Long-term anthropogenic stressors cause declines in kingfisher assemblages in wetlands in southwestern India
Fragile wetland habitats are susceptible to multiple threats from anthropogenic activities. Direct waste deposition, habitat modification and overexploitation of fish have caused alternations in food webs in wetlands. Kingfishers are ecological indicators with the potential ability to respond to the...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2023-11-01
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| Series: | Ecological Indicators |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X23012049 |
| _version_ | 1797655138124431360 |
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| author | C.T. Shifa Salindra K. Dayananda Xu Yanjie K.A. Rubeena Sabir Bin Muzaffar Aymen Nefla T. Jobiraj P. Thejass Omer R. Reshi K.M. Aarif |
| author_facet | C.T. Shifa Salindra K. Dayananda Xu Yanjie K.A. Rubeena Sabir Bin Muzaffar Aymen Nefla T. Jobiraj P. Thejass Omer R. Reshi K.M. Aarif |
| author_sort | C.T. Shifa |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Fragile wetland habitats are susceptible to multiple threats from anthropogenic activities. Direct waste deposition, habitat modification and overexploitation of fish have caused alternations in food webs in wetlands. Kingfishers are ecological indicators with the potential ability to respond to the minute changes in their microenvironment. Their abundance and distribution at wetland habitats are affected by multiple environmental factors. We studied the kingfisher assemblages in India to determine proximate and ultimate causes of their decline. We recorded the abundance of five species of kingfishers across five wetland habitats from 2011 to 2020 in Kerala, southwest coast of India. Kingfishers were counted twice in a month between 6.00 and 12.00 hrs. Air temperature, water temperature, humidity and turbidity were recorded. We measured fish diversity and abundance and organic waste as an additional explanatory variable. One-way ANOVA, Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average model and structural equation modelling were used to determine which explanatory variables affected kingfisher populations. Air temperature, water temperature and turbidity increased significantly during the study and had negative effects on the abundance of kingfishers. Humidity decreased significantly but had no effect on the kingfisher abundance. Fish abundance declined and had a strong positive effect on the abundance of kingfishers. The analysis of incidence of wastes across the study areas revealed that, all the sites were severely polluted. We also observed drastic decline in the abundance of all the species of kingfishers studied across the sites with a rapid decline in Pied Kingfisher and slower decline in White-throated Kingfisher. Black-capped Kingfisher is a local migrant to the study areas and is already red listed and categorized as Vulnerable (VU). This study suggests that kingfisher assemblages are declining along with the health status of the habitat. Urgent action is needed to help in designing and implementing effective management strategies for the sustainability of wetlands in the region. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T17:09:48Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e3705e87d57643b28c1c669b9750c979 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1470-160X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T17:09:48Z |
| publishDate | 2023-11-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecological Indicators |
| spelling | doaj.art-e3705e87d57643b28c1c669b9750c9792023-10-20T06:38:55ZengElsevierEcological Indicators1470-160X2023-11-01155111062Long-term anthropogenic stressors cause declines in kingfisher assemblages in wetlands in southwestern IndiaC.T. Shifa0Salindra K. Dayananda1Xu Yanjie2K.A. Rubeena3Sabir Bin Muzaffar4Aymen Nefla5T. Jobiraj6P. Thejass7Omer R. Reshi8K.M. Aarif9Department of Zoology, Govt. College, Madappally, Kozhikode 673102, Kerala, IndiaUrban Ecology Lab, Institute of Environment and Ecology, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua Park, Xili University Town, Nanshan District, Shenzhen, 518055, P.R. ChinaThe Helsinki Lab of Ornithology, Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 17, FI-00014 Helsinki, FinlandDepartment of Biosciences, MES College Marampally, Aluva 683105, Kerala, IndiaDepartment of Biology, United Arab Emirates University, PO Box 15551, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates; Department of Science, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, South Kensington, London SW7 5BD, UK; Corresponding authors.Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar, El Manar II, 2092 Tunis, TunisiaDepartment of Zoology, Govt. College, Kodanchery, Kozhikode 673580, Kerala, IndiaDepartment of Zoology, Govt. College, Madappally, Kozhikode 673102, Kerala, IndiaSustainability, Centre for Environment and Marine Studies, Research Institute, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Kingdom of Saudi ArabiaTerrestrial Ecology, Centre for Environment and Marine Studies, Research Institute, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran, 31261, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Corresponding authors.Fragile wetland habitats are susceptible to multiple threats from anthropogenic activities. Direct waste deposition, habitat modification and overexploitation of fish have caused alternations in food webs in wetlands. Kingfishers are ecological indicators with the potential ability to respond to the minute changes in their microenvironment. Their abundance and distribution at wetland habitats are affected by multiple environmental factors. We studied the kingfisher assemblages in India to determine proximate and ultimate causes of their decline. We recorded the abundance of five species of kingfishers across five wetland habitats from 2011 to 2020 in Kerala, southwest coast of India. Kingfishers were counted twice in a month between 6.00 and 12.00 hrs. Air temperature, water temperature, humidity and turbidity were recorded. We measured fish diversity and abundance and organic waste as an additional explanatory variable. One-way ANOVA, Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average model and structural equation modelling were used to determine which explanatory variables affected kingfisher populations. Air temperature, water temperature and turbidity increased significantly during the study and had negative effects on the abundance of kingfishers. Humidity decreased significantly but had no effect on the kingfisher abundance. Fish abundance declined and had a strong positive effect on the abundance of kingfishers. The analysis of incidence of wastes across the study areas revealed that, all the sites were severely polluted. We also observed drastic decline in the abundance of all the species of kingfishers studied across the sites with a rapid decline in Pied Kingfisher and slower decline in White-throated Kingfisher. Black-capped Kingfisher is a local migrant to the study areas and is already red listed and categorized as Vulnerable (VU). This study suggests that kingfisher assemblages are declining along with the health status of the habitat. Urgent action is needed to help in designing and implementing effective management strategies for the sustainability of wetlands in the region.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X23012049WetlandsPopulation dynamicsKingfishersConservationEnvironmental variables |
| spellingShingle | C.T. Shifa Salindra K. Dayananda Xu Yanjie K.A. Rubeena Sabir Bin Muzaffar Aymen Nefla T. Jobiraj P. Thejass Omer R. Reshi K.M. Aarif Long-term anthropogenic stressors cause declines in kingfisher assemblages in wetlands in southwestern India Ecological Indicators Wetlands Population dynamics Kingfishers Conservation Environmental variables |
| title | Long-term anthropogenic stressors cause declines in kingfisher assemblages in wetlands in southwestern India |
| title_full | Long-term anthropogenic stressors cause declines in kingfisher assemblages in wetlands in southwestern India |
| title_fullStr | Long-term anthropogenic stressors cause declines in kingfisher assemblages in wetlands in southwestern India |
| title_full_unstemmed | Long-term anthropogenic stressors cause declines in kingfisher assemblages in wetlands in southwestern India |
| title_short | Long-term anthropogenic stressors cause declines in kingfisher assemblages in wetlands in southwestern India |
| title_sort | long term anthropogenic stressors cause declines in kingfisher assemblages in wetlands in southwestern india |
| topic | Wetlands Population dynamics Kingfishers Conservation Environmental variables |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X23012049 |
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