Abstract
The present study were made to estimate the avian fauna in terms of species richness and diversity and guild structure in forest habitats of Nainital district of Uttarakhand (350–2.450 m asl; 29° N). Field studies were conducted during January 2007 to December 2008. Total 43, 62 and 42 species were recorded from, Haldwani, Bhowali and Nainital forest habitats. Results indicate the species relationship between Bird species richness (BSR) and elevation sections (forest habitats) was not decline simultaneously along elevation; it shows hump shaped. BSR varied considerably along elevational gradient (43 to 62 species), was highest (62 species) at mid elevation (Mixed pine forest, 1.350–1.700 m asl) and decreased (20 species) at high elevation (Conifer forest, 1900–2450 m asl). It seems that mid altitude bulge is not caused by the presence of a group of mid altitude specialists but rather that there is an overlap in the distribution of low land and high elevation specialists at this altitude. A checklist of 79 avian species has also produced of Nainital district forest habitats. It is suggested that this study provide a base line structure for further study on species distribution in different forest habitats and along different elevation section in Western Himalayas (India).
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ali, S., The Himalayas in Indian Ornithology, in The Himalayas: Aspects of Change, Lall, J.S. and Moddie, A.D., Eds., New Dehli: Oxford Univ. Press, 1981, pp. 16–31.
Ali, S., and Ripley, D., Birds of India and Pakistan, Bombay: Oxford Univ. Press, 1998.
Beehler, B.C., Krishna Raju, K.S.R., and Shahid, A., Avian Use of Man-Disturbed Forest Habitats in the Eastern Ghats, India, Ibis, 1987, vol. 129, pp. 197–211.
Beissinger, D.R., and Osborne, D.R., Effect of Urbanization on Avian Community Organization, Condor, 1982, vol. 84, pp. 75–83.
Block, M.W., and Brennan, L.A., The Habitat Concept in Ornithology, Curr. Ornithol., 1987, vol. 11, pp. 35–91.
Briggs, F.S., Birds Observed in the Neighbourhood of Ran-khet, J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 1931, vol. 34, pp. 1072–1079.
Brotons, L., and Herrando, S., Factors Affecting Bird Communities in Fragments of Secondary Pine Forests in North-Western Mediterranean Basin, Acta Oecol., 2001, vol. 22, pp. 1–11.
Cody, M.L., Habitat Selection in Birds. New York: Academic Press, 1985.
Colwell, R.K., and Lee, D.C., The Mid-Domain Effect: Geometrical Constraints on the Geography of Species Richness, Trends Ecol. Evol., 2000, vol. 15, pp. 70–76.
Colwell, R.K., Rahbek, C., and Gotelli, N.J., The Mid-Domain Effect and Species Richness Patterns: What Have We Learned So Far?, Am. Nat., 2004, vol. 163, pp. E1–E23.
Daniels, R.J.R., A Conservation Strategy for the Birds of the Uttara Kannada District, Ph.D. Thesis, Bangalore: Indian Institute of Science, 1989.
Gaston, K.J., Rarity (Population, and Community Biology Series 13), London: Chapman and Hall, 1994.
Grimmett, R., Inskipp, C., and Inskipp, T., Birds of the Indian Subcontinent, New Delhi: Oxford Univ. Press, 1998.
Hudson, C.A., List of Some Birds of the Seven Hills of Nainital, U.P., J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 1930, vol. 34, pp. 821–827.
Jerdon, T.C., Birds of India, vol. 2 (3 parts), Calcutta, 1862–1864.
Jetz, W. and Rahbek, C., Geometric Constraints Explain Much of the Species Richness Pattern in African Birds, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A., 2001, vol. 98, pp. 5661–5666.
Joshua, J., and John Singh, A.T.J., Observation on Birds on Mundathurai Plateau, Tamilnadu, J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 1986, vol. 75, pp. 1028–1035.
Joshua, J., and John Singh, A.T.J., Avifauna in Three Vegetation Types on Munduthurai Plateau, J. Trop. Ecol., 1994, vol. 10, pp. 323–335.
Kropil, R., Structure of the Breeding Bird Assemblage of the Fir-Beech Primeval Forest in the West Carpathians (Badin Natural Reserve), Folia Zool., 1996, vol. 45, pp. 311–324.
Kunte, K., Jogleker, A., Utkarsh, G., and Pramod, P., Patterns of Butterfly, Bird, and Tree Diversity in the Western Ghats, Curr. Sci., 1999, vol. 77, pp. 577–586.
Lamba, B.S., Status Survey of Fauna: Nanda Devi National Park (Mammals and Birds), Rec. Z.S.I. Occasional Publ. no. 103, 1987.
