abh ar Saur v o ol. 16(3), 2020 V Sar . am . N ulffia Beg ya M. Mane ©A. J ©Anoop Raj P ©Aksha ©M. Bubesh Guptha on Wetland Ecosystems including Inland Wetlands (A Centre of Excellence under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Govt. of India) Anaikatty, Coimbatore - 641 108, Tamil Nadu on Wetland Ecosystems including Inland Wetlands Vol. 16(3), 2020 ISSN: 0972-3153 Contents Dr. Goldin Quadros Coordinator, ENVIS, SACON Page 1. Avifaunal diversity observed in the contaminated wetland of Thuraiyur Lake (Chinna Eri) in Tiruchirappalli District, Tamil Nadu 1-3 Mr. N. Mohamed Ibrahim 2. Addition of ten new Ramsar sites in India - a 2020 beginning 4-10 Views expressed in the articles of this newsletter are of the authors only. From the Editors' Desk We welcome original research and popular articles, reviews, reports, The year 2020 has been an eye opener towards several aspects of research highlights, notes, news, snippets, etc., related to the environment conservation, accentuated by Covid 19. The year thematic area of the ENVIS Resource Partner for publication in began with the designation 10 more additional wetlands as Ramsar ‘Sarovar Saurabh the ENVIS Newsletter on Wetland Ecosystems sites of International importance in the country. Keeping with the including Inland Wetlands’. commitment and taking advantage of the pandemic situation the Wetland Division of MoEFCC used the work from home The articles and other information should be neatly typed in double atmosphere to build the National database on Wetlands. The space not exceeding five pages. The figures, graphs/drawings should ministry aims to assess the health status of at least 1000 wetlands be of good quality and clarity. Photographs should be of minimum from the country which could be prioritized for conservation. 300 dpi resolution. References should be limited and cited in the text Understanding and knowledge of wildlife has got prominence in the by name and year. Council of Science editors style may be referred to recent days with improved access to technology. Making use of the for listing references at the end. same, SACON has organized some online competitions and Email your articles in MS-Word 2007 or 2010 format to education material to reach out to the society; the response received [email protected] or [email protected] has been encouraging. In this issue we are sharing information on the 10 new Ramsar sites as well as an article on lesser known wetland that could contribute to the national database. Send the articles in hard copy by post to: I request all the readers to kindly contribute your events, activities, articles and keep us updated on the happenings of the wetlands The ENVIS Co-ordinator, around you. Your inputs will help us keep our website updated and ENVIS Resource Partner, also help disseminate the information to the masses. Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) Anaikatty P.O., Coimbatore - 641108. Tamil Nadu Editor Ph: 0422-2203100, 129 Website: www.saconenvis.nic.in; www.sacon.in Avifaunaldiversityobservedinthecontaminatedwetlandof ThuraiyurLake(ChinnaEri)inTiruchirappalliDistrict,TamilNadu G. Lakshmanan, T. Siva*, A. Muthusamy and P. Neelanarayanan Department of Zoology, Nehru Memorial College (Autonomous), Puthanampatti – 621 007, Tiruchirappalli District, Tamil Nadu Introduction on a wetland in a semi-urban landscape of Tiruchirappalli District, Tamil Nadu. The Ramsar Convention defines Wetlands as 'areas of marsh, ponds and swamps, whether Materials and Methods natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, Study area with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salty, including areas of marine The Present study was conducted in Thuraiyur water, the depth of which at low tide does not Lake (Chinna Eri) (Latitude 11° 8'49.78"N and exceed six meters'. Waterbodies are important Longitude 78°35'34.66"E) situated in resources for human society and used for Thuraiyur town of Thuraiyur Taluk of drinking, irrigation for agricultural activity, Tiruchirappalli District, Tamil Nadu (Figure 1). power generation, fisheries, recreation, The total study area of the lake is 12.3 hectares at sediment control, flood prevention and other an elevation of 138 m above the sea level. The uses. Wetlands are also important for birds, as freshwater lake receives water from Thuraiyur migratory and non-migratory birds depend on big lake located one kilometer north and from the wetland habitat and biodiversity. Wetlands natural rainwater. The lake also receives sewage are crucial for wetland birds that need the water from surrounding urban settlements. habitats for their survival influencing their Avifauna was observed during January 2019 to foraging activity and nesting sites. May 2019 for a period of