Impact of human habitation on avian diversity in Beas river conservation reserve

Abstract

ABSTRACT Three transects having high river resources (T1), high human habitation (T2) and moderate human habitation and high river resources (T3) were selected along the Beas river conservation reserve. A total of 43,282 birds belonging to 20 orders and 241 species were recorded with species richness of 231, 114, and 179 in T1, T2, and T3 respectively during the study period of two years. The Shannon-Wiener and Simpson indices varied from 3.85 to 4.65 and 0.971 to 0.986 respectively; T2 had minimum values for both the indices indicating an inverse relationship with human habitation. T3 and T1 transects had higher beta diversity both at the replacement and richness scale. Study findings revealed that human habitation has a negative influence on avian species richness and evenness; therefore curbing or limiting land-use changes may help to rejuvenate the avian density and richness along the river.