Dear Label_Name,

Greetings! I hope you are well.

I am writing on behalf of an international publishing house, Science and Education Publishing, USA (http://www.sciepub.com).

Science and Education Publishing (SciEP) is a multidisciplinary open access publisher of Journals covering the fields of Science, Technology and Medicine. All SciEP publications are subject to high-quality peer review, editorial and production processes and are freely available online.

Welcome to the April, 2013 edition of SciEP newsletter, providing monthly summaries of articles on science & education related topics of interest to scientist and professionals. The mission of our journals is to provide an open access forum for publishing new findings on issues pertinent to scientific and academic field. We also invite you to submit original research papers, review articles, short reports, or case studies are considered for publication in our Multidisciplinary Journals.

American Journal of Public Health Research
DOI: 10.12691/ajphr-1-1-3

The Implementation of a Tele-Homecare System with Service Oriented Architecture and HL7 Message Transmission Standard
Ching-Sung Wang

American Journal of Medical and Biological Research
DOI: 10.12691/ajmbr-1-1-2

The Influence of Ethanol on Pyruvate Kinases Activity in Vivo, in Vitro, in Silico
Lelevich Sergey Vladimirovich, Khrustalev Vladislav Victorovich, Barkovsky Eugene Victorovich, Shedogubova Tatyana Aleksandrovna

American Journal of Medical Sciences and Medicine
DOI: 10.12691/ajmsm-1-1-1

Clinical and Histological Features in Wegener Granulomatosis
Li Cavoli Gioacchino, Passantino Rita, Bono Luisa, Tortorici Calogera, Ferrantelli Angelo, Giammarresi Carlo, Rotolo Ugo

American Journal of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology
DOI: 10.12691/ajidm-1-1-2

The Curse of Lymphatic Filariasis: Would the Continual Use of Diethylcarbamazine Eliminate this Scourge in Papua New Guinea?
Anne Lanham, Lillian Mwanri

We have released issues of some journals on February 2013.
American Journal of Public Health Research
American Journal of Medical Sciences and Medicine
American Journal of Medical and Biological Research
American Journal of Pharmacological Sciences
American Journal of Clinical Medicine Research
American Journal of Nursing Research
American Journal of Cancer Prevention
American Journal of Medicine Studies
American Journal of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology
American Journal of Cardiovascular Disease Research
American Journal of Biomedical Research
American Journal of Mechanical Engineering
American Journal of Microbiological Research
Journal of Preventive Medicine
American Journal of Food and Nutrition
American Journal of Hypertension Research
American Journal of Sports Science and Medicine
Journal of Cancer Research and Treatment
American Journal of Zoological Research
Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology
American Journal of Microbiological Research
Biomedical Science and Engineering

We are pleased to announce that submissions are now being accepted for peer review for all the journals across all our subject areas in SciEP.

Please submit your manuscript via our online submission system:
http://www.sciepub.com/author/signin

To unsubscribe from our mailing list, please click on the following link: unsubscribe

I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,

David Rain
Email:join@sciepub.com
Science and Education Publishing (http://www.sciepub.com)

A Preliminary Checklist of Avian Fauna from Raimona National Park of Assam, India

Nilutpal Mahanta, Nazrul Islam*, Rathin Barman, Sanatan Deka, Uditya Borkataki, Tanisha Chhetri, Sanswrang Basumatary, Moklesur Rahman

Wildlife Trust of India, F-13, Sector-8, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract: Birds play very essential ecological functions such as pest control, pollination, seed dispersal as well as nutrient dynamics and they are very good indicators of the ecosystem health in a landscape. Biodiversity inventory and their conservation including ecosystem restoration at landscape level has recently emerged as a global priority for effective management planning to ensure ecosystem stability and ecological functionality. This study aims to create a baseline database of avifaunal assemblages from the recently recognized Raimona National Park in the state of Assam, India. This new protected area is located in the Bhabar belt covering 422 km² area under the Kachugaon forest division of the state. The systematic grid-based line transect method was followed from November 2020 to April 2021 and confirmed the presence of total 227 avian species from the study area among which 7 species were globally threatened. The area also harbours the suitable habitat of critically endangered White-bellied heron (Ardea insignis Hume, 1878). Extensive research and long-term monitoring will be very crucial in the near future for the inventory of more avian fauna along with their conservation in the Raimona National Park.

