Abstract
Globally, saline lakes occupy about 23% by area, and 44% by volume. Importantly, these lakes might desiccate by 2025 due to agricultural diversion, illegal encroachment, or modify due to pollution, and invasive species. India’s largest saline lake, Sambhar is currently shrinking at a phenomenal rate of 4.23% every decade due to illegal saltpan encroachments. This study aims to identify the trend of migratory birds and monthly wetland status. Birds’ survey was conducted for 2019, 2020 and 2021, and combined it with literature data of 1994, 2003, and 2013, for understanding their visiting trends, feeding habits, migratory and resident birds ratio, along with ecological diversity index analysis. Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) was scripted in Google Earth Engine. Results state that lake has been suitable for 97 species. Highest NDWI values was 0.71 in 2021 and lowest 0.008 in 2019. Notably, the decreasing trend of migratory birds coupled with decreasing water level indicates the dubious status for its existence. If these causal factors are not checked, it might completely desiccate. Authors recommend a few steps that might help conservation. Least, the cost of restoration might exceed the revenue generation.
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Acknowledgements
Authors express gratitude to Asian Waterbird Census, Wetland International and Wildlife Creatures Organization (Phulera, Rajasthan) for primary bird data collection during 2019, 2020 and 2021. We also thank Sambhar Salt Limited for providing permission to conduct research on the lake.
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Conceptualization, LKS; methodology RN; software RN; validation RN; formal analysis RN; investigation LK; resources LK; data curation RN; writing original draft preparation, RN; writing review and editing, LKS; visualization, RN; supervision, LKS; project administration, LKS; All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.”
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Naik, R., Sharma, L.K. Monitoring migratory birds of India's largest shallow saline Ramsar site (Sambhar Lake) using geospatial data for wetland restoration. Wetlands Ecol Manage 30, 477–496 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-022-09875-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-022-09875-3