganges; principal in relation to natural and anthropogenic variations in riverine habitats along one of the major component analysis; river headwaters of the Ganges. River bird distribution was linked to channel character, bank conservation; species– morphology, aspects of river flow and land use. Riverine specialists were associated signifi- habitat relationship; stream ecology cantly with the least modified reaches characterised by faster flows, exposed bedrocks, banks with pebbles, boulders with more intact riverine forests. Our data provide evidence from which to develop specialist river birds as cost-effective indicators of human impacts on river ecosystems, but further work is needed to separate the effects of natural and anthropogenic influences. Such work could also guide conservation action to help balance the exploitation of catchment ecosystem services with the protection of river biodiversity. 1. Introduction known, the effects of environmental change on the dis- tribution, abundance and range of river birds are often Although they occupy less than 1% of the Earth’ssur- readily interpreted (Ormerod et al. 1986; Ormerod and face, river ecosystems support a disproportionately Tyler 1993; Colombari and Cordiner 1999; Ormerod large fraction of its biodiversity, while acting also as et al. 2000). Moreover, river birds along montane rivers significant corridors for the movement of plants, ani- are easily identified and reliably surveyed by both pro- mals and nutrients (Naiman et al. 1993; Strayer and fessionals and citizen scientists creating an opportunity Dudgeon 2010). Rivers also represent extensive eco- for cost-effective assessment at a range of scales from tones where energy flux, complex physical structure catchment to regional (D’Amico 2002;D’Amico and and flow dynamics have combined to shape the life Hemery 2003; Vaughan et al. 2007). As well as poten- history traits of many species (Townsend and Hildrew tially reflecting wider ecosystem integrity and the status 1994; Robinson et al. 2002). Rivers, however, are also of other organisms (Ormerod and Tyler 1993), birds hotspots for human activity and resource exploitation have particular conservation appeal that could help to which now drive rates of extinction and impairment communicate the importance of river biodiversity more more rapid than in other ecosystems, yet freshwaters in widely (Vaughan et al. 2007). general are rarely incorporated into conservation plan- The world’s piedmont and mountain rivers hold ning (Paukert et al. 2011). At its core, this is an expres- a particularly specialized array of river birds formed sion of a widespread issue in river management in from around 60 species representing 16 different which the downstream effects of the exploitation of families (Buckton and Ormerod 2002). These species ecosystem goods and services in river catchments is range from those totally reliant upon the river chan- not always well balanced with biodiversity protection nel (e.g. dippers and forktails) to those which occupy (Maltby & Ormerod 2011). and use riparian habitats more opportunistically (e.g. Among all riverine organisms, birds are the most Motacilla spp. and Myophonus spp.). This obligate conspicuous, with specialized traits evolved to exploit group of riverine birds is most diverse in areas of the energetic resources and habitat conditions provided the world with large productivity and high topo- by rivers (Ormerod and Tyler 1993; Buckton and graphic variation and is richest of all in the Ormerod 2002). Since their ecology is relatively well CONTACT Ankita Sinha [email protected] Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here. © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ECOSYSTEMS AND PEOPLE 91 Himalayan mountains, where 13 species have over- and 330 m a.s.l. (30°07ʹ03.9″ N, 78°18ʹ26.0″ E) lapping ranges (Buckton and Ormerod 2002). (Figure 1). The catchment of 8847 km2 has mean Complex structural habitats and distinct resource summer temperatures of around 1 to 40°C and partitioning allow several of these species to co- mean winter temperatures of −27 to 8°C, while exist, for example through associations among pisci- annual precipitation ranges from 533 to 2284 mm. vores and aquatic, aerial or ground-gleaning insecti- The river flows through deep gorges and narrow vores (Buckton and Ormerod 2008). As a result, river valleys where the major tree species include broad- birds are affected by both terrestrial and aquatic leaves, conifers and some riverine specialists (Picea processes over multiple scales, making them poten- smithiana, Cedrus deodara, Pinus wallichiana, Populus tially useful indicators of both catchment and river ciliata, Alnus nepalensis, Pinus roxburghii, Acacia cate- quality (Larsen et al. 2010). In such a speciose bird chu, Bauhinia variegata, Celtis australis, Mallotus phi- community as that in the Himalayan mountains, lippensis, Toona ciliata, Adena cordifolia and Holoptelea however, there is still only limited information on integrefolia)(Rajvanshietal.2012). Elsewhere, as in factors affecting distribution and abundance. other areas of the Himalayan mountains and Middle As well as being biologically diverse, the Himalayan Hills, extensive landscape areas have been cleared for mountains are among the most geomorphically agriculture, including pasture land and terracing for dynamic regions of the world characterized by high root crops or arable production (Manel et al. 2000). levels of erosion and dynamism. Furthermore, a wide Himalayan rivers are mostly perennial, but discharge range of global change effects now impact Himalayan patterns are strongly seasonal as a result of monsoonal rivers, including glacial retreat, increasing modification precipitation and snow-melt (Brewin et al. 2000). While of catchments and riparian zones, diffuse pollution, large discharge volumes from the Himalaya provide urban encroachment, impoundment and abstraction major potential for hydroelectric power development (Manel et al. 2000). These changes are so extensive (Rees and Collins 2006), such seasonality means that that the Ganges is now listed among the world’stop power can only be harnessed reliably using impound- ten rivers at risk from over-exploitation (Wong et al. ments. Already, the Bhagirathi has multiple operational 2007). So far, however, the ecological consequences of dams and impoundments along its length, creating exten- these modifications, including the impact on river birds, sive backwaters and leading to the development of towns are poorly known. Nor are there any conservation and villages. monitoring and assessment programmes. Our aims in this paper were two-fold. First, we assessed the distribution of river birds in the upper 2.2. Bird surveys Gangetic river system in relation to river habitat structure. Second, we wished to make an initial appraisal Forty-one river reaches (500 m each) were surveyed of whether river birds might be candidate indicators
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