Keywords: bird status, ripu reserve forest, kachugaon sal forest, raimona, avian conservation

Received September 22, 2022; Revised October 27, 2022; Accepted November 08, 2022

Citation: Nilutpal Mahanta, Nazrul Islam, Rathin Barman, Sanatan Deka, Uditya Borkataki, Tanisha Chhetri, Sanswrang Basumatary, Moklesur Rahman, A Preliminary Checklist of Avian Fauna from Raimona National Park of Assam, India. Applied Ecology and Environmental Sciences, 10 (11). 652-664. January 2022. doi:10.12691/aees-10-11-1

1. Introduction

Birds play very essential ecological functions such as pest control, pollination, seed dispersal as well as nutrient dynamics and they are very good indicators of the ecosystem health in a landscape [1,2,3]. As north eastern part of India holds unique environmental conditions and diversified habitat types due to its geographical position have helped to flourish more than 950 avian species which around 77% of the avifauna recorded from India [4,5,6]. Assam harbours a total 850 avifauna including a few doubtful species which are likely to occur in the state [7,8]. But, at present our global avian diversity is under tremendous pressure of anthropogenic factors like encroachment, deforestation and over exploitation of biological resources that adversely affected the ecosystem functionalities [9,10,11,12,13]. Biodiversity inventory and their conservation including ecosystem restoration at landscape level has recently emerged as a global priority for effective management planning to ensure ecosystem stability and ecological functionality [14,15].

The Ripu Reserve Forest (RF) under Kachugaon forest division of Kokrajhar district in Assam was one of the best managed forests since the late 19th century in the country [16]. The area was well known for huge stretches of sal (Shorea robusta) forest, which were systematically extracted and transported by the colonial authority for making railway sleeper [17,18]. This landscape is one of the Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA Site; IN-AS-37) of the country [19]. The unsustainable trend of forest products extraction and exploitation in the late 20th century resulted severe deterioration of wildlife habitats and major part of the Ripu RF on its southern side has been decimated altogether converting to agricultural land and homestead settlement [20]. To arrest this trend of suicidal destruction of such century old managed natural forest, a larger part (422 km²) of Ripu RF has included in the protected area network and notified as “Raimona National Park” vide Govt. Notification No. FRW.02/2021/27 dated 9th June, 2021 for long term conservation of its wildlife and their habitats in the landscape [13]. No detailed study on the avifauna has been conducted in the landscape yet. The main aim of this inventory survey was to create the baseline of avian fauna found in the Raimona National Park of Assam, India.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Study Area

The survey was carried out in the Raimona National Park (NP) spanning across 422 km² area that falls under Kachugaon forest division in the north-western most part of Assam, India (Figure 1). The Indo-Bhutan International border forms the northern boundary from the Sonkosh river on the west to Saralbhanga river on the east. The Buxa Tiger Reserve (TR) of West Bengal is located on the west and the Phipsoo Wild Life Sanctuary (WLS) of Bhutan is located on the north which are contiguous with the study area.

The study area falls under typical Bhabar belt intersected by numerous water courses. The ground is gently sloping towards south with elevation varies from 85-240m above mean sea level. The soil over the bulk of Bhabar area is dry sandy loam superimposed on a bed of pebbles with only a very thin humus layer. Surface stones are fairly frequent [13,21]. Climate of the study area is moist tropical monsoon type with temperature varies from 7°C to 34°C and with annual average rainfall ranges from 2000mm to 3000mm [19]. Due to its unique geographical location and geology, as many as twelve different types and sub-types from the very moist sal forests, sub-Himalayan high alluvial semi-evergreen forests, moist-mixed deciduous forests, savannah forests, riparian fringing forests to khoir-sisoo forests including the wide river beds classified by Champion and Seth [22].

2.2. Methods

The study area was divided into 104 grids of size 4 km² each (2km x 2km). A total 85 sampling grids were selected randomly for the study those were accessible and representative of the entire landscape. In each grid three line transects of length 1km were laid for conducting the field survey [23]. The survey was carried out following the line transect method by a team consisting of two biologists and two local frontline staffs of forest department during day-time in two sessions i.e., in the morning (06h30-10h30) and in the afternoon (15h00-17h00) during winter and pre-monsoon season for six months from November 2020 to April 2021. Opportunistic observations were also taken into consideration so that every species sighted during the survey period had been well recorded. The birds were observed by the aid of binoculars (Vortex 8X42, Zeiss 8X42) and photographed using digital camera (Nikon Coolpix P900, Canon sx600) whenever possible. GPS data were collected with help of Garmin eTrex 30. For some shy and elusive birds call playback method was also used with help of standard sound recorders (Zoom H6). The recorded avian species were identified in field with the help of standard field guidebook [24]. The identifications of avian fauna were also confirmed with the help of guide book by Ali and Ripley [25]. Broad habitat types, migratory status and conservation status were assigned to the species’ based on the field observation [26,27].

