Assessing environmental change and population declines of large wading birds in southwestern India
Large waders including herons and egrets are important ecological wetland health indicators since these species are sensitive to a complex set of environmental factors. Anthropogenic factors are driving major changes in coastal and inland wetlands. We investigated the relationship between environmen...
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Elsevier
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Environmental and Sustainability Indicators |
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| author | K.M. Aarif Aymen Nefla K.A. Rubeena Yanjie Xu Zakher Bouragaoui M. Nasser C.T. Shifa T.R. Athira K. Jishnu Jasmine Anand Seerangan Manokaran P.P. Moosa Anu Gopinath Omer R. Reshi K.M. Rajaneesh H. Byju Thadickal V. Joydas Karuppasamy P. Manikandan Mohd Irfan Naikoo Christian Sonne Sabir Bin Muzaffar |
| author_facet | K.M. Aarif Aymen Nefla K.A. Rubeena Yanjie Xu Zakher Bouragaoui M. Nasser C.T. Shifa T.R. Athira K. Jishnu Jasmine Anand Seerangan Manokaran P.P. Moosa Anu Gopinath Omer R. Reshi K.M. Rajaneesh H. Byju Thadickal V. Joydas Karuppasamy P. Manikandan Mohd Irfan Naikoo Christian Sonne Sabir Bin Muzaffar |
| author_sort | K.M. Aarif |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Large waders including herons and egrets are important ecological wetland health indicators since these species are sensitive to a complex set of environmental factors. Anthropogenic factors are driving major changes in coastal and inland wetlands. We investigated the relationship between environmental variables, productivity, fish diversity and large waders in southwestern India. These variables cover climatic variables (rainfall), sediment variables (salinity, pH, organic carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus), water variables (Salinity, pH, temperature, nitrate, phosphate), primary productivity (Chlorophyll-a) and prey availability (mean fish stock availability). Densities of all the studied wader species decreased significantly from 2010 to 2019, with highest densities in agroecosystems or estuarine habitats and in post-monsoon seasons but lowest in mudflats and in monsoon seasons. Structural equational modelling revealed that rainfall and organic carbon positively affected the primary productivity, whereas water variables (nitrate, salinity and phosphate) positively affected the fish stock availability. This in turn positively affected the density of large wading birds. The decreasing trend of water nitrate negatively affected the primary productivity and density of waterbirds while rainfall negatively affected fish stock availability and waterbird density. Sediment phosphorous adversely affected both the biotic variables and the density of waterbirds. Sediment variables (salinity, pH, and phosphorus) increased over years, whereas organic carbon and nitrogen in the sediment decreased significantly. Salinity, water temperature, pH, and phosphate showed a significant increase while water nitrate, and chlorophyll-a decreased over the period of study. Significant decline in fish stock availability and altered environmental variables resulted in long term decline in the abundance of wading birds. Thus, large waders have adapted to these long-term, anthropogenically driven, environmental changes by shifting to agroecosystems and estuaries as their alternate foraging habitats. These population declines indicate consistent decline in ecosystem health of wetlands. Strategies need to be formulated to mitigate declines and restore ecosystem health. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-be600c1b23154cab8d171abbb87e7545 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2665-9727 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
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| series | Environmental and Sustainability Indicators |
| spelling | doaj-art-be600c1b23154cab8d171abbb87e75452025-01-29T05:01:52ZengElsevierEnvironmental and Sustainability Indicators2665-97272025-02-0125100572Assessing environmental change and population declines of large wading birds in southwestern IndiaK.M. Aarif0Aymen Nefla1K.A. Rubeena2Yanjie Xu3Zakher Bouragaoui4M. Nasser5C.T. Shifa6T.R. Athira7K. Jishnu8Jasmine Anand9Seerangan Manokaran10P.P. Moosa11Anu Gopinath12Omer R. Reshi13K.M. Rajaneesh14H. Byju15Thadickal V. Joydas16Karuppasamy P. Manikandan17Mohd Irfan Naikoo18Christian Sonne19Sabir Bin Muzaffar20Centre for Environment and Marine Studies, Research & Innovation, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, 31261Department of Biology, Faculty of Science of Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar II, Tunis, Tunisia, 2092Centre for Environment and Marine Studies, Research & Innovation, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, 31261Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, FI-00014; Nature solutions unit, Finnish Environment Institute (Syke), Helsinki, Finland, FI-00790Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin Madison, USA, 53706Department of Zoology, University of Calicut, Kerala, India, 673635Department of Zoology, Govt College, Madappally, Kozhikode, Kerala, India, 673102Department of Zoology, Govt College, Madappally, Kozhikode, Kerala, India, 673102Department of Zoology, University of Calicut, Kerala, India, 673635Department of Zoology, TK Madhava Memorial College Nangiarkulangara, University of Kerala, India, 