five months. The Chinna eri is surrounded by agricultural fields on The wetlands are lands transitional between one side and human settlements on the other terrestrial and aquatic system where the water side. The wetland water quality is highly table is usually at or near the surface, or the land influenced by influx of municipal sewage that is covered by shallow water (Cowardin et al., maintains the water level throughout the year. 1979). The direct and indirect human The wetland faces frequent concerns of interferences has led to the loss of wetland encroachment and solid waste dumping. habitats and decline in many water bird populations. It is essential to understand the causes of decline in populations and to control the changes or prevent the loss of key components of the biodiversity in wetland habitats. Suburban areas represent a middle habitat condition between natural and urban environment which has an ideal potential for sustaining varied avian communities (DeGraff and Wentworth, 1986). Water pollution is one of the major issue of urban wetlands in India due to waste disposal of human activities. In this article Figure 1. Location of the Thuraiyur Lake (Chinna Eri) we attempt to document the avifauna dependent SACON ENVIS Newsletter - Sarovar Saurabh Vol.16(3), 2020. ISSN: 0972-3153 1 Methods dominated the wetland which we attribute to the increased solid waste and pollution load Birds were observed from January 2019 to May corroborating the observations made by Sudha 2019 for a period of five months following line and Sangeetha (2017). We also noticed that the transect method during early morning 7:00 am to wetland had high aggregation of plastic waste 10:00 am as the bird activity was high during this adding to the pollution load and reducing the time of the day (Bibby et al., 1998). During the habitat suitability. field visit photos were taken using Nikon D3300 with zoom lens 55 – 500 mm. Binocular (Olympus 10 x 50) was used to record the observations from the distance in order to avoid any disturbance to birds. The avifauna was identified in the field using Grimmett et al. (2011) and the check list (Table 1) was prepared. The list was categorized as per the IUCN Red list, feeding habits and migratory status. Results and Discussion In total, 64 bird species were observed which Figure 2. Monthly variations in the bird orders belong to 16 orders and 39 families (Table 1). The observed in the wetland abundance and diversity of terrestrial bird was It is important to understand the significance of more as compared to wetland birds. The wetlands to wildlife and human and generate maximum bird species were recorded from the awareness among the stakeholders to promote order of Passerifor mes (45.31%) and conservation of the wetland. Wetland rules 2017 Charadirifor mes (12.5%), followed by encourages the formation of District wetland Anseriformes (6.25%), Pelecaniformes (6.25%), authorities and local governance in taking Gruiformes (6.25%), Cuculiformes (4.69 %), responsibility to protect wetlands. The present Galliformes (3.13 %) and Suliformes (3.13 %) paper adds to the knowledge base of Chinna eri (Figure 2). The orders Podicipediformes, and can facilitate the managers in conservation Ciconiiformes, Columbiformes, Psittaciformes, action. Cuculiformes, Strigiformes, Apodiformes, References Coraciiformes and Piciformes were each Bibby, C., Jones, M. and Marsden, S. (1998) Expedition represented by single species. As per the IUCN Field Techniques: Bird Surveys. Royal Geographical Red list all the 64 birds were Least Concern Society, London. species. The wetland has 13 migratory birds that include two local migrants. Among the migratory Cowrdin, L. M., Carter, V., Golet, F. C. and Laroe, E. T. birds eight are wetland birds and five terrestrial (1979) Classification of wetlands and deepwater habitats of the United States, U.S. Fish and Wildlife migratory birds. Maximum of 12 migratory Service, Washington, DC. species were observed in January 2019 that reduced to four up to May 2019. DeGraff, R. M. and Wentworth, J. M. (1986) Avian guild structure and habitat associations in sub urban bird The birds sighted were categorized into eight communities, Urban Ecology. (9), 399-412. types on the basis of their feeding habits, ie., Grimmett, R., Inskipp, C. and Inskipp, T. (2011) Birds Insectivorous (39.06%), Carnivorous (14.06%), of Indian Subcontinent. Princeton University Press, Omnivorous (29.69%), Granivorous (6.25%), India. pp.528. Piscivorous (3.13%), Frugivorous (3.13%), Sudha, R and Sangeetha, T. (2017) Comparative study Nectorivorous (3.13%) and Molluscivorous of water quality parameters of lake water (Chinna (1.56%). From the avifaunal observations it was Eri) with surrounding bore well water samples, evident