A Perspective on Avifaunal Diversity and Composition in the Grasslands of Majathal Wildlife Sanctuary, Subtropical Montane Ecosystem of North-western Himalaya, Himachal Pradesh, India
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55863/ijees.2024.3145Keywords:
Himalayan sub-tropical montane grassland, Avifaunal community, Obligative and facultative, Ground dwelling birds, Majathal Wildlife SanctuaryAbstract
The present research work deals with the avifaunal diversity and community structure in the grasslands of Majathal Wildlife Sanctuary located in the Solan and Shimla districts of Himachal Pradesh. The present work has revealed the presence of 34 species of grassland birds belonging to 29 genera spread under 19 families and 5 orders. Of these, 14 species were obligate grassland species that depend on the montane grassland ecosystem entirely and 20 species were found to be facultatively dependent. The 16 species were reliant for nesting in the habitat and 18 species partly use the habitat for nesting. The Pearson correlation indicated a strong positive correlation between grass and bird species. An analysis of the impact of various anthropogenic activities has also been presented in the present manuscript. This study is the first attempt to describe grassland-dependent birds from the sanctuary.
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