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Guanotrophication by Waterbirds in Freshwater Lakes: A Review on Ecosystem Perspective

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Mathematical Analysis and Applications in Modeling (ICMAAM 2018)

Part of the book series: Springer Proceedings in Mathematics & Statistics ((PROMS,volume 302))

Abstract

Freshwater lakes throughout the world are nowadays threatened by climate change and eutrophication. As a result the crisis of drinking water and disease outbreak resulting from poor water quality has become a global issue for policymakers. Waterbirds are an inherent part of freshwater lake ecosystem and the effects of waterbird on lake ecosystem remain an important area of research in the last century. Many freshwater lakes throughout the globe support a huge number of waterbird congregations. Nutrients from waterbird droppings may serve as an important source of nutrients to those freshwater lakes and sometime may lead to eutrophication (by excess nitrogen and phosphorus loading). Waterbird can modulate the nutrient dynamics of the waterbody in two ways: (i) by changing the form of nutrient in the waterbody (nutrient cycling), (ii) by bringing nutrient from another area to waterbody (external nutrient loading) and the vice versa (nutrient input). Several attempts have been taken to estimate nutrient loading by waterbirds in waterbodies and mostly relies on extrapolation from bird count. Recent approaches incorporate avian bioenergetics for nutrient loading estimation. Effects of bird faeces on water quality, the faecal nutrient content of different species, nutrient loading estimation methods, factors affecting nutrient loading by waterbirds, ways to reduce the nutrient level in the waterbody and nutrient cycling pathways of waterbird faeces in the aquatic ecosystem are reviewed in this article with a brief future perspective. The study of guanotrophication is not only important with respect to water quality maintenance but also for conservation of waterbirds and their habitat.

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Acknowledgements

The authors greatly acknowledge the financial support provided by University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi, India under the scheme of UGC-NET JRF fellowship. The author is thankful to Dr. Joyita Mukherjee, Dr. Fahad Al Basir, Dr. Arnab Banerjee, Nabyendu Rakshit and Swagata Sinha for their kind suggestions. The authors are also thankful to anonymous reviewer for important suggestions for the improvement of the article.

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  1. Systems Ecology & Ecological modeling Laboratory Department of Zoology, Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, 731235, India

    Sagar Adhurya, Suvendu Das & Santanu Ray

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  1. Sagar Adhurya
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  2. Suvendu Das
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  1. Department of Mathematics, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

    Priti Kumar Roy

  2. College of Science, Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing, China

    Xianbing Cao

  3. College of Mathematics and Information Science, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang, Xinjiang, China

    Xue-Zhi Li

  4. Department of Mathematics, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

    Pratulananda Das

  5. Harish-Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Satya Deo

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Adhurya, S., Das, S., Ray, S. (2020). Guanotrophication by Waterbirds in Freshwater Lakes: A Review on Ecosystem Perspective. In: Roy, P., Cao, X., Li, XZ., Das, P., Deo, S. (eds) Mathematical Analysis and Applications in Modeling. ICMAAM 2018. Springer Proceedings in Mathematics & Statistics, vol 302. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0422-8_22

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