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Dynamics of habitat use by the river lapwing Vanellus duvaucelii (Lesson, 1826)

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Abstract

There is little information about habitat use pattern of river lapwing in India as well as in Southeast Asia. In this regard, we employed the line transect method to quantify the density of river lapwing concerning vegetation height, water depth and soil penetrability. Scan and focal sampling methodology was adapted to investigate the activities (foraging and roosting) and breeding events. The results showed that invertebrates were abundant at 4 cm of soil penetrability, particularly in open unvegetated river bank (OURB) and open unvegetated river island (OURI) habitat types. River lapwings were significant in short vegetation. They occurred in high density in the vicinity of river water at 5 cm of water depth and 4 cm of soil penetrability in OURB and OURI habitat types. Human activities also influenced the density of river lapwing in different habitat types. Results of GLM analysis revealed that all interactions strongly influenced the density of river lapwings except two interactions, e.g. vegetation height*water depth and vegetation height*soil penetrability. Moreover, we found that river lapwing foraged more frequently in OURB and OURI habitat types while less in vegetated river bank (VRB) and crop fields (CF). Roosting activities were more frequently observed in VRB and CF habitat types. Different breeding events (nest seen, chick seen, alarm calling and territory defence) were primarily seen in OURB and OURI habitat types. Finally, developing greater understanding of the river lapwing could help us to design effective conservation measures for this species.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Head, Department of Zoology, University of Lucknow, for providing facilities and administrative support. Himanshu Mishra is thankful to the University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi, for the senior research fellowship [Ref. No. 21/12/2014(ii) EU-V]. The authors are thankful to Ms Farah Bano, Ph.D. scholar, for her valuable contribution to statistical analysis. The authors extend their appreciation to the local people of the study area who have given secondary information about the occurrence of river lapwing. Finally, the authors are thankful to both the reviewers for their invaluable suggestions that helped in improvization of the manuscript.

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  1. Animal Diversity and Ecology Laboratory, Department of Zoology, University of Lucknow, Lucknow, 226007, UP, India

    Himanshu Mishra, Vikas Kumar & Ashish Kumar

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  1. Himanshu Mishra
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Correspondence to Ashish Kumar.

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Mishra, H., Kumar, V. & Kumar, A. Dynamics of habitat use by the river lapwing Vanellus duvaucelii (Lesson, 1826). Landscape Ecol Eng 17, 515–525 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11355-021-00473-8

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