Bustard

The Bengal Florican Houbaropsis bengalensis (Gmelin 1789) is a Critically Endangered species, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It is listed under Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and has been a priority species for conservation in the Wildlife Action Plan (2002-2016) prepared by the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF). A guideline document to frame state-specific Recovery Plans has also been developed by the MoEF for the Bengal Florican as well as for the other two resident bustard species (Great Indian Bustard Ardeotis nigriceps and Lesser Florican Sypheotides indicus) found in India. Deploying satellite transmitters on Bengal Floricans at Pilibhit (three birds) and Dudhwa (one bird) reserves has given us specific information about their post-breeding movements. The transmitter of one bird at Pilibhit stopped working after three months, but the transmitters on the other three birds has given and continue to give us insightful information for almost three years. We found that by July-August the birds moved out from their breeding sites (which happen to be inside Pilibhit and Dudhwa reserves), approximately 15-50 km, into floodplain-agriscape areas along rivers. These areas are characterised by a mosaic of unmanaged grasslands and relatively lower-intensity agriculture with low human population densities and minimum infrastructure, generally outside the territorial jurisdiction of the Forest Department. The birds spend about six to eight months in such areas showing a wide breadth of local movements, perhaps due to specific anthropogenic disturbance events (e.g. harvesting or sowing of crops, harrowing the field, burning crop stubble). Hence, for up to eight months in a year, birds are not in protected grasslands of PAs, and may thus potentially be more prone to the dangers of hunting and trapping. Therefore, for the protection of Bengal Florican, we must look at the larger landscape beyond officially protected areas and Reserved Forests (RFs). The Species Recovery Plan for the Bengal Florican in Uttar Pradesh may keep this larger heterogeneous landscape in mind and devise appropriate strategies based on recommendations of this report. We also conducted a pilot project to manipulate the vegetation structure at a grassland territory of a male bird in Dudhwa National Park to assess whether it stayed back inside the reserve if it were provided a mosaic of short and tall grass areas post the breeding season. Perhaps our experiment was done a little late and/or on a smaller scale, as the bird moved out of the reserve eventually, although it tended to use open patches created by vegetation trimming more than usual. We suggest that such experiments be repeated at more than one site and on a larger scale to assess the efficacy of such an interventionist approach. Since the results presented here are largely based on location data obtained from only three tagged birds, we recommend that more birds of both sexes be tagged in Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh to fully understand the landscape level ecological requirements of the Bengal Florican. At present, much of the grassland management is done keeping in mind the requirements of large mega-vertebrates such as the Rhino, Swamp Deer, Asian Elephant, Tiger and Wild Buffalo. Sometimes grassland areas are burnt during the breeding season of the Bengal Florican and other grassland avian species. We strongly recommend long-term studies on the impact of annual grassland burning at Dudhwa, Manas, Kaziranga, D’Ering, Orang and other reserves/areas on flora and fauna in order to help devise scientific grassland management protocols that take care of the needs of all grassland-dependent species, especially that of grassland obligatory avian species.

Low-intensity agro-ecosystems of the Tonle Sap grasslands, Cambodia, support important concentrations of threatened bird species including the largest global population of bengal florican (Houbaropsis bengalensis) (IUCN status Critically Endangered). The Cambodian government has established community-managed protected areas to safeguard grassland habitats for both local villagers, for whom grasslands represent important open-access resources, and biodiversity. Optimal management of these areas requires an understanding of habitat preferences of key species. We used multi-model inference, based on information criteria and incorporating an autologistic term to account for the aggregated distribution of lekking males, to identify habitat and landscape features affecting bengal florican distribution at two sites within the Tonle Sap floodplain. Displaying male bengal florican were surveyed in 2005 and 2006 and 55 independent male territories identified. Important factors affecting territorial males were burning (positive) and cover of tall scrub (negative). In contrast to other studies on bustard habitat preferences we found little effect of human disturbance. Model fit was good with an Area Under Curve of Receiver Operating Characteristic plots for model averaged parameters of 0.87 ± SE 0.03. By demonstrating weak effects of human disturbance, and the importance of annual burning by local communities, our findings support community-based grassland management in which local traditional activities are encouraged to persist alongside bengal florican. These findings also have implications for the conservation of bengal florican populations in the Indian subcontinent where the species is now restricted to strictly protected areas.

Aim With the exception of South Africa there are no systematic, long-term, large-scale bird monitoring programmes in Africa, and for much of the continent the most comprehensive available data for most species are incidental occurrence records. Can such data be used to assess range-wide conservation status of widespread low-density species? We examine this using Kori Bustard Ardeotis kori, a large, easily identifiable species with an extensive African range. Location Southern and East Africa, 14 countries. Methods A comprehensive and systematic review of published and unpublished sources provided 1948 unique locality records spanning the years 1863– 2009; these included 410 non-atlas records and 97 historical (pre-1970) records. Range-size changes were examined by comparing minimum convex polygons to quantify Extent of Occurrence pre-and post-1970, and by testing whether more historical records fell outside the recent (post-1970) 95% probability kernel than expected by chance. Additionally, qualitative evidence of changes in abundance was obtained from historical published accounts and contemporary assessments by in-country experts. Results Since the late 19th century, range-size (measured as Extent of Occurrence) has contracted, by 21% in East Africa and 8% in southern Africa. There is strong qualitative evidence of considerable pre-and post-1970 population declines in all range states, except Zambia (slight increase) and Angola (trend unclear). In some countries, declines occurred from the early 1900s. Thus, while relatively modest change in range-size has occurred in over 100 years, numbers have greatly reduced throughout the species' range. Main conclusions Our methodology allowed objective appraisal of continent-wide Kori status. Despite lacking quantitative population estimates and trends, and poor understanding of the species' autecology, common issues for many African species, incidental occurrence records can be used to assess range-wide changes in status. We recommend that this or similar approaches be applied to other widespread low-density species that probably also have rapidly declining populations despite apparently stable range extents.

