Wetland Avifaunal Diversity, Population Status and Conservation Threats in Phewa Lake Pokhara, Nepal

Abstract

The present study entitled “WETLAND AVIFAUNAL DIVERSITY, POPULATION STATUS AND CONSERVATION THREATS IN PHEWA LAKE, POKHARA, NEPAL” was carried out during the period of June 2007 to February 2008. The area covered by the study site was 8.5 sq. km. The direct count method using vantage points (n=10) was followed for the collection of field data. The secondary informations were collected by questionnaire and literature citations. During the study, a total of 39 species of waterbirds belonging to 17 families and 5 orders was recorded. Out of the 39 species, 10 species were resident, 15 species were winter visitors, 10 species were occasional visitor and 4 species were rare winter visitor. The highest number of the birds was found in January (1584) and second largest population was in December (1472 individuals). September had the less population of the water birds (345 individuals). The months from June to November was dominated by Cattle Egret. But in the months of December, January and February, Common Coot had the highest population. The diversity was found highest ( = 2.6228, e = 0.8485) in February and lowest ( = 1.2014, e = 0.4555) in June. The dominancy of individual species was highest in June (C = 0.5058) and lowest in February (C = 0.1020). There was positive correlation (r = + 0.3636) between number of cattle and birds. But this relationship was not statistically significant (t = 1.1086, p < 0.05, df = 7). There was prevalence of seasonality in species richness ( = 29.34, p < 0.05, df = 8). But the number of individuals of the waterbird species were found unaffected by the seasons (months) (F = 1.71, p < 0.05, df = 8,342). The bird communities were more similar (S = 0.7059) between the summer and autumn than between summer and winter seasons (S = 0.5000). Major conservation threats found were solid waste, thriving of water hyacinth, agricultural seepage, hunting birds and collecting eggs, unmanaged tourism and tourist activities, grazing, increasing urbanization, siltation, etc. The efforts to promote sustainable use of Phewa Lake, well managed tourism, minimization of dependency on wetland, discouraging of the nutrient increasing factors in lake, ownership feeling of local people can establish this wetland as an important site for wetland avifauna and other large numbers of species. Removal of Water hyacinth Eichhornia crecippes annually is being helpful for conservation of Phewa Lake via pollution control but scientific measures for the maintenance of the level should be seeked.