Status, Distribution, and Diversity of Birds in Mining Environment of Kachchh, Gujarat

Opencast mining is one of the major reasons for the destruction of natural habitats for many wildlife including birds. The Kachchh region belongs to the arid part of India and is one of the rich areas of mineral resources in the country. In the recent time and after the 2001 earthquake, mining and other developmental activities are increased, and as a result, the natural habitats of birds are disturbed and fragmented. So, this study was conducted to assess the impact of mining and associated activities on the diversity and distribution of birds. Birds were studied by surveying 180 transects along 9 zones around three selected major mines, and each zone is made in every 2？km radius from the mine. Based on the record, it was found that the density and diversity of birds are highest in zone 5 and lowest in zone 1 and zone 2, respectively. The result indicates that the diversity and abundance of birds were less in zones which are located close to the mines in comparison to the zones far from the mines. In conclusion, mining and its associated activities have some impacts on the diversity and distribution of birds in Kachchh region in India. 1. Introduction Mining and its related activities are one of the major causes for the destruction of natural habitats for wildlife. As these activities increased in context of rapid use of natural resources to meet the demand of the market and the development of region and country, the pressure of threat to the wildlife is increasing day by day. In addition to mining, large parts of forests and wildlife habitats are being cleared for agriculture, industry, roads and railways network, and human habitation leading to degradation, fragmentation, and loss of habitat contributing to the overall loss of biological diversity. The loss of habitat and biological diversity by means of mining and its associated activities creates imbalance in ecological equilibrium. Kachchh is one of the rich avifaunal diversity areas of India and also falls under one of the migratory route of the avifauna of this country. The list of birds of Kachchh district was made by some workers from time to time; notably among them were Lester [1], Ali [2], Ripley [3], Himmatsinhji [4], and Maharao [5]. The Kachchh district supports around 303 species of birds as recorded by Tiwari [6] and 370 bird species as reported by Sen [7] with some species including raptors, waterfowl, waders, and larks which are commonly found in this district. Similar to that, Kachchh is also a rich area of minerals including limestone, bentonite, and lignite. After the 2001