Post-monsoon bird assemblages in rural and riverine environments of Northern Howrah, West Bengal, India: A spatio-temporal approach

Abstract

The primary goal of this study was to evaluate avian assemblages in four different land types (Wetland Associated Bamboo Forest, Agricultural Land, Wetland Associated Agricultural Land and Riverside Agricultural Land) located in a flood prone area of South Bengal during the post monsoon months of 2020. Surveys were conducted for 48 days in a land type and time dependent manner to explore the changes in abundance, dominance, evenness and species richness. A total of 18654 observations belonging to 16 orders, 44 families, 70 genera and 81 species were recorded. Despite having lowest total count and third species rich area, Bamboo Forest emerged as the most diverse area with the highest Shannon index (3.37), Evenness index (0.4616) and lowest dominance index (0.06108). Bamboo forests exhibited the maximum values of Simpson 1-D (0.9389), Brillouin index (3.312), Menhinick Index (1.261), Equitability (0.8134) and alpha diversity (Fisher’s alpha 11.74). Having maximum number of species occurrence (69), Riverside agricultural land was found to be the least diverse land type (Shannon index 2.847) showing highest value of dominance (0.1203). December attracted the most diverse (Shannon index 3.474) bird community and October showed the lowest value of Shannon index (2.919) with maximum value of dominance (0.123). We conclude that protection of natural habitats like bamboo forests, wetland and tree cover in small villages and proper management of agricultural lands is necessary for promoting species diversity and evenness in a rural environment.