Correlation Between the Type of Vegetation and Occurrence of Birds in Agrifields

Abstract

Avian diversity in four areas of agrifields of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana was studied in order to find a correlation between agricultural land use, woody vegetation and the occurrence of bird species. The areas included College Orchard (Transect I), Agrifields of Oil seed section of Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics adjacent to orchards of PAU (Transect II), Crop field area of Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics on the back of Thapar Hall, PAU (Transect III) and Experimental area of Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics of PAU (Transect IV) which was without any trees around it. A total of 12,642 birds including 30 different species were recorded in all the four transects. The total no. of birds (5,074) and species (22) was highest in transect IV. House crow, red wattled lapwing, rose ringed parakeet and common myna were found to be the dominant birds in Transect I, II, III and IV respectively. Species richness and species diversity varied throughout the year. All the four areas had one or the other crop which attracted a number of bird species for food and the adjacent woody vegetation in Transect I, II and III providing nesting, perching and roosting sites to birds. It reveals that both the trees and food availability in the agrifields attract different bird species for different purposes like food, nesting and roosting.