BIRDS IN SEMI-NATURAL WETLANDS OF ARID LANDSCAPE- A STUDY ON THEIR DIVERSITY IN KACHCHH REGION OF GUJARAT, INDIAPrapti J. Gohil and Arun Kumar Roy MahatoAbstract Kachchh district of Gujarat despite falling into arid region is rich in presence of wetlands and dependent avifauna. Apart from the popularly known larger wetlands like Rann of Kachchh and Chharidhandh, other manmade water bodies in rural and urban areas of the region supports and enrich biodiversity which are poorly documented. The present study was carried out in the month of January and March, 2017 to analyse avian diversity of three selected lesser known semi-natural wetlands located within 25 km radius of Bhuj city of Kachchh district. A total of 64 species of birds belonging to 32 families and 11 orders were recorded includes 19 terrestrial bird and 45 water birds. The species dominance was highest of Fulica atra and Microcarbo niger among the recorded species. The analysis revealed that the bird species richness in these wetlands were 25, 49 and 16 with species diversity 2.29, 2.79 and 2.56 respectively. The results conclusively indicated the importance of studying and long term monitoring of such wetlands are vital for conservation of rich diversity of birds. |