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Temporal Variations of Shorebird Abundance and Diversity at Muttukadu Backwaters – A Key Wintering Site in the Southeast Coast of India

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Thalassas: An International Journal of Marine Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The study was carried out to assess the shorebird abundance and its diversity during September 2021 to September 2023 using direct observation and block count method, on the southeast coastline of India, with a study site located at Muttukadu backwaters (12.8006oN latitude and 80.2363o E longitude), Chengalpet district of Tamil Nadu. Our study documented 28 shorebird species from Muttukadu backwaters with four families that belongs to the order Charadriiformes. The mean abundance of shorebirds was higher in the post monsoon and followed by monsoon period due to the increased abundance of migratory species. The highest diversity of shorebirds was observed in the monsoon season. The data from rarefaction curve showed that post monsoon and monsoon had higher species richness than pre monsoon and summer. This survey of wintering shorebirds in the study area can be used for proposing the habitat management strategies.

Highlights

The Muttukadu backwaters is situated in the southeast coast of India, provides critical habitat for many migratory shorebirds.

A total of 28 shorebird species belonging to 4 families of order Charadriiformes were recorded.

This study provides data for habitat management strategies in the study area.

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Data Availability

No datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank University Grants Commission, India for full funding support of this research project. We also thank Mr. Baskar, boatman for his assistance in field surveys.

Funding

This study was supported by UGC Junior Research Fellowship for Sciences, India. (Grant no. 480/(CSIRNETJUNE2019).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, Queen Mary’s College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 600004, India

    Ramya Shree N & Malathi E

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  1. Ramya Shree N
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  2. Malathi E
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Contributions

Ramya Shree N: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing – original draft, Project administration. Malathi E: Conceptualization, Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Project administration.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Malathi E.

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N, R.S., E, M. Temporal Variations of Shorebird Abundance and Diversity at Muttukadu Backwaters – A Key Wintering Site in the Southeast Coast of India. Thalassas (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41208-024-00704-3

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