Decadal study of Avifaunal Diversity of Banni Grass land, Katchchh, Gujarat, India

ABSTRACT Banni Grass land was one of the largest grasslands of arid systems in India. The region shows extreme climatic conditions with summer temperature hovering around 45° C to 50° C temperature and winter temperature dropping to 2 to 3 ° C and annual rainfall is only 2-3 cm. This type of climatic regime supports specific grasses and other vegetation that in turn sustains avifauna. Over the years, the area has undergone changes in vegetation characteristics and human pressures which has an impact on regional climate affecting the bird diversity. Since, birds are the important indicators of health of ecosystem the present study was undertaken to bring out the decadal changes in the faunal diversity. Study was undertaken in seven villages located within the Banni grasslands and the results show change in avifaunal composition as well as diversity between 2004 and 2014. 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