Volume 24, Issue 73, January - June, 2023

Assortment of Avian Fauna and consequences of human activities at Pahuj and Sukma Dukma Reservoir of Jhansi District in Uttar Pradesh, India

Sonika Kushwaha¹, Akhilesh Kumar¹, Aman Singh¹, Devendra Kumar²

¹Indian Biodiversity Conservation Society, Khailar, BHEL-Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India
²Ex. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Environment, Forest and Climate Change Department-Bundelkhand Zone, Uttar Pradesh, India

ABSTRACT

With the depleting biodiversity every day, birds are becoming the most flanking fauna around human beings. For sheer charisma, embellishment, adaptability and accessibility the avifauna is evidently unsurpassable and incomparable. With the ecological services rendered by the bird species particularly in maintaining the healthy environment, it is of utmost importance to learn about them. For that reason, scientific study on bird species and the threats to them was carried out at important reservoirs-Pahuj and Sukwa Dukwa located in Jhansi district from December 2015- December 2022. This was to provide attention-grabbing information on the avian fauna of these reservoirs and to recognize them as an important bird watching sites for the citizens of Jhansi and neighboring areas. Pahuj reservoir built on Pahuj River, also known as Simardha Reservoir is located at 7 km from Jhansi city. The Sukwa Dukwan dam about 40 km from Jhansi is built on river Betwa. The International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage named it as the World Heritage Irrigation Structure in 2022. Lines transect and Point count methods were used to carry out birds’ survey. Total number of 181 bird species in 47 families was recorded during study including both residential and migratory species. The observations showed that there was a significant relationship between winter temperature and bird species diversity; because as temperature increases, diversity of bird species decreases. The results conclude that birds are good indicators of these two reservoirs and reveal the disturbances caused by human activities. It is therefore recommended that regular monitoring of the sites should be carried out so as to protect the birds and manage the unwanted changes due to human activities.

Keywords: Avian Fauna; human activities; ecology; bird species

Species, 2023, 24(73), e55s1555

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi/v24i73/e55s1555

Published: 24 June 2023