Avifauna of Saurashtra University Campus , Rajkot , Gujarat , India

We examined the avifauna of Saurashtra University Campus (SUC), Rajkot, Gujarat from July to December 2017. The study area was divided into four sections: North (N), East (E), South (S) and West (W) and surveyed over 18 visits (four line transects/visit). We recorded a total of 82 bird species from 67 genera, 40 families and 16 orders. Of these 57 species were terrestrial and 25 aquatic. By population size the most abundant birds were members of Columbidae (28%), Sturnidae (13%), and Charadridae (8%). Seventy per cent of birds observed (n=7665) were classed as very common and 2% (n=261) as very rare. Species density (S/N = 3.39) and population density (n/N = 196) were at their maximum in December. Ecological indices on temporal base reveal high species richness and Simpson diversity (1/D =17.0 and 1-D= 0.942) in August and November and Shannon diversity was high (H’=3.275) in November during study period.


INTRODUCTION
Birds play key roles as agents of flower pollination and seed dispersal (Nason 1992). Likewise, structurally complex habitats provide more niche and diverse ways of exploiting environmental resources, increase species diversity (Bazzaz 1975), and the inter-relationship between vegetation and bird population (Mac Arthur & Mac Arthur 1961) including the positive and negative changes in the bird population result in the transformation of the natural environment (Emlen 1974). Skead (1966), Maxwell & Kale (1977), and McCrimmon (1978) have discussed that the habitat is significant for the successful completion of the life cycle of the organism. The highly dynamic nature of urban ecosystems means that a small effort in management can have a great effect on bird abundance and diversity (Savard et al. 2000). It is stated by Tews et al. (2004) that animal species diversity is driven by habitat heterogeneity.
The present work deals with urban ecosystems using birds as a target group. Birds are quite sensitive to changes in habitat structure and composition, and are, therefore, excellent indicators of changes and stresses in the urban ecosystem (Savard & Falls 1982;Clergeau et al. 1998). Joshi (2009) reported 79 species of birds from some reservoirs of Rajkot City and 30 species of water birds from Nyari Dam1 (Vadhel 2010) of Rajkot. Past record of year 2016 on avifauna from Saurashtra University Campus (SUC), Rajkot reports a total of 80 species of birds belonging to 66 genera of 39 families (Gohil 2017). The current study of avian fauna was carried out to understand the impact of the current developmental work being undertaken in the SUC on habitat suitability for wildlife in the coming years. Moreover, every year habitat characteristics are changing due to the construction of new buildings, decrease in open landscapes and fragmentation of the various macro and micro-habitats in SUC. So, the specific attention on avian diversity of SUC is the intention of the present study. In addition, the study also aims to develop a wildlife database on wildlife of this university campus.
This study presents a checklist of birds with updated systematic, familial distribution, abundance status, species composition, conservation status and their population on temporal base including ecological indices. Hypothetically, it is assumed that the overall bird population and their species community assemblage is expected to diversify on temporal scale as well as with changes in macro and microhabitat types at SUC, Rajkot.

STUDY AREA
Saurashtra University Campus (SUC) Rajkot (Latitude: 22.2916100 0 , Longitude: 70.7932200 0 , 140m) is located at the centre of peninsular Saurashtra region in Gujarat State (Fig. 1A). The climate of Rajkot is tropical arid to semi-arid with three distinct seasons each year, monsoon, winter, and summer. The annual rainfall is erratic in its occurrence, duration and intensity. Annual rainfall was high 1,311.2mm during 2017; average temperature varies between 21.5˚C and 34.5˚C and average humidity ranges between 57.9 and 88.4% (morning) and 17.4 to 80.3% (evening). The area is spread over 1,456km 2 (360 acres) with hilly terrain (Fig. 1B). The

METHODS
The work was carried out during July to December 2017 at Saurashtra University Campus (SUC), Rajkot Gujarat. To record the birds of all four sections (i.e., North, East, South, and West) surveyed using line transects (by road 1km long and 5m broad right and left using binocular) and some places at water reservoirs by point count methods. Inside each zone approaching peripheral boundaries by road with motor bike, by walk-ways and walk at random. Data records on bird sightings, the birds present in and around the selected four sections at SUC; including overflying individuals or flock, resting on trees, feeding on the ground and some individual as well as large flock by photos also.
In total 18 surveys (3 visits/month and 4 transects/ visit in each sections) were done during study periods from 06:00hrs to 12:00hrs and 90 minutes were spent at each section. The data were collected using a pair of binoculars (Olympus, 12 X 50) and photographs (Sony cyber shot 18.2 mega pixel 20x zoom) by digital still camera for close examinations.
Systematic updates, identification of birds were J TT followed by using references such as Ali & Ripley (1983), Sugathan & Varghese (1996)
A checklist of birds with systematics including conservation status is followed as per IUCN (2020-version 1), WPA (1972) and CITES (2020) ( Table 1). Classification was followed and updated (Praveen et al. 2018;Satose et al. 2020); familial number and percentages of individual birds, genera and species were calculated (Table 2