Figure 1. Location map of Raimona National Park in Assam, India

3. Results

During the six months period of survey in winter and pre-monsoon season, a total 267 km walked in transects following the existing forest paths and animal trails in 89 sampling grids in 11 forest blocks of the study area. This survey revealed the presence of total 227 avian species belonging to 19 orders and 58 families distributed throughout different habitat types of the Raimona National Park (Table 1). Out of all the orders, Passeriformes holds around 116 species (51%) making it the dominant order in terms of species richness followed by order Accipitriformes (18 species), Piciformes (14 species), Coraciiformes (11 species), Columbiformes (9 species), Charadriiformes (9 species), Strigiformes (7 species), Cuculiformes (7 species), Bucerotiformes (5 specie), Falconiformes (5 species), Pelecaniformes (5 species), Gruiformes (5 species), Galliformes (4 species), Psittaciformes (3 species), Anseriformes (3 species), Ciconiiformes (2 species), Suliformes (2 species), Caprimulgiformes, (1 species), and Trogoniformes (1 species) (Figure 2).

Table 1. Avian Fauna Recorded from November 2020 to April 2021 in Raimona NP, Assam

Figure 2. Order wise distribution of avian fauna in Raimona NP

Among all the recorded avian fauna, Black-crested bulbul (Rubigula flaviventris Tickell, 1833), Black drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus Vieillot, 1817) and Golden-fronted leafbird (Chloropsis aurifrons Temminck, 1829) were respectively three highly dominant species found in all the habitat types of Raimona National Park. There were total 7 globally threatened avian species found in the study area, out of which two species were critically endangered such as White-rumped vulture (Gyps bengalensis Gmelin, 1788) and Slender-billed vulture (Gyps tenuirostris Gray, 1844); five vulnerable viz., Greater spotted eagle (Clanga clanga Pallas, 1811), Great hornbill (Buceros bicornis Linn, 1758), Wreathed hornbill (Rhyticeros undulates Shaw, 1811), Rufous-necked hornbill (Aceros nipalensis Hodgson, 1829), Lesser adjutant (Leptoptilos javanicus Horsfield, 1821) as well as seven near threatened species. Amongst these, there were a total 43 migratory bird species and 184 were residential bird species as per Choudhury (2000). These includes a total 45 species of aquatic birds and 182 species of terrestrial birds as observed in the field and described by Grimmett et al. (2016) (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Composite pie diagram for habitat types, migratory status and IUCN category of recorded avian fauna of Raimona NP (LC: Least Concern, CR: Critically Endangered, VU: Vulnerable, NT: Near Threatened)

4. Discussion

This short-term inventory survey revealed the presence of total 227 species of avian fauna in the Raimona National Park of Assam which signifies the conservation importance and shows equally important like Buxa Tiger Reserve of West Bengal on its west and Phipsoo Wildlife Sanctaury of Bhutan on its north. A total 284 species of avian fauna recorded from the Buxa Tiger Reserve [28] and total 177 species of avian fauna from the Phipsoo Wildlife Sanctuary [29]. A preliminary survey conducted between Sankosh river in the west and Aie river in the east had recorded a total 270 avian species from the area which was slightly more than our findings [30]. A few notable woodlands avian fauna viz., Pygmy flycatcher (Ficedula hodgsoni), Bay woodpecker (Blythipicus pyrrhotis), Short-billed minivet (Pericrocotus brevirostris), Rufous-necked laughingthrush (Pterorhinus ruficollis) and Greater adjutant (Leptoptilos dubius) were also reported to be present in this IBA site [19]; but our survey couldn’t record their presence in the study area. Short survey period and detection difficulty in dense vegetation cover including some inaccessible locations or terrain like Bamba Forest block along with the northernmost part of Pekua and Polo Forest blocks may have partly resulted the slightly lower number of avian species in the study area. Extensive research and long-term monitoring will be very crucial in near future for the inventory of more avian fauna along with their conservation in the Raimona National Park.

