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Avifaunal diversity in two residential localities of Kolkata, India

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Chattopadhyay R. , Ghoshal S.

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tom 48

EN

Avifauna in two different residential localities of Kolkata viz. Cossipore of North Kolkata and Dhakuria of South Kolkata was done in twelve months period from December, 2013 – November, 2014 to get some idea about the present avian diversity of the city. Total forty eight species of birds belonging to twenty five families were identified from the two sites and recorded along with their abundance in this study. Fluctuations in abundance of bird fauna between the study areas were also recorded which may be attributed to the loss of proper habitat for foraging and nesting due to continuous urbanization and increased pollution rates.

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Assessment of bird diversity as bioindicators in two parks, Kolkata, India

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Chowdhury R. , Sarkar S. , Nandy A. , Talapatra S. N.

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nr 2

EN

The trees of parks and gardens support many species, the survival of urban-dwelling species mainly bird species. Birds amongst other species provide a wide range of environmental and social functions to cities and urban dwellers. The present study aims to know bird diversity in two parks as bioindicator of automobile air pollution exposure, landscape changes and/or human interactions. The study areas were selected as per heavily-populated neighborhoods, nearby office buildings, nearby roads and continuous vehicular movements, human interactions as visitors, where high levels of human disturbance are common. The study was carried out at 2 sampling stations viz (i) Elliot park and (ii) Agri-horticulture Society. The bird species diversity was studied by qualitative and quantitative assessment. Indices were Species richness, Index of Dominance, Relative abundance, Shannon-Wiener Diversity Index and Evenness Index for birds for all selected sites were calculated using the statistical formulae. The present results as bioindicators bird species clearly indicate that the bird species are very few in numbers in both the parks. When comparison made between both the parks, it was observed less number of bird varieties (16 types) in Elliot park than varieties (9 types) more less in number in Agri-horticulture society. This study is a preliminary assessment of bird diversity but further researches are needed in relation to biochemical and genetic damage study as well as air pollution load by using instruments. In the present study it was concluded that the less numbers of birds and their different diversity indices were found a decreasing trends, though there no attempt has been made on physico-chemical properties of present air pollutants. The less number of varieties of bird species are as tolerant bioindicators, which may be due to the vehicular pollution and/or human interference and/or landscape changes due to nearby neighborhood blocks, office and residential buildings, continuous movement of vehicles etc.

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Preferences for different types of offal by Black Kites Milvus migrans from urban garbage dumps of Kolkata, India

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Mazumdar S. , Ghose D. , Saha G. K.

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nr 2

EN

Facultative scavengers often forage on organic wastes from urban dumps. Despite being a major scavenging raptor in many urban areas, studies on Indian subspecies of Black Kites Milvus migrans govinda are very few. We studied the pattern of offal preference by Black Kites foraging in the dumping sites adjoining two major markets of Kolkata, India through cafeteria experiments, where successful foraging events and abundance of foraging Black Kites were recorded. We also carried out questionnaire surveys among 156 meat and fish sellers of 32 markets of this area to assess their offal disposal practice and understand their attitude towards Black Kites. During questionnaire surveys majority of the respondents (77.92%), indicated that Black Kites consume various kinds of offal, particularly chicken offal from garbage dumps of Kolkata. 51.92% respondents opined that Black Kite population has declined in Kolkata, and 41.03% of them believe such decline is due to food scarcity. Still many respondents (64.74%) sell their offal, which reflect their indifferent attitude towards this scavenging raptor. During 'cafeteria experiments, we noticed that foraging kites pick up small pieces of offal from the garbage dumps, particularly chicken, mutton and fish offal (in 15.45 ± 7.749,9.7 ± 4.542 and 9.95 ± 4.951 successful foraging events/h respectively). Energy content (cal/g) of sun-dried samples of each type of offal substances revealed that the energy (calorie) of swine offal was highest followed by beef offal, mutton offal, chicken offal and fish offal. In spite of being energetically rich, beef and swine offal were less selected by Black Kites possibly because they are visibly larger than other offal, thus requires greater handling time and invites higher risk of kleptoparasitism. Successful foraging events were significantly influenced by offal type, but not by months, study sites or by the relative abundance of foraging Black Kites.

