Bird Assemblages in a Peri-Urban Landscape in Eastern India

Simple Summary Globally, biodiversity is adversely affected by urbanization. To explore the effect of urbanization on bird diversity in the peri-urban landscape, we surveyed four different habitats and three seasons in Baripada, Odisha, India, using point counts along the transects between February 2018 to January 2019. During the survey, 117 bird species with a total of 6963 individuals were found in the study area, belonging to 48 families and 98 genera, with cropland areas showing the most avian diversity. Among seasons, we observed the highest bird species richness in winter and the highest similarity of species richness in monsoon and summer. Finally, our research found that agricultural landscapes play important roles in preserving bird diversity in urban landscapes. Our study can help local governments with urban planning and habitat management while preserving local biodiversity, including birds.Abstract Urbanization plays an important role in biodiversity loss across the globe due to natural habitat loss in the form of landscape conversion and habitat fragmentation on which species depend. To study the bird diversity in the peri-urban landscape, we surveyed four habitats-residential areas, cropland, water bodies, and sal forest; three seasons-monsoon, winter, and summer in Baripada, Odisha, India. We surveyed from February 2018 to January 2019 using point counts set along line transects; 8 transects were established with a replication of 18 each. During the survey, 6963 individuals of 117 bird species belonged to 48 families and 98 genera in the study area, whereas cropland showed rich avian diversity. Based on the non-parametric multidimensional scale (NMDS) and one-way ANOVA, bird richness and abundance differed significantly among the habitats. Cropland showed higher species richness than other habitats; however, water bodies showed more abundance than others. The similarity of bird assemblage was greater between residential areas and cropland than forest and water bodies based on similarity indices. Among seasons, we observed the highest bird species richness in winter and the highest similarity of species richness in monsoon and summer. In conclusion, our study reported that agricultural and degraded landscapes like cropland play important roles in conserving bird diversity in peri-urban landscapes. Our findings highlighted and identified the problems that affect the local biodiversity (e.g., birds) in the peri-urban landscape. It can assist the local government in urban planning and habitat management without affecting the local biodiversity, including birds.