Impact of the urban environment on habitat selection of wild avifauna: Center to boundary ecological assessment

Abstract

Urban structures and anthropogenic activities are changing birds' behavior globally. This research work focused on the analysis of avifauna abundance, distribution, and behavior in the Kamoke area (northeastern Punjab, ~20 km2) by anthropogenic activities, novel manmade structures, urban landscape, and spatial distribution patterns. Bird abundance, diversity, and behavior were observed by the point count method and spatial distribution pattern by GIS in the study area including housing, markets, roads, and urban structures. Ecological analysis of urban habitat patches as hotspots indicated a species richness of 36, an abundance of 1994, an evenness of 0.533, and a Shannon-Wiener index value of 1.910. The most dominant species included House sparrow (~586 population), House crow (~452 population), and Red vented bulbul (~277 population). The species which were observed to be lowest in numbers are White throated kingfisher, Wire tailed swallow, and Mourning dove. The spatial distribution pattern in the urban environment of bird species seems to have a relationship with habitats such as urban-specific, park-specific, and urban settlement boundaries specific as indicated by the principal component analysis (PCA). Bird abundance is noted to be higher in the center of the city and gradually decreases towards the boundary of the city. Also, there is a trend in the diversity of birds which increases around the boundary of the city and decreases towards the center. A predictable availability of anthropogenic food items from sources such as waste dumps, marketplaces, public parks, shrines, and rice mills impacts the bird feeding behavior of both resident and migratory species. This study is significant in highlighting the abundance and diversity of native trees which are extremely vital to support the urban ecosystem for avifauna and other species. Environmental planners, authorities, and policymakers can benefit from this study to monitor avifauna diversity in the urban ecosystem.