Urban Impacts on Avifaunal Community of Kannur Dist., Kerala, India

This paper primarily focuses on clarifying the impact of urbanisation on avifaunal communities in Kannur, Kerala. Urbanization and human activity will degrade environmental quality and homogenize plant and animal populations. One of the most prevalent species on the planet, birds are the ideal tool for tracking environmental changes and are hence considered ecological indicators. The diversity and composition of birds varied by habitat type. This study aims to monitor whether urbanisation acts as a filter for species diversity and to test the Intermediate disturbance hypothesis along the urban–rural gradient. Based on building density, the study area is divided into three classes, namely urban, suburban, and rural, using ArcGIS and selecting 20 points from each class. Then we conducted bird point counts at 60 sites along the urban-to-rural gradient in Kannur. PAST (Paleontological Statistics) software was used to calculate the diversity and abundance of the birds for 2 seasons. A total of 428 individual birds were recorded; 44 species were monitored in the January–February season, followed by 309 individual records of 39 species in the March–April season. Our findings do not support the intermediate disturbance hypothesis (IDH), as bird diversity is highest in the rural area, followed by suburban and urban areas, in both seasons. These findings support the idea that urbanisation acts as a filter, as the number of species in urban habitats is significantly reduced, mainly due to the biotic homogenisation of birds and their habitats.