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Wetland Birds Assemblages in Man-Made Sacred Ponds of Kurukshetra, India

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Abstract

Wetland bird assemblages of four man-made, perennial and sacred ponds of Kurukshetra, Haryana, India were studied to assess the species composition and richness along with their seasonal variation during April 2015 to March 2016. A total of 62 species of wetland birds belonging to 43 genera, 17 families and 8 orders were recorded. Anatidae was the richest mentioned family with 15 species and constituting 24.19% of the wetland bird community in the study area. These wetlands support 32 winter migrants, 25 residents and 05 summer migrants. Most of winter migrant species were encountered from November to March. In the month of January, assemblage of wetland birds was recorded highest compared to the remaining months. Species richness, diversity and evenness of wetland birds varied significantly (P < 0.05) between seasons as well as among habitats. Among recorded species, four species are considered as near threatened, and one species as vulnerable in IUCN Red list. Comb Duck (Sarkidiornis melanotos) and Brahminy Kite (Haliastur indus) are listed in Appendix II of CITES. This study emphasizes the importance of these sacred ponds for resident and migratory as well as special-status wetland bird species. Weed infestation and anthropogenic activities such as festivals, random assemblies and gatherings, dumping of waste materials, noise pollution and electric lightening in the complexes of the sacred ponds during festivals are some major threats to aquatic avifauna. We discuss possible management measures of these sacred wetlands from conservation perspective of wetland bird community.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. B. L Saini for valuable comments and suggestions on an early draft of the manuscript, and for identification of flora. Authors are greatly thankful to Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, for providing necessary research facilities. We are grateful to Dr. Omvir Singh for preparing the map of the study area. We also thank two anonymous reviewers whose constructive comments and suggestions have helped in improving this paper.

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This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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  1. Department of Zoology, University College, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, Haryana, 136119, India

    Parmesh Kumar & Archna Sharma

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  1. Parmesh Kumar
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PK and AS conceived and designed the experiments. AS performed the experiments and prepared rough draft of the manuscript. PK analyzed the data and wrote the final draft of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Parmesh Kumar.

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Kumar, P., Sharma, A. Wetland Birds Assemblages in Man-Made Sacred Ponds of Kurukshetra, India. Proc Zool Soc 72, 61–73 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12595-018-0259-x

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