The dominance of order Passeriformes having 116 species of avian fauna indicates the presence of heterogenous habitat types in the study area [30]. The avian fauna of Passeriformes are also known as songbirds because of their excellent singing abilities. The area is a home for around 30 species of predatory bird which include diurnal raptors belonging to order Accipitriformes and Falconiformes and nocturnal predatory birds of order Strigiformes. Raptors plays significant roles as apex predators of an ecosystem and their presence indicates a healthy ecosystem health [31]. The presence of 7 globally threatened avian fauna is an indication that the area needs utmost protection for the conservation of these threatened species. The largest frugivorous forest birds such as Great Indian hornbill, Wreathed hornbill and Rufous-necked hornbill were recorded from the deep forest habitats in the study area which proves that the forest is still pristine at least in some parts but they are sensitive too to the selective logging especially their roosting and nesting trees along with other human disturbances [32]. Presence of Swamp francolin (Francolinus gularis) and Bengal florican (Houbaropsis bengalensis) are also suspected to be present the grassland habitats, but we couldn’t record these birds during our survey period. The recent records of critically endangered White-bellied heron (Ardea insignis Hume, 1878) from Phipsoo Wildlife Sanctuary of Bhutan as well as from Jamduar and Pepsu area of Raimona is an important indication of the fact that the study area holds suitable habitat for this highly threatened bird species [29].

5. Conclusion

The present study is the first of its kind and forms the baseline data in terms avian fauna in the Raimona National Park of Assam, India. Confirmed presence of minimum 227 avian species that includes 7 globally threatened avian fauna is very significant for the area. Extensive research and long-term monitoring in all the habitat types covering all the seasons of the year will be very crucial in near future for the inventory of more avian fauna along with their conservation in the Raimona National Park of Assam, India.

Acknowledgements

The authors take this opportunity to thank the Department of Environment and Forest-Government of Assam and Bodoland Territorial Council for their co-operation and collaboration with Wildlife Trust of India (WTI). We also acknowledge the major funding support of the International Fund for Animal Welfare-IFAW in restoration and conservation of Greater Manas landscape. We are also very thankful to CHD Forest of BTC and DFO Kachugaon Forest Division for providing necessary permission and other logistic supports during the survey period. We specially acknowledge Dr. Rahul Kaul and Dr. Samir K. Sinha for their valuable suggestions and constant support provided at all the time. We also indebted to all the Range Officers and frontline forest staffs including NGO members of Raimona National Park for their constant support and kind help during the survey. The authors are also thankful to the reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions in improving this document.

References

[1]   | Wenny D.G., Devault T.L., Johnson M.D., Kelly D., Sekercioglu C.H., Tomback D.F. and Whelan C.J, “The need to quantify ecosystem services provided by birds”. The auk, 128(1), 1-14, 2011.
[2]   | Sekercioglu C.H, “Bird functional diversity and ecosystem services in tropical forests, agroforests and agricultural areas.” Journal of Ornithology, 153(1), 153-161, 2012.
[3]   | Sekercioglu Ç.H., Wenny D.G. and Whelan, C.J. (Eds.), “Why birds matter: avian ecological function and ecosystem services”. University of Chicago Press, London, 368 pp.
[4]   | Saikia P.K. and Bhattacharjee P.C, “The present status of Waders and other Water Birds of Brahmaputra Valley, Assam, India”. Stilt, 17, 65-70, 1990.
[5]   | Saikia P.K., Saikia M.K., Bhattacharjee P.C., Kalita J., Dutta D., Sarma R. and Saikia D.J, “Diversity of Bird Fauna in North East India”. Journal of Assam Science Society, 41(4), 379-396, 2000.
[6]   | Upadhyaya S. and M. Raj, “Study on Avian Biodiversity of North-east India with Special Reference to the Conservation of Threatened Species”. International journal of Bio-resource and Stress Management, 4(2), 270-277, 2013.
[7]   | Choudhury A, The Birds of Assam. Gibbon Books & WWF-India, NE Regional Office, Guwahati, Assam, India, 2000, 236 pp.
[8]   | Devi O.S., Islam M., Das J. and Saikia P.K, “Avian-fauna of Gauhati University Campus, Jalukbari, Assam”. The Ecoscan. 6 (3&4), 165-70, 2012.
[9]   | Jokimaki J. and Kaisanlahti‐Jokimaki M.L, “Spatial similarity of urban bird communities: a multiscale approach”. Journal of Biogeography, 30(8), 1183-1193, 2003.
[10]   | Fusco J., Walker E., Papaïx J., Debolini M., Bondeau A. and Barnagaud J.Y, “Land Use Changes Threaten Bird Taxonomic and Functional Diversity Across the Mediterranean Basin: A Spatial Analysis to Prioritize Monitoring for Conservation”. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 9, 612356.
[11]   | Rather H.A., Shrivastava P., Gautam V., Ahmad N., Ganie R.A.D. and Hurra W.A, “Effects of anthropogenic activities on bird diversity in an urban waterbody (Bhoj Wetland), Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India”. International Journal of Fauna and Biological Studies, 9(2), 21-24, 2022.
[12]   | Narasimmarajan, K., Chetri D., Ri, C. and Mathai M.T, “Bird Species of conservation concern along the Brahmaputra River in Assam, Northeast India”. Podoces, 8(2), 31-37, 2013.
[13]   | Islam N., Barman R., Deka S., Borkataki U., Chhetri T., Basumatary S., Rahman M. and Sinha B, “Richness and relative abundance of mammalian fauna in Raimona national park, Assam, India”. International Journal of Fauna and Biological Studies, 8(5), 39-44, 2021.
[14]   | Green M.J., How R., Padmalal U.K.G.K. and Dissanayake S.R.B, “The importance of monitoring biological diversity and its application in Sri Lanka”. Tropical Ecology, 50(1), 41-56, 2003.
[15]   | UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme), “Becoming #GenerationRestoration: Ecosystem restoration for people, nature and climate”. Nairobi, 2021. https://www.unep.org/resources/ecosystem-restoration-people-nature-climate.
[16]   | Goswami R.C, Working Plan for the Forest Reserves of the Kachugaon Division, 1983- 84 to 1998-1999, Part I & Part II, Social Forestry Division, Kokrajhar, Assam, India. 1983, 122 pp.
[17]   | Hilaly S, “Railways and colonialism: The Kachugaon forest tramway in Assam”. Global Journal of Indian History and Culture, 1(1), 45-57, 2016.
[18]   | Wary J, “Incredible Tram of Goalpara Forest. Indian Historical Review, 43(1), 135-148, 2016.

