Avian diversity in Urban Green and Urban Blue space in Bangalore India
Vinutha R. Bhatta1, Maria Stella A.S.,2 Pavithra Anil2 and Pooja C.2
1Departments of Zoology and Genetics, Jyoti Nivas College Autonomous, Bangalore-560029 (India) 2Jyoti Nivas College Autonomous, Bangalore-560029 (India) Corresponding author-vinodhinibhat@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Birds are the common group of organisms in any ecosystem; they are the important species that help in ecological balance and sustenance of biodiversity. They play very important rolein pollination and also act as seed dispensers, scavengers, pest and rodent control. Urbanization and landscape modification has greatly affected global avian diversity and population due to the reduction of feeding and nesting resources. However, studies have reported diverse avian fauna in many humans dominated cities. Natural or manmade urban structures can provide a heterogenous range of habitatsthat can be used for managing biodiversity.Thus, the present study was conducted to understand the avian diversity in urban green and urban blue areas, two seminatural habitats in the city. A naturallake and seminatural green area located in the urban residential area in Madiwala, Bangalore were selected to document the bird diversity from November 2020 to February 2021. Observation was conducted by surveys in the study areas at particular time. Different diversity indices were used to analyze the data. Species diversity, evenness and abundance was found by comparing the values of Simpson and Shannon indices. During the study a total of 22 species belonging to 15 families were recorded. Individual population in urban bluearea (395) was higher than urban green area (216). The species diversity was found to be grater in urban greenarea (22) than urban blue area (19). Shannon’s diversity index indicated that urban green space (2.584) had higher species diversity than urban blue space (2.417). Similarly, insectivorous, nectivorous and frugivorous birds were abundant in urban green area in contrast to omnivorous and piscivorous species in the urban blue area. Our study confirmed that proper management and planning of urban green and blue areas can help in conservation of avian biodiversityin the anthropogenically altered urban habitats.