Season and landscape element wise changes in the community structure of avifauna of Tamhini, Northern Western Ghats, India

Abstract

The biological resources of the Western Ghats are under threat due to deforestation and other anthropogenic activities. As monitoring and mapping the biodiversity is the first step in the systematic conservation planning, our study takes the initial step of documenting avifaunal diversity and distribution along the seasonal gradient and across five landscape elements. We monitored bird community in Tamhini, northern Western Ghats, across six seasons and five landscape elements using line transect method for two years. The data were analysed for a and b diversity. Maximum a diversity was reported in early winter, spring and summer. Disturbed areas with human interference showed maximum diversity. Season wise analysis revealed high b diversity, while in landscape element wise it was comparatively less. Our analysis suggests that the avifauna of Tamhini shows highly dynamic population changes, which could be attributed to north-south migration, local migration, breeding seasons, vegetation changes, food availability and availability of water. Our findings in the seasonal and landscape wise Retribution of avifauna are important with respect to monitoring animal diversity and defining conservation strategies in the northern Western Ghats