Diversity and Habitat Association of Avifauna in Someshwor Range of Madi, Chitwan, Nepal

Abstract

This study was carried out in and around Someshwor range Forest of Madi, Chitwan, Nepal with the objective of investigating the Avifaunal Seasonal Diversity and its association with vegetation structure. To facilitate the research objective, forest range were categorized into two different belts i.e. lower and upper belt on the basis of altitude. Bird surveys were conducted in two different seasons of a single year from January to June of 2014. For the survey, point count method was used for bird sampling on each 50m altitude difference. Human trail were taken as reference line for the plot setup and size of the Plots were of 50 m radius and vegetation character such as DBH, Basal area and tree diversity was measured from the same sampling plots where birds sampling were done. All the data were analyzed by using SPSS-17.0 software. Altogether, 101 bird species belonging to 11 orders and 32 families were recorded. Among them 65 bird species were resident, 22 species winter migrants and 14 species summer migrants. The highest number of species which was 59 was represented by the order Passeriformes. I found significant difference (P-value= 0.674, df = 1, χ2 =1.134) in species richness of birds between two different seasons. The species richness was higher in winter season and lowest in summer season. Easy availability of food, suitable climate, increased vegetation and flowering of plant in winter attracted large number of birds in winter. One way ANOVA revealed that there was a significant difference (F = 5.46, df= 1, P < 0.05) in bird species richness among the two different belt of the forest. The species richness was higher in Lower belt than the upper belt. Different Factors like availability of food and disturbances, elevation, heterogeneity and edge effect were the important factor for occurrence and distribution pattern of birds in different belts in the study area.Sharp effect of altitude variation was seen on the species richness and population of bird species. Tree species diversity and density were found more on lower belt but tree DBH and Basal area were found more on upper belt. The correlation between avian diversity parameters and vegetation structure revealed that Bird species richness was significantly positively correlated with tree species diversity (r = 0.69) and tree density (r = 0.71) but Negative correlation was found between bird species richness and tree DBH (r= -0.539).Habitat disturbances, forest fire, overfishing, Use of pesticides by the farmers near the forest, Hunting and rearing, lack of awareness education were the major threats to the avian community. Further research should be conducted to find out more interesting relation between birds and its habitats throughout the Someshwor range.