Changes in the bird fauna of Uttara Kannada, India, in relation to changes in land use over the past century

Abstract

The hilly district of Uttara Kannada (13° 55'N-15° 32' N Latitude and 74° 5' E-75° 5'E Longitude), with an area of 10 200 km², is one of the most forested tracts of south India, although the total area under forest has been reduced from 80% to 70% over the past century. Excellent documentation of the bird fauna exists from the 1890s and 1980s, with a shorter survey conducted in 1938. An analysis of these three surveys suggests that the size of the total bird fauna has remained constant around 465 ± 20 taxa over this period. However, most of the thirty-one resident bird taxa recorded earlier but not sighted in the recent survey, as well as nine taxa observed only recently, are notable habitat specialists. Only a few of these specialists that have probably been lost over this period are forest birds, the majority being characteristic of the drier cultivation and scrub areas. Recent invaders seem to prefer aquatic ecosystems, and it is suggested that this may be a more general pattern. It is therefore vital that more attention be paid to conservation of the biological diversity of the semi-arid tracts of the Indian subcontinent.