Land-use sprawl in the Himalayas has caused the conversion of natural habitat into human-modified habitats, thus degrading ecosystem health. Adaptation of birds to changing physical environment can be well understood by analyzing their habitat preferences, and foraging dynamics explored to a limited extent in the Himalayan region, as yet. To achieve a comprehensive understanding of avian guild structure, we used multivariate statistical techniques to classify bird species according to their similarities in foraging patterns and habitat preferences. Observations based on habitat and diet affinities accounted for rich avian diversity with a total of 208 bird species (about 15% of country’s avifauna) recorded from six different sites during 1 year survey. Unweighted pair-group average cluster analysis performed on the families revealed ten feeding and fifteen habitat guilds among 63 bird families observed. Subtropical forests harbored more species followed by urban forests and agricultural landscapes. Insectivorous and omnivorous outnumbered other feeding guilds in the study area. Bird assemblages were richer in protected areas and semi-disturbed landscapes and did not show significant variation between the seasons. Results of the study revealed that different functional groups of birds behaved differently, primarily induced by choice of food. The site heterogeneity favored avifaunal persistence by providing favorable foraging, roosting, and nesting opportunities to birds. Composition of avian guilds indicated level of intactness and ecological integrity of ecosystems studied. This outcome thus sets the background for long-term analysis of bird-habitat relationship and their foraging dynamics. The study has the relevance for decision-makers to integrate avian guild structure as an essential ingredient in formulating conservation strategies.

中文翻译：

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评估印度查mu，查mu和克什米尔地区不同土地利用类型的鸟类行会格局

喜马拉雅山的土地利用蔓延导致自然栖息地转变为人类改造的栖息地，从而破坏了生态系统的健康。通过分析栖息地的喜好，并在喜马拉雅地区有限地探索觅食动态，可以很好地理解鸟类对不断变化的自然环境的适应性。为了全面了解鸟类的行会结构，我们使用了多元统计技术根据鸟类在觅食模式和栖息地偏好方面的相似性对鸟类进行分类。在1年的调查中，基于栖息地和饮食相似性的观察表明，鸟类具有丰富的鸟类多样性，在六个不同的地点记录了总共208种鸟类（约占该国鸟类的15％）。对这些科进行的非加权成对组平均聚类分析显示，在观察到的63个鸟类科中有10个觅食和15个栖息地协会。亚热带森林拥有更多的物种，其次是城市森林和农业景观。在该研究区域，食虫和杂食动物的数量超过了其他饲养协会。保护区和半扰动景观中的鸟类聚集比较丰富，并且在各个季节之间没有显着变化。研究结果表明，鸟类的不同功能组的行为有所不同，这主要是由食物选择引起的。地点异质性通过为鸟类提供有利的觅食，栖息和筑巢机会而有利于鸟类的持久性。鸟类行会的组成表明所研究生态系统的完整性和生态完整性水平。因此，这一结果为长期分析鸟类与栖息地的关系及其觅食动态奠定了基础。该研究对于决策者将禽类行会结构作为制定保护策略的基本要素具有重要意义。