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Effect of Urbanization and Seasonality in Bird Communities of Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

Effect of Urbanization and Seasonality in Bird Communities of Kathmandu Valley, Nepal Kathmandu Valley, Nepal is undergoing rapid urbanization but its effects on the bird communities have not been reported till date. Kathmandu Valley was categorized into urban, sub-urban and rural to study the impact of urbanization in bird communities. By mobilizing volunteers, we monitored 24 transects each with one km long in summer and winter seasons of 2016. A total of 13,749 individuals of birds belonging to 102 species were recorded. Species richness and diversity of all birds declined from rural to urban areas and showed significant variation along urban–rural gradients. Insectivore was the most species-rich guild while nectarivore the least. The richness of insectivore, frugivore and carnivore guilds showed significant variations along the urban–rural gradients and higher preference towards the rural areas. Similarly, species richness of all birds and richness of insectivore and carnivore guilds showed significant seasonal variation and were higher in the winter season. Our results indicate that richness, diversity and feeding guilds of birds show different response towards the urbanization gradients and seasons. Sub-urban areas can function as bird refugia, however, habitat enrichments (like increasing green spaces, setting up new parks and gardens, plantation of native fruiting trees etc.) are utmost necessary to support the bird communities in urban areas of Kathmandu Valley. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Proceedings of the Zoological Society Springer Journals

Effect of Urbanization and Seasonality in Bird Communities of Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

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References (55)

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 by Zoological Society, Kolkata, India
Subject
Life Sciences; Life Sciences, general; Zoology; Animal Anatomy / Morphology / Histology; Animal Genetics and Genomics; Biodiversity; Conservation Biology/Ecology
ISSN
0373-5893
eISSN
0974-6919
DOI
10.1007/s12595-018-0265-z
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Kathmandu Valley, Nepal is undergoing rapid urbanization but its effects on the bird communities have not been reported till date. Kathmandu Valley was categorized into urban, sub-urban and rural to study the impact of urbanization in bird communities. By mobilizing volunteers, we monitored 24 transects each with one km long in summer and winter seasons of 2016. A total of 13,749 individuals of birds belonging to 102 species were recorded. Species richness and diversity of all birds declined from rural to urban areas and showed significant variation along urban–rural gradients. Insectivore was the most species-rich guild while nectarivore the least. The richness of insectivore, frugivore and carnivore guilds showed significant variations along the urban–rural gradients and higher preference towards the rural areas. Similarly, species richness of all birds and richness of insectivore and carnivore guilds showed significant seasonal variation and were higher in the winter season. Our results indicate that richness, diversity and feeding guilds of birds show different response towards the urbanization gradients and seasons. Sub-urban areas can function as bird refugia, however, habitat enrichments (like increasing green spaces, setting up new parks and gardens, plantation of native fruiting trees etc.) are utmost necessary to support the bird communities in urban areas of Kathmandu Valley.

Journal

Proceedings of the Zoological Society – Springer Journals

Published: Mar 28, 2018

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