PL

Fakultatywni padlinożercy często żerują na odpadach organicznych składowanych na miejskich wysypiskach, które są miejscem, gdzie pokarm występuje w dużych ilościach oraz stale. W pracy badano preferencje pokarmowe kań czarnych żerujących na wysypiskach przylegających do dwóch głównych targowisk Kalkuty (Fig. 1). Preferencje pokarmowe zostały określone na podstawie eksperymentu polegającego na wyborze pokarmu spośród oferowanych próbek odpadów oraz na podstawie badań ankietowych wśród 156 sprzedawców mięsa i ryb z 32 targowisk. Kwestionariusz miał na celu określenie zachowań sprzedawców związanych z usuwaniem odpadów ze sprzedawanego mięsa, uzyskanie informacji o obserwowanych przez nich preferencjach pokarmowych kań na wysypiskach oraz poznanie ich poglądów na temat zmian liczebności oraz zagrożeń, na które narażone są kanie. Większość respondentów sprzedawała resztki mięsne, tylko 35,26% z nich wyrzucało resztki na pobliskie wysypiska. 77,92% respondentów wskazało, że kanie spożywają różnego rodzaju resztki, w szczególności pozostałości drobiowe. Ponadto 14,74% respondentów wskazało jako źródło pokarmu padlinę, a 4,21% — żywe zwierzęta (pisklęta, wiewiórki i inne drobne gryzonie). 51,92% respondentów uznało, że populacja kań czarnych w Kalkucie zmniejszyła się, w tym 41,03% za główną przyczynę spadku liczebności uznało niedobór pokarmu, a 32,05% — zmiany siedliska. W ramach eksperymentu, w oddzielnych miejscach na wysypiskach wykładano podobne ilości odpadów rybnych, drobiowych, wieprzowych, wołowych i baranich, oraz odpady zmieszane (Fig. 2). Następnie przez godzinę notowano liczbę udanych przypadków zdobycia pokarmu wraz z informacją o rodzaju odpadów oraz liczbę żerujących kań (co 5 minut). Eksperyment przeprowadzano dwukrotnie w ciągu każdego miesiąca od kwietnia do sierpnia, tzn. podczas okresu pozalęgowego, w latach 2010-2011. Dodatkowo, określono wartość kaloryczną (cal/g) wysuszonych na słońcu próbek każdego rodzaju odpadów. Stwierdzono, że liczba kań obserwowanych na wysypiskach w poszczególnych miesiącach różniła się (Fig. 3). Najwięcej kań żerowało w czerwcu, a najmniej — w kwietniu. Ptaki żerowały na małych kawałkach odpadów, głównie drobiowych, baranich i rybnych (Fig. 4) i preferencje te nie zmieniały się w kolejnych miesiącach (Fig. 5). Inne czynniki (miesiąc, wysypisko czy liczba żerujących kań) nie wpływały na preferencje pokarmowe. Najwyższa zawartość energii (cal/g) została stwierdzona w odpadach wieprzowych i wołowych, wyraźnie mniej chętnie spożywanych przez kanie. Autorzy sugerują, że jest to związane z faktem, iż odpady wieprzowe i wołowe są większe od pozostałych rodzajów odpadów, przez co taki pokarm wymaga dłuższego czasu obróbki, a to stwarza większe ryzyko kleptopasożytnictwa.

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Assessment of morphological damages of leaves of selected plant species due to vehicular air pollution, Kolkata, India

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Nandy A. , Talapatra S. N. , Bhattacharjee P. , Chaudhuri P. , Mukhopadhyay A.

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tom 04

EN

The present study deals to know morphological damages of leaves of four selected plant species near roadside due to vehicular air pollution in Kolkata, India. The selected plant species are Ficus bengalensis, Ficus religiosa, Alstonia scholaris and Neolamarckia cadamba as these are very common as avenue trees. The study area was selected as per Low vehicular load (LVL) as control area, moderate vehicular load (MVL) area, high vehicular load (HVL) area and heavy vehicular load (HeVL) These three sampling stations were selected on the basis of moderate, high and heavy traffic density and continuous vehicular movement as per visualization. The control area was considered as time dependent vehicular movement due to less traffic density. The morphological damages with special reference to length (L), breadth (B) and L/B ratio and visible injuries in leaves. The visible injuries such as pigmentation, chlorosis, necrosis and burning of leaves of four selected species is documented. There was an increasing and decreasing tends in all four plant species at all three vehicular emission exposed sites (MVL, HVL and HeVL) compared to control site (LVL). In all experimental sites such as MVL, HVL and HeVL, the extra growth and reduction pattern significantly (P < 0.001, 0.01 or 0.05) observed when compared to control site (LVL) for L, B and L/B ratio. The visible injuries (in %) of leaves were also observed in increasing trends. This study is a preliminary assessment of tolerant species that already have been used in greenbelt development to protect air pollutants as well as biological monitoring to know exact load of automobile air pollution but further researches are needed in relation to biochemical and genetic damage study. It was observed that out of four selected species Ficus bengalensis, Alstonia scholaris and Neolamarckia cadamba are more tolerant species and Ficus religiosa is a less tolerant species because of these may have fighting abilities by waxy coatings, accumulation and degradation abilities to vehicular air pollution at all exposed area when compared to control area.