Understanding sexual differences in habitat use is important for effective conservation management, particularly with regard to polygynous species, the sexes of which may differ in their responses to land-use change. We examined sex-specific habitat use in the critically endangered Bengal Florican (Houbaropsis bengalensis), a polygynous bustard whose most important population occurs in traditionally farmed grasslands in the Tonle Sap floodplain, Cambodia. This habitat is undergoing rapid conversion to intensive dry-season rice production. Using radiotelemetry, we compared male and female breeding-season habitat selection and home-range sizes and configurations. The sexes differed in their spatial use of the lek and their ability to utilize anthropogenic habitat features. Both sexes avoided intensive dry-season rice fields. Males selected habitats related to low-intensity human activity, chiefly burned grassland, whereas females selected unburned grassland but also used unburned, uncultivated grassland in dry-season rice head-ponds. These differences reflect the species’ breeding system, with males using open areas for display and females selecting cover.

Our findings demonstrate the importance of the landscape heterogeneity associated with traditional human activity in maintaining the habitat mosaics necessary for the contrasting breeding-season requirements of male and female Bengal Floricans. Two-thirds of tagged females may have left the lek to nest elsewhere, which suggests that protecting habitat in which males display will not be a sufficient conservation response for such lekking species. Both sexes are detrimentally affected by agricultural intensification within the Tonle Sap, and encouragement of industrial rice production to spare more “natural” habitats elsewhere is likely to be counterproductive for this globally threatened flagship species.

The Bengal Florican is one of the rarest bustard species and is listed ‘Critically Endangered’ by the IUCN.  The species is restricted to the lowland grasslands of India, Nepal, and Cambodia with fewer than 1,000 mature individuals.  To assess the species status in Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve, Nepal, we repeated our first comprehensive survey conducted during the 2012 breeding season.  In spite of a larger area coverage we recorded only 41 adult Bengal Floricans in 2017 compared to 47 individuals in 2012.  Detectability of this rare species is low in its Imperata-Saccharum grasslands.  We, therefore, used a long pole with black and white clothing to mimic Bengal Florican’s display flight to stimulate male Bengal Florican.  The number of adult males recorded was the same as in the 2012 survey and the adult male density remains one of the highest in the Indian subcontinent. Management recommendations for the long-term conservation of the species in Koshi Tappu include maintenance of ...

The Bengal Florican is a ‘Critically Endangered’ bustard (Otididae) restricted to India, Nepal and southern Indochina. Fewer than 500 birds are estimated to remain in the Indian subcontinent, whilst the Indochinese breeding population is primarily restricted to grasslands surrounding the Tonle Sap lake, Cambodia. We conducted the first comprehensive breeding season survey of Bengal Florican within the Tonle Sap region (19,500 km2). During 2005/06 and 2006/07 we systematically sampled 1-km squares for territorial males.

Bengal Florican were detected within 90 1-km squares at a mean density of 0.34 males /km2 which, accounting for unequal survey effort across grassland blocks, provides a mean estimate of 0.2 males /km2. Based on 2005 habitat extent, the estimated Tonle Sap population is 416 adult males (333–502; spanning 95% CI), more than half of them in Kompong Thom province. Tonle Sap grasslands are rapidly being lost due to
intensification of rice cultivation and, based on satellite images, we document declines of 28% grassland cover within 10 grassland blocks between January 2005 and March 2007. Based on mean 2005 population densities the remaining grassland may support as few as 294 adult male florican, a decline of 30% since 2005. In response to these habitat declines almost 350 km2 of grassland have been designated as protected areas, set aside for biodiversity and local livelihoods. Conservation activities in these areas include participatory land-use zoning, patrols reporting new developments to government officials, awareness-raising and incentive-led nest protection schemes.

Great Bustard (Otis tarda) as a vulnerable species is exposed to the extinction risk mainly due to habitat destruction and hunting pressure. This study was conducted to assess the species current geographical range and its habitat suitability in north western parts of Iran. Based on previous investigations and observations, I mapped current habitats of the species using GIS and the important ecological variables affecting the species habitat usage were modeled by Ecological Niche factor Analysis (ENFA). The results show that the species geographical range is limited to the areas habitats like Sutav, Yngijeh, Alblagh, and Qazelian Plains. ENFA analysis indicated that Great Bustard tends to live in marginal habitats and is a very sensitive species in the study area. The suitability map depicts that 6.5% of the study area is the suitable for the species, however, this value is not consistent with the current habitats in terms of area and location.

The Bengal Florican is one of the rarest bustard species and is listed ‘Critically Endangered’ by the IUCN.  The species is restricted to the lowland grasslands of India, Nepal, and Cambodia with fewer than 1,000 mature individuals.  To assess the species status in Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve, Nepal, we repeated our first comprehensive survey conducted during the 2012 breeding season.  In spite of a larger area coverage we recorded only 41 adult Bengal Floricans in 2017 compared to 47 individuals in 2012.  Detectability of this rare species is low in its Imperata-Saccharum grasslands.  We, therefore, used a long pole with black and white clothing to mimic Bengal Florican’s display flight to stimulate male Bengal Florican.  The number of adult males recorded was the same as in the 2012 survey and the adult male density remains one of the highest in the Indian subcontinent. Management recommendations for the long-term conservation of the species in Koshi Tappu include maintenance of ...