[19]  
Rahmani A.R., Islam M.Z. and Kasambe R.M, “Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas in India: Priority Sites for Conservation (Revised and updated)”. Bombay Natural History Society, Indian Bird Conservation Network, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and BirdLife International (U.K.), 2016. Pp. 1992 + xii

[20]   | Narzary G.S, “Forest related activities for livelihood in ripu reserve forest”. Doctoral Thesis. Submitted to Department of Geography, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, India, 2013,196 pp.
[21]   | Mukherjee R.P. and Saha S.S, “The Golden Langurs (Presbytis geei Khajuria, 1956) of Assam”. Primates, 15, 327-340, 1974.
[22]   | Champion H.G. and Seth S.K, A revised survey of the forest types of India. Natraj Publishers, Dehradun, India. 1968, 404 pp.
[23]   | Sutherland W.J. (Ed.), Ecological census techniques: A Handbook, Cambridge University Press, New York, 2006, 408 pp.
[24]   | Grimmett R., Inskipp C., Inskipp T, Birds of the Indian Subcontinent: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and the Maldives. Bloomsbury Publishing India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, India, 2016, 528 pp.
[25]   | Ali S. and Ripley S.D. Handbook of the birds of India and Pakistan. Compact edition. Oxford University Press and BNHS, Mumbai, India, 1983, 3121 pp.
[26]   | Choudhury A, The Birds of Assam. Gibbon Books & WWF-India, NE Regional Office, Guwahati, Assam, India, 2000, 236 pp.
[27]   | UCN (International Union of Conservation and Nature) Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2021-3. 2021. https://www.iucnredlist.org/.
[28]   | Sivakumar, S., Varghese, J.E.E.J.O. and Prakash, V.I.B.H.U, “Abundance of birds in different habitats in Buxa Tiger Reserve, West Bengal, India”. Forktail, 22, 128-133, 2006.
[29]   | Zhongming Z., Linong L., Xiaona Y., Wangqiang Z. and Wei L, “Biodiversity Baseline Assessment: Phipsoo Wildlife Sanctuary in Bhutan”. Asian Development Bank, Philipines, 2018, 143 pp.

[30]  
Hilaluddin and Sharma. K, “Survey of three divisions of Bodoland Territorial Council for addition into protected area network”. In V. Menon, R. Kaul, R. Dutta, NVK. Ashraf & P. Sarkar (Eds). Bringing Back Manas-Conserving the forest and wildlife of Bodoland Territorial Council, New Delhi, Wildlife Trust of India, 66-84, 2008.

[31]   | Mahanta N., Saikia P.K. and Saikia M.K, “Avifaunal Assemblages of Jhanjimuk-Kokilamukh IBA Complex of Jorhat Assam India-A Potential Ramsar Site of Assam”. Applied Ecology and Environmental Sciences, 7(3), 101-109, (2019).

[32]  
Saikia P.K. and Rabha A, Studies on the status and diversity of avian fauna in Manas Biosphere Reserve, Assam. In Rabha et al. eds. Manas: A Set of Technical Article Edition. Reception Committee of the Closing Ceremony of Manas Centenery Celebration. Department of Forest & Torurism, BTC and Manas Tiger Project, 2006, 68-86.