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A total 82 species of birds, belonging to 67 genera, 40 families and 16 orders were recorded. Of these, terrestrial population (86.82%) of birds and species (n-57, 69.51%) were higher than aquatic population (13.18%) and numbers of species (n-25, 30.49%) of birds (Table 1, 2) during study period at studied areas.
Out of 17 very common bird species, nine species were sighted in every visit (100%) namely Rock Pigeon, Eurasian Collared Dove Streptopelia decaocta, Laughing Dove Streptopelia senegalensis, Asian Koel Eudynamys scolopaceus, Red-wattled Lapwing, House Sparrow Passer domesticus, Red-vented Bulbul Pycnonotus cafer, Common Myna and Indian Robin Saxicoloides fulicatus. There were eight common species sighted between 11 and 14 visits out of the 18 visits; among these, the most dominant were Rosy Starling (13 times out of 18, n=796); as Indian Silverbill Euodice malabarica (n=362) and Purple Sunbird Cinnyris asiaticus (14 times out of 18, n=139). Fifteen species were occasionally seen, 22 species rare and 20 species were very rare; among the very rare category, the rarest one was Marsh Sandpiper Tringa stagnatilis. Long-legged Buzzard Buteo rufinus and Lesser White throat (Sylvia curruca) were sighted only once during the survey (Table 1).

Conservation status of avian fauna
The SUC supports six species of birds included in Schedule I, 70 species included in Schedule IV of the Wildlife Protection Act (WPA, 1972) and six species that are listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES 2020). As per IUCN red list, SUC supports three Near-threatened (NT) species such as Painted Stork Mycteria leucocephala, Curlew Sandpiper Calidris ferruginea and River Tern Sterna aurantia (IUCN 2020ver. 1), remaining 79 species are under Least Concern (LC) ( Table 1).

Species composition and assemblages on temporal scale
Throughout the six-month study period, it reflects that population of Rock Pigeon was maximum from August to December; second most was Rosy Starling and third most populous species (Large Grey Babbler) dominated from post monsoon to winter (October-December). Accumulation curve of number of species and individual shows a steep increase from July to October, thereafter, species and population of birds reveal gradual increase up to December (Fig. 4).

Statistical Analysis Avian species density and diversity
Out of 11,041 individuals of birds reveal 82 species of all total survey (N=18). The species Density (S/N) was high 4.56 species per survey during entire study period. Evenness index (e): Evenness index is low (e < 0, 0.357). As evenness index increase with decrease in stress (Pielou 1966), this clears study areas has no stress elements. Species richness Margalof's index (d): Margalof's index of species richness was high 8.701; and this minimizes the effect of sample size bias (cited by Odum 1971). Species richness as a measure on its own takes no account of the number of individuals of each species present. It gives as much weight to those species which have very few individuals as compared to those which have many individuals. Simpson's Index       are generally between 1.5 and 3.5 in most ecological studies, and the index is rarely greater than 4. The Shannon index increases as both the richness and the evenness of the community increase. Shannon Weiner Index H'= 3.377; So, it concludes that abundance of avian species at this study site was high (Table 3).
Data analysis on temporal scale shows that population (n/N=196) and species density (S/N = 3.39) of birds were higher in December; whereas diversity indices reveal birds species richness and Simpson diversity (1/D =17.0 and 1-D= 0.941) was significantly higher in August and November; as Shannon diversity high in November (H'=3.275); dominance (D= 0.0741), evenness-e^H/ S= 0.396), Margalef's species richness (d = 7.668) and Fisher alpha diversity (α = 11.63) significant high and evenly distributed in September during study period. Overall Fisher alpha diversity was high (α = 12.02) at study areas during entire study period. This may reflect comparatively less stress in their environment and the climatic factor (i.e., Annual rainfall -1311.2mm, average J TT temperature 21.5-34.5 ˚C, average humidity ranges 57.9-88.4 % by morning, 2017), their physiography may provide suitable habitat and food availability during the study period at Saurashtra University Campus.
Comparing previous records from other sites reveals 68 species of birds from village areas of Gondal Taluka, Rajkot District (Borad 2009); 79 species from reservoirs of Rajkot City (Joshi 2009); 30 species of water birds of Nyari Dam1 (Vadhel 2010) Rajkot; 29 species from Sodvadar Reservoir and 24 species from Phophal Reservoir Jam-kandorna Tehsil, Rajkot District (Jambukiya 2014). From Randarda Lake, 62 species of water birds recorded by Yadav (2015) and 65 species of water birds by Kasundra (2017); 80 species of birds from Saurashtra University Campus Rajkot (Gohil 2017); 51 species of water birds recorded from Aji-1 Water reservoir, Rajkot (Vala & Trivedi 2018). This indicates that multi-habitat characteristics of Saurashtra University Campus areas support a wide range of specialist and generalist species of birds. www.threatenedtaxa.org The Journal of Threatened Taxa (JoTT) is dedicated to building evidence for conservation globally by publishing peer-reviewed articles online every month at a reasonably rapid rate at www.threatenedtaxa.org. All articles published in JoTT are registered under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License unless otherwise mentioned. JoTT allows allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and distribution of articles in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publication.

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