46 research outputs found
‘Eastern’ Common Swift Apus apus pekinensis in the Lakshadweep Archipelago, with identification notes on juvenile birds
First distributional report of Filinia camasecla Myers, 1938 (Rotifera: Eurotatoria: Monogononta) from peninsular India
This work reports the first distributional record of Filinia camasecla Myers, 1938 in south India from the Cochin backwaters on the northern stretch of Lake Vembanad. Earlier, the distribution of this species has been known from Oriental (South East-Asia) and Neotropical biogeographical realms. Though it comes under the oriental endemics no previous records of this species were available from this area or other parts of Vembanad backwaters. The occurrence of F. camasecla in this additional geographic region highlights the range extension of the species
Record of the Black-winged Kite Elanus caeruleus breeding in the Lakshadweep Islands, Indian Ocean
The Black-winged Kite Elanus caeruleus has a widespread
distribution in the Afrotropical and Indo-Malayan region
(Ferguson-Lees & Christie 2001). It is a resident of the Indian
mainland and Sri Lanka and has been sighted in the small atoll
islands of Lakshadweep off the south-western coast of India (Ali
& Ripley 1987). Its first record from Lakshadweep goes back to
the latter half of the nineteenth century when Hume (1876)
procured specimens from the islands of Amini and Kadamat. He
categorized them as regular visitors and dismissed any chances
of breedin
Differential exploitation of a single dominant prey species by migratory shorebirds – a preliminary observation from the vulnerable sandy beaches of the southwest coast of India
Observations on the food resources of migratory shore birds in selected sandy shores of Kerala on the southwest coast of India revealed that their main prey resource is a single species of sand crab (mole crab), Emerita holthuisi Sankolli, 1965, the major crustacean resource in the narrow stretches of sandy shores of central Kerala. Three sandy beaches flanking tidal estuaries, abundant in shore crabs, were selected as the representative sites to study in detail the feeding of shorebirds on the sand crabs. We observed the presence of mole crabs for a year and noted that they are found almost year round on these shores. The shore birds were found to exploit them during their wintering months from October to February. The variations in adaptations of 8 species of predatory shore birds in preying on E. holthuisi were also noted. The same predator-prey relationship was observed in similar small stretches of sandy shores in other parts of central Kerala also
‘Pakshi Pitti’: a robust haven for pelagic birds in the Indian Ocean
India, a land of distinct climatic and geographic zones,
supports a remarkable diversity of avian fauna within both
its mainland and its seas. There are over 1200 species of
birds recorded in India, with the majority occurring in
the mainland (Praveen et al., 2016). Surrounded by extensive
marine zones on its three sides, territorial waters and
marginal seas around India form seamless habitats for a
significant number of marine avian species. Seventy species
of marine birds are observed in the region (BirdLife
International 2015). These include predominantly open
oceanic species like frigate birds, tropicbirds, shearwaters
and petrels which are winter visitors or vagrants, but birds
like gulls and terns are more commonly found along the
coastal waters of India
भारत के समुद्री पक्षी - एक अवलोकन
समुदी पक्षी कशेरुकियों का सबसे सफल ग्रुप है और विकास के समय इन् हें विविध प्रकार का अनुकूलन प्राप्त हुए, जिन से जल, भूमि और वायु में जीवित रहने की सुविधा मिली। वैश्विक तौर पर समुद्री पर्यावरण के स्वास्थ्य के विश्व सनीय संकेतक के रूप में पहचाने जाते हैं। इनमें से कई अपने जीवन का एक बड़ा हिस्सा विशष रूप से उच्च महासागरों में बि ताते हैं, जबकि उनके प्रजनन के लिए दूरस्थ महासागरीय द्वीपों का लाभ उठाते हैं। कुछ पक्षी तटीय समुद्र में पाए जाते हैं और कि सी भी समय खुले समुद्र की ओर जाने का साहस नहीं करते हैं
Coral Biology & Diversity
The tropical latitudes of the oceans can be called
the deserts of the ocean due to their similarity
with terrestrial deserts, which are barren and
relatively sterile places. The reason for this
phenomenon is that the surface waters of the
tropical oceans are so warm and thus they tend
to float on top of the colder water underneath,
inhibiting nutrient upwelling from the deep
which brings nutrients to the ocean surface.
However, coral reefs are a brilliant exception to
the general scarcity of life in tropical oceans; they
are known as the oases of ocean deserts