Bird biodiversity in Tamil Nadu under severe threat

By SV Krishna Chaitanya  |  Express News Service  |   Published: 09th March 2018 04:52 AM  |  

Last Updated: 09th March 2018 04:52 AM  |   A+A A-   |  

CHENNAI: Bird biodiversity in Tamil Nadu is under threat and 18 out of 39 Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) are unprotected, according to the latest report prepared by Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS).Though the State has improved its tally of bird areas from 34 to 39, habitat destruction, agriculture intensification, industrialisation and urbanisation are eating into IBAs endangering at least 40 bird species.

As per the report titled “Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas in India: Priority Sites for Conservation”, an updated edition released after 14 years of work, four bird species have been categorised as critically endangered, of which three belong to Vulture family.

White-rumped Vulture, Long-billed Vulture, Red-headed Vulture and Spoon-billed Sandpiper have been reported to be critically endangered. There have been no confirmed sightings of Spoon-billed Sandpiper in Tamil Nadu for 20 years. This apart, six species are endangered, eight vulnerable and 22 nearly threatened.

Continued  

Birds and beans: Study shows best coffee for bird diversity

February 16, 2018, Wildlife Conservation Society

It's an age-old debate for coffee lovers. Which is better: Arabica beans with their sweeter, softer taste, or the bold, deep flavor of Robusta beans? A new study by WCS, Princeton University, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison appearing in the journal Scientific Reports has taken the question to unlikely coffee aficionados: birds.

The researchers, led by WCS Associate Conservation Scientist Dr. Krithi Karanth, surveyed for bird diversity in coffee agroforests in India's Western Ghats region. Previous research has demonstrated that shade-grown coffee (typically Arabica) can harbor substantial levels of biodiversity. But coffee production is globally shifting toward Robusta, which uses a more intensive full-sun agricultural systems, which may pose deleterious impacts for forest wildlife.

What the researchers found was surprising: although Arabica avian assemblages were more species rich, Robusta nevertheless offered substantial biodiversity benefits, and supported higher densities of several sensitive avian populations such as frugivores. In addition, farmers use less pesticides in the more disease-resistant Robusta farmlands.

The authors found a total of 79 forest dependent species living in the coffee plantations they surveyed, including three IUCN Red-Listed species: Alexandrine parakeet (Psittacula eupatria), grey-headed bulbul (Pycnonotus priocephalus) and the Nilgiri wood pigeon (Columba elphinstonii). Plantations can harbor a diversity of mammals, amphibians and tree species, too.

Read more at: 

Carefully managed fire can promote rare savanna species

February 14, 2018, University of York

Carefully managed fires generate the maximum diversity of birds and mammals in savannas, new research from the University of York suggests.

In the first continent-wide study of the effects of fire on bird and mammal diversity in the African savanna environment, researchers have found that increasing "pyrodiversity" boosts the variety of species of mammals by around 20% and of birds by 30% in savannas with high rainfall.

The researchers observed that varied burning regimes enabled geographically rare birds such as the Rufous-tailed Weaver and the Black-bellied Sunbird to live alongside more common species.

They now hope to be able to provide conservationists and local populations with guidance and advice on how to use fire as an effective tool.

Lead author of the study, Dr Colin Beale from the Department of Biology at the University of York, said: "Fire is often viewed as homogeneous, but in reality there is a range of different fires characterised by variation in size, intensity, season and frequency of burning. We found that in wet savanna increasing the range of different types of fire in an area allows a wider number of species to thrive.

Read more at: 

Land of the birds: why Australia has the world's greatest diversity of avian life

Australia is home to one in 10 of the world’s unique bird species – and most of the world’s birds can trace their lineage to the continent

John Pickrell

Friday 1 December 2017 02.05 GMTLast modified on Friday 1 December 2017 06.19 GMT

If you live in Australia, you may not realise how unique and special the birds around you are. Our continent was perhaps the most important for the evolution of modern birds, with a majority of the world’s species tracing their ancestry here.

Long ecologically adrift as an island continent, Australia benefited through the evolution of a remarkable diversity of fascinating, colourful, noisy, clever, innovative species of bird.

Australia is home to about 830 species – more if you include neighbouring islands – nearly one in 10 of the world’s 10,000 or so living bird species. About 45% of these are endemics, found nowhere else.

We are lucky to have two of the world’s largest and heaviest birds – the flightless cassowary (which I’m backing in the Bird of the Year poll#teamcassowary!) and the emu – which are perhaps the most superficially similar to birds’ dinosaur ancestors. And related flightless ratites were probably already common across the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana long before Australia split from Antarctica and South America.

Continued  

Bird diversity is breathtaking in Peru

Good Birding

Tony Greenfield / Contributing Writer

NOVEMBER 16, 2017 11:28 AM

The fall monsoon is underway on the Sunshine Coast with torrents of rain, falling leaves and declining temperatures. I have just returned to the above from a trip to the southern hemisphere where the seasons are reversed.

I was in Peru, both in the Amazon and the Andes, where seasons are more defined as wet and dry periods rather than by temperature. November in Peru is a good month to visit as it precedes the rainy season which begins in December.

From a climate perspective, it is questionable whether there is any good time to visit the Peruvian Amazon as it is hot and humid beyond belief. It is the first time I have ever stood or sat perfectly still and yet sweated profusely. After visiting the Amazon, a day later we were in the Andes at 4,400m (about 14,000 feet) in cloud and drizzle and wind, and I was really cold. The switch from heat to cold was difficult to comprehend. 

Read more  

Cold rush: Bird diversity higher in winter than summer in Central Valley

Study highlights need to protect, restore bird habitat year-round

Date:September 23, 2015

Source:University of California - Davis

During the warmer months, the air surrounding California's rivers and streams is alive with the flapping of wings and chirping of birds. But once the buzz and breeding of spring and summer are over, these riparian areas grow quiet. Sometimes it seems as though there are hardly any birds there at all.

Not so, according to a study from the UC Davis Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology.

Researchers examined bird diversity in the lower Cosumnes River and lower Putah Creek watersheds in the Central Valley between 2004 and 2012. They found that just as many bird species used the riparian habitats in the winter as in the summer, and genetic diversity was actually higher in the winter than during summer months.

It turns out that while many birds headed south for the winter to tropical habitats, birds that breed in the boreal forest of Canada flew in to take their place. These "neotemperate migrants," as the researchers call them, include birds such as the yellow-rumped warbler, white-crowned sparrow, fox sparrow, cedar waxwing, and varied thrush.

"You might have to look harder, but there are just as many species there," said lead author Kristen Dybala, a UC Davis postdoctoral student at the time of the study and currently a research ecologist with Point Blue Conservation Science. "We found strong evidence that Central Valley ecosystems are very important in supporting bird populations throughout the year."

Continued ...

Temperature a dominant influence on bird diversity loss in Mexico

Date: July 7, 2015

Source: University of Kansas

Summary: A wide-ranging study of gains and losses of populations of bird species across Mexico in the 20th century shows shifts in temperature due to global climate change are the primary environmental influence on the distributions of bird species.

"Of all drivers examined ... only temperature change had significant impacts on avifaunal turnover; neither precipitation change nor human impacts on landscapes had significant effects," wrote the authors of the study, which appeared recently in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances.

Using analytical techniques from the field of biodiversity informatics, researchers compared current distributions with distributions in the middle 20th century for 115 bird species that are found only in Mexico. They then compared those bird community changes to patterns of change in climate and land use.

Continued ...