690513Centre for Environment and Marine Studies, Research & Innovation, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, 31261Department of Soil Science, Regional Agricultural Research Station, Pattambi, Palakkad District, PIN 679306, Kerala Agricultural University, Kerala, IndiaChemical Oceanography, Department of Aquatic Environment Management, KUFOS, Kochi, 682506, IndiaCentre for Environment and Marine Studies, Research & Innovation, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, 31261Centre for Environment and Marine Studies, Research & Innovation, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, 31261CAS in Marine Biology, Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu, India, 608502Centre for Environment and Marine Studies, Research & Innovation, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, 31261Centre for Environment and Marine Studies, Research & Innovation, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, 31261Centre for Environment and Marine Studies, Research & Innovation, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, 31261Aarhus University, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Department of Ecoscience, Frederiksborgvej, 399, DK-4000, Roskilde, DenmarkDepartment of Biology, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, 15551, United Arab Emirates; Department of Science, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, South Kensington, London, SW75BD, UK; Corresponding author. Department of Biology, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, 15551, United Arab Emirates.Large waders including herons and egrets are important ecological wetland health indicators since these species are sensitive to a complex set of environmental factors. Anthropogenic factors are driving major changes in coastal and inland wetlands. We investigated the relationship between environmental variables, productivity, fish diversity and large waders in southwestern India. These variables cover climatic variables (rainfall), sediment variables (salinity, pH, organic carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus), water variables (Salinity, pH, temperature, nitrate, phosphate), primary productivity (Chlorophyll-a) and prey availability (mean fish stock availability). Densities of all the studied wader species decreased significantly from 2010 to 2019, with highest densities in agroecosystems or estuarine habitats and in post-monsoon seasons but lowest in mudflats and in monsoon seasons. Structural equational modelling revealed that rainfall and organic carbon positively affected the primary productivity, whereas water variables (nitrate, salinity and phosphate) positively affected the fish stock availability. This in turn positively affected the density of large wading birds. The decreasing trend of water nitrate negatively affected the primary productivity and density of waterbirds while rainfall negatively affected fish stock availability and waterbird density. Sediment phosphorous adversely affected both the biotic variables and the density of waterbirds. Sediment variables (salinity, pH, and phosphorus) increased over years, whereas organic carbon and nitrogen in the sediment decreased significantly. Salinity, water temperature, pH, and phosphate showed a significant increase while water nitrate, and chlorophyll-a decreased over the period of study. Significant decline in fish stock availability and altered environmental variables resulted in long term decline in the abundance of wading birds. Thus, large waders have adapted to these long-term, anthropogenically driven, environmental changes by shifting to agroecosystems and estuaries as their alternate foraging habitats. These population declines indicate consistent decline in ecosystem health of wetlands. Strategies need to be formulated to mitigate declines and restore ecosystem health.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266597272400240XWading birdsHeronsEgretsPrimary productivityPopulation densityConservation |
| spellingShingle | K.M. Aarif Aymen Nefla K.A. Rubeena Yanjie Xu Zakher Bouragaoui M. Nasser C.T. Shifa T.R. Athira K. Jishnu Jasmine Anand Seerangan Manokaran P.P. Moosa Anu Gopinath Omer R. Reshi K.M. Rajaneesh H. Byju Thadickal V. Joydas Karuppasamy P. Manikandan Mohd Irfan Naikoo Christian Sonne Sabir Bin Muzaffar Assessing environmental change and population declines of large wading birds in southwestern India Environmental and Sustainability Indicators Wading birds Herons Egrets Primary productivity Population density Conservation |
| title | Assessing environmental change and population declines of large wading birds in southwestern India |
| title_full | Assessing environmental change and population declines of large wading birds in southwestern India |
| title_fullStr | Assessing environmental change and population declines of large wading birds in southwestern India |
| title_full_unstemmed | Assessing environmental change and population declines of large wading birds in southwestern India |
| title_short | Assessing environmental change and population declines of large wading birds in southwestern India |
| title_sort | assessing environmental change and population declines of large wading birds in southwestern india |
| topic | Wading birds Herons Egrets Primary productivity Population density Conservation |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266597272400240X |
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