ABSTRACT KEYWORDS : : Biodiversity, Gota, Wetland, Abundance

Research Paper

Volume-4, Issue-6, June-2015 • ISSN No 2277 - 8160

Commerce

Zoology

Diversity and Abundance of wetland Birds at Gota Lake of Ahmedabad, Gujarat

Patel Haresh G

Dept. of Zoology, M.G.Science institute, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad09

Dr.Chirag A. Acharya

Dept. of Zoology, Shri U.P. Arts, Smt. M.G. Panchal Science and Shri V.L. Shah Commerce College, Pilvai

ABSTRACT

Gota Lake is located to the western side of Ahmedabad city. It is basically natural Lake. It covers an area of 2, 51,709 m2 and its latitude and longitudes are 23000’15.53” N and 72036’11.46” E respectively. Total number of 30 birds species

belonging 5 orders and 11 families were recorded. Cicconiformes is the dominating order of birds. But the future of this

avian fauna is in danger due to industrial progress of the city.

KEYWORDS : : Biodiversity, Gota, Wetland, Abundance

INTRODUCTION Wetland birds provide us with some of nature’s most wonderful sights, from vast flocks wheeling overhead to newly hatched chicks drying in the sun. Apart from their beauty and recreational and economic importance, these birds are excellent indicators of water quality and measures of biodiversity. Wetlands are extremely important areas throughout the world for wildlife protection, recreation, sediment control, flood prevention. Wetlands are important bird’s habitats and birds use them for feeding, roosting, nesting and rearing their young. “Wetlands” have been defined as swamps and other damp areas of land but in common parlance the word is used interchangeably with “Lakes” which denotes a large body of water surrounded by land, However, internationally accepted term of wetlands describes them as “Area of Marsh, Fen, Peat land or water whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary with water, that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt including areas of marine water.
STUDY AREA Ahmedabad city is the heart of Gujarat state and is also rises as the commercial capital. It is located between 22.580N Latitude and 72.350E Longitude. Gota Lake is one of the water-body located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. It shows great avian biodiversity which can attract the attention of bird’s watcher and ornithologist. The Lake is rich in aquatic vegetation. Around this Lake trees, herbs and shrubs are located with some stretch of grassland area. However the lake itself fits in the definition of wetland ecosystem. Ecologically it is an important wetland providing habitat to migratory and local bird species.
MATERIALS AND METHODS Observations were made during January 2013 to December 2013. Regular surveys were done by systematically walking on fixed routes through the study area. The birds were observed during the peak hours of their activity from 0600–1000 hr and from 1600– 1800 hr with the aid of 20X50 Olympus binocular. However, opportunistic records were also collected during other time periods of the day. Birds seen were recorded along with habitat type, season and frequency of sightings of a particular species. Photographs were taken whenever possible using Nikon high zoom camera. Identification of birds was done using field guides (Ali & Ripley 1987; Grimmett et al. 1999), and only those species with confirmed identity are reported in this paper. The checklist was prepared using standard common and scientific names of the birds following Manakadan & Pittie (2001). Residential status of the birds as resident, winter migrant and summer migrant has been assigned strictly with reference to the study area on the basis of presence or absence method. The status of the recorded bird species was established on the basis of frequency of sightings following Kumar & Gupta (2009) as common recorded 9–10 times out of 10 visits, fairly common recorded 6–8 times out of 10 visits, uncom-

