Avifauna of Kheri Morat National Park: Role of Agricultural Habitat in Maintaining the Diversity of Birds in the Presence of Threats in Adjacent Forest Habitat

Increasing land use for agricultural practices is commonly perceived as a threat to the avian diversity. However, a number of avian species depend on these croplands for food, water, and shelter. The present study was conducted in Khairi National Park, Pakistan, for the discourse of awareness gaps about the avifaunal diversity of the protected area and to compare the bird’s diversity in the agriculture fields and native forests. For the current study, the habitat was divided into two habitat categories, i.e., forest and croplands. The sampling was executed between February 2014 and February 2017. Stratified random sampling was used to select three transects of 1000 m length and 100 m width in each habitat category. The transects were at least 2000 m apart from each other. Each transect was visited twice monthly with a total of 72 surveys per transect. The threats to avian fauna were recorded through questionnaire surveys.We recorded 77 bird species in both habitats during the study period. Agricultural habitat had 73 species while the forest was inhabited by 55 species, with 32 % of similarity between bird communities between the habitats. Major threats in forest included illegal hunting (30 %), fuel wood collection (24 %), and livestock grazing (21 %). While in croplands reported threats included illegal hunting (3 %) and livestock grazing (3 %). Our study concludes that the agricultural lands can serve as an important habitat supporting many avian species.