Species diversity of birds in mangroves of Uran (Raigad), Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, West coast of India

Abstract

Mangroves are one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems in the world, providing shelter and feeding sites for many animal species. With continuing degradation and destruction of mangroves, there is a critical need to understand the biodiversity of the mangrove ecosystems. Birds are bio-indicators of habitat quality and are sensitive to any subtle changes takes place in the habitat. Monitoring of species diversity is a useful technique for assessing damage to the system and maintenance of good species diversity is a positive management objective. A total of 56 species of birds representing 11 orders, 29 families and 46 genera were recorded from the mangroves of Uran coast. Of the recorded species, 33.93 % belonged to Order Passeriformes, 26.79 % to Ciconiiformes, 8.93 % to Charadriiformes, 7.14 % to Anseriformes, 5.36 % each to Coraciiformes and Falconiformes, 3.57 % each to Columbiformes and Gruiformes and 1.79 % each to Cuculiformes, Pelecaniformes and Psittaciformes. Avifauna of the order Passeriformes is dominant in Uran mangroves and is represented by 11 families, followed by order Ciconiiformes with 5 families. The species diversity comprises 33 residents, 20 winter visitors and 3 occasional visitors. At present, ecological conditions in mangroves of Uran supports moderate density of birds but due to intense industrialization and urbanization, pollution of Uran coast cannot be ignored. Therefore, data presented in this paper can be taken as a base line data.