mon recorded 3–5 times out of 10 visits, and rare recorded 0–2 times out of 10 visits.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION A total of 30 species of wetland birds belonging to 5 orders and 11 families have been recorded from the study area. Details such as common and scientific names, status and abundance of the wetland birds are presented in Table 1. Cicconiformes appeared to be the most crowded order represented by 7 families. Of all, family Ardeidae dominated the list with 8 species. It represented 26.67% of the total number of bird species surviving under wetland conditions of Gota (Table 2). Out of total 30 species, 20 were resident and 10 were migrant species. Most of the migratory species were winter visitors except Lesser Whistling-Duck and Pheasant-Tailed Jacana which were summer visitors. Based on the frequency of sightings, Red-Wattled Lapwing (Vanellus indicus), Black headed Ibis (Threskiornis melanocephalus), Black Ibis (Pseudibis papillosa), Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus), Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis), Little Egret (Egretta garzetta), Large Egret(Casmerodius albus), Median Egret (Mesophoyx intermedia), Indian Pond Heron (Ardeola grayii ), Little Cormorant( Phalacrocorax niger), Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) and White-breasted Water Hen (Amaurornis phoenicurus) were the common species inhabiting this Lake, while Yellow-Wagtail (Motacilla flava), White-Wagtail (Motacilla alba), Pheasant-Tailed Jacana (Hydrophasianus chirurgus), Darter or Snake Bird (Anhinga melanogaster), Lesser Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis) and Small Blue Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) were rarely sighted.
These water birds were found to utilize different wetland habitats extensively for foraging, nesting and roosting on the emergent and fringed vegetation. Water birds, being generally at or near the top of most wetland food chains are highly susceptible to habitat disturbances and are therefore good indicators of general condition of aquatic habitats (Kushlan, 1992; Jayson and Mathew, 2002; Kler, 2002).The rich diversity of the wetland birds documented during the present study may be because of availability of varied sources of feed as well as foraging. The wetland birds are in general being heterogeneous in their feeding habits (Ali and Ripley, 1987). Thus wetland birds exploit a variety of habitats and depend upon a mosaic of microhabitats for their survival. This habitat by supporting different food sources like fish, crustaceans, invertebrates, water plants and planktons further add to the diversity of wetland birds (Basavarajappa, 2004).

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Table: 1 Wetland birds recorded at Gota Lake, Gujarat.

Sr. No. Order

Family

Scientific Name

Dendrocygna javanica

1

Anseriformes Anatidae

Anas poecilorhyncha

Sarkidiornis melanotos

2

Passeriformes Motacillidae

Motacilla flava Motacilla alba

Vanellus indicus

Charadriidae

Tringa glareola Tringa stagnatilis

Himantopus himantopus

Threskiornithidae

Threskiornis melanocephalus Pseudibis papillosa

Plegadis falcinellus

Bubulcus ibis

Egretta garzetta

3

Ciconiiformes

Casmerodius albus

Ardeidae

Mesophoyx intermedia Ardeola grayii

Ardea cinerea

Ardea purpurea

Nycticorax nycticorax

Phalacrocoracidae Jacanidae Anhingidae Ciconidae

4

Coraciformes Alcedinidae

Phalacrocorax niger Hydrophasianus chirurgus Anhinga melanogaster Mycteria leucocephala Ceryle rudis Alcedo atthis
Halcyon smyrnensis

5

Gruiformes Rallidae

Gallinula chloropus Porphyrio porphyrio Amaurornis phoenicurus

Common Name Lesser Whistling-Duck Spot- Billed Duck Comb duck Yellow-Wagtail White-Wagtail Red-Wattled Lapwing Wood Sandpiper Marsh sandpiper Black Winged Stilt
Black headed Ibis
Black Ibis Glossy Ibis Cattle Egret Little Egret Large Egret Median Egret Indian Pond Heron Grey Heron Purple Heron Black-crowned Night Heron Little Cormorant Pheasant-Tailed Jacana Darter or Snake Bird Painted stork Lesser Pied Kingfisher Small Blue Kingfisher White-Breasted Kingfisher Common Moorhen Purple Swamphen White-breasted Water Hen

Resident status SM WM WM WM WM R WM WM WM
R
R R R R R R R R R
R
R SM R R R R
R
R WM
R

Abundance UC UC UC RA RA C UC UC FC
C
C C C C C C C UC UC
UC
C RA RA FC RA RA
UC
C FC
C

Table: 2 Status of wetland bird families recorded at Gota Lake, Gujarat.

Sr.No. Family

No. of species Percent occurrence

1 Anatidae

3

2 Motacillidae

2

3 Charadriidae

4

4 Threskiornithidae 3

5 Ardeidae

8

6 Phalacrocoracidae 1

7 Jacanidae

1

8 Anhingidae

1

9 Ciconidae

1

10 Alcedinidae

3

11 Rallidae

3

10.0% 6.67% 13.33% 10.0% 26.67% 3.33% 3.33% 3.33% 3.33% 10.0% 10.0%

Fig.: 1 Status of wetland bird families recorded at Gota Lake, Gujarat.

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Volume-4, Issue-6, June-2015 • ISSN No 2277 - 8160

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