Lee, P.F., Ding, T.S., Hus, F.H., and Geng, S., Breeding Bird Species Richness in Taiwan: Distribution on Gradients of Elevation, Primary Productivity and Urbanization, J. Biogeogr., 2004, vol. 31, pp. 307–314.
Lefebvre, G. and Poulin, B., Bird Communities in Panamanian Black Mangrove: Potential Effects of Physical and Biotic Factor, J. Trop. Ecol., 1997, vol. 13, pp. 97–113.
MacArthur, R.H. and MacArthur, J.H., On Bird Species Diversity, Ecology, 1961, vol. 42, pp. 594–598.
Magurran, A.E., Measuring Biological Diversity, Carlton, Victoria: Blackwell, 1988.
Morrison, M.L., Bird Abundance in Forests Managed for Timber and Wildlife Resources, Biol. Conserv., 1992, vol. 60, pp. 127–134.
Pramod, P., Joshi, N.V., Ghate, U., and Gadgil, M., On the Hospitability of Western Ghats Habitats for Bird Communities, Curr. Sci., 1997, vol. 73, pp. 122–127.
Price, T.D., The Seasonality and Occurrence of Birds in the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh, J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 1979, vol. 76, pp. 379–422.
Rahbek, C., The Elevation Gradient of Species Richness: A Uniform Pattern, Ecography, 1995, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 200–205.
Rahbek, C., The Relationship among Area, Elevation, and Regional Species Richness in Neotropical Birds, Am. Nat., 1997, vol. 149, pp. 875–902.
Ramesh, B.R., Pattern of Richness and Endemism of Aborescent Species in the Evergreen Forests of the Western Ghat, India, Tropical Ecosystems: Structure, Diversity and Human Welfare. Proc. Int. Conf. Trop. Ecosyst., Ganeshian, K.N., Umashankar, R., and Bawa, K.S., Eds., New Delhi: Oxford IBH, 2001.
Satyakumar, S., Conservation Status of Mammals and Birds in Nandadevi National Park: An Assessment of Changes over Two Decades, in Biodiversity Monitoring Expedition Nanda Devi 2003: A Report, 2003, pp. 1–14.
Sharma, R.K., Avian Diversity and Vegetation Association in Four Distinct Habitat Types in Haridwar, Ph.D. Thesis, Haridwar, Uttarakhand: Gurukula Kangri Univ., 2001.
Shiu, H.J. and Lee, P.F., Assessing Avian Point-Count Duration and Sampling Size Using Species Accumulation Functions, Zool. Stud., 2003, vol. 42, pp. 357–367.
Singh, A.P., Birds of Lower Garhwal Himalayas Dehradun Valley and Neighboring Hills, Forktail, 2000, vol. 16, pp. 101–123.
Singh, L.S. and Bhatt, D., Avian Diversity and Vegetational Association in Four Distinct Landscape Elements in Bishupur District and Adjoining Area of Manipur, Ph.D. Thesis, Haridwar, Uttarakhand: Gurukula Kangri Univ., 2004.
Sultana, A., and Khan, J.A., Birds of Oak Forest in the Kumaun Himalaya, Uttar Pradesh, India, Forktail, 2000, vol. 16, pp. 131–146.
Sultana, A., Hussain, M.S., and Khan, J.A., Bird Communities of the Proposed Naina and Pindari Wildlife Sanctuaries in the Kumaon Himalaya, Uttarakhand, India, J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 2007, vol. 104, pp. 19–29.
Tak, P.C., Aves, in Himalayan Ecosystem Series: Fauna of Western Himalaya, part 1: Uttar Pradesh, Calcutta: Zool. Survey of India, 1995, pp. 169–200.
Tak, P.C. and Kumar, G., Wildlife of Nanda Devi National Park: An Update, Indian J. For., 1987, vol. 10(13), pp. 184–190.
Tak, P.C. and Sati, J.P., Birds of Goriganga Valley: Kumaon Himalaya, Cheetal, 1994, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 17–26.
Thiolly, J.M. and Meyburg, B.U., Forest Fragmentation and the Conservation of Raptors: A Survey on the island of Java, Biol. Conserv., 1988, vol. 44, pp. 229–250.
Valdiya, K.S. and Bartarya, S.K., Geology of Kumaon Lesser Himalaya, Dehradun: Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, 1980.
Verner J. Assessment of Counting Technique, Curr. Ornithol., 1985, vol. 2, pp. 247–463.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
The article is published in the original.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Joshi, K., Bhatt, D. Avian species distribution in different elevation zone forest (Sal, Pine Mixed And Oak) in nainital district of uttarakhand, India. Russ J Ecol 44, 71–79 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1067413612050074
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1067413612050074