· Agricultural landscapes near protected areas are proved to be important habitats for wildlife in Meghalaya
· Here wooded cultivated areas support multiple bird groups that play various roles — from insect controllers to fruit-eating seed dispersers — in the ecosystem
· These areas serves as supplementary bird habitats.
· There are more than 100 bird species in the cultivated areas.
· Meghalaya's Nongkhyllem Wildlife Sanctuary and reserve forest are surrounded by community-managed forests and wooded betel leaf farms.
· A recent study by Wildlife Conservation Society-India found out how important these wooded areas are for birds.
· The researchers studied how different groups (guilds) of birds — including nectar drinkers like sunbirds and insectivores such as drongos — use these two habitats and the different woodland vegetation found there.
· They find that areas outside the protected areas were used by all guilds of birds, suggesting that these areas maintained a functional bird community.
· The team examined the effects of vegetation structure — trees and shrubs — on the use of sites by different guilds of birds.
· They find that tree cover did not matter because most of these areas are highly wooded; shrub cover and bamboo influenced use of wooded areas by birds.
· Species richness in agricultural woodlands is more than protected areas because of increased number of generalist birds.
· Protected areas are equally important as some specialised species like large woodpeckers are still dependent on them.
· A lot of forests are at risk in Meghalaya because they are being converted into permanent open cultivation; encouraging regenerating forest areas or crops that require tree cover would be important.
· This well-designed study reinforces that at the landscape level, we can maximise the number of species we conserve by not just protecting natural habitats but also by ensuring the persistence of wooded areas (like regenerating forest) between protected areas.
Source : The Hindu