Abstracto

STUDY OF THE FACTORS AND DEGREE OF ASSOCIATION BETWEEN VARYING POPULATION OF BIRD SPECIES AND THEIR MICROHABITAT

Sombuddha Roy Bhowmick*

Plants and trees support the survival of many species. The aim of this study is to get an elementary idea of the role of habitat, mainly the niche, in the growth and survival of the population of the bird species. Two sampling stations were chosen, one at the Chintamani Kar Bird Sanctuary, Kolkata and the other at the East Kolkata Wetlands. Species of birds common to both these regions were chosen and their number was recorded. The population varied to a great extent at these two habitats. Thus, this study aims to focus on the importance of the relationship between the habitat requirements and niche specification of the bird species. It also gives the idea, that conspicuous species like birds are helpful in the study of ecosystem and effects of the rise of pollution in the ecosystem, can be studied, through monitoring the changes, in the interaction of the species with the environmental factors. The present study was concluded with the fact, that their food habits, nesting spaces, local landscape, vegetation and breeding practices affect their growth and population, even in the regions with similar altitude-longitude-latitude scale, temperature and climatic zone (macrohabitat remaining the same, changes occurring in the microhabitat). Micro factors like-nesting space, breeding habits, feeding practices as well as their body features, play an important role in the interactions. Mathematical analysis has been performed upon sample data to figure out the correlation between the two attributes. Thus, consolidated evidence has been created to support the aim of this study. This study has been conducted at a very elementary level and factors in the variation of population like-interspecific and intraspecific interactions and any kind associations could not be included within the scope of this study. But, future findings including the physico-chemical factors as well as, better metrics would give us a better view of our ecological parameters and environmental health. As birds are conspicuous species, their population or change in population from one microhabitat to another, is one of the easiest ways to spot the changing dynamics of our ecosystem. Their niche, habitat requirement and growth and survival is very specific and thus any change in the parameters would in turn change their numbers, in a definite geographical zone. The study focuses on the habitat specifications and how a particular species of bird, interacts with it. Finally, at the end of the study we have tried to establish a correlation between the habitat specifications of the individual bird species with the niche that is how the species, under study interacts with their habitats on a micro-scale i.e., the microhabitat (a very definitive component in our ecosystem that we often overlook at the superficial level).