Ramachandran Ramesh, Kumar Ajith, Gopi Sundar Kolla S, Bhalla Ravinder Singh
Post-Graduate Programme in Wildlife Biology and Conservation, Wildlife Conservation Society- India Program, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, GKVK Campus, Bangalore, Karnataka, 560 065, India.
Cranes and Wetlands Programme, Nature Conservation Foundation, 3076/5, 4th Cross, Gokulam Park, Mysore, 570002, India.
Ambio. 2017 Sep;46(5):613-620. doi: 10.1007/s13280-017-0907-9. Epub 2017 Feb 28.
The relative impacts of hunting and habitat on waterbird community were studied in agricultural wetlands of southern India. We surveyed wetlands to document waterbird community, and interviewed hunters to document hunting intensity, targeted species, and the motivations for hunting. Our results show that hunting leads to drastic declines in waterbird diversity and numbers, and skew the community towards smaller species. Hunting intensity, water spread, and vegetation cover were the three most important determinants of waterbird abundance and community structure. Species richness, density of piscivorous species, and medium-sized species (31-65 cm) were most affected by hunting. Out of 53 species recorded, 47 were hunted, with a preference for larger birds. Although illegal, hunting has increased in recent years and is driven by market demand. This challenges the widely held belief that waterbird hunting in India is a low intensity, subsistence activity, and undermines the importance of agricultural wetlands in waterbird conservation.
在印度南部的农业湿地中，研究了狩猎和栖息地对水鸟群落的相对影响。我们对湿地进行了调查，以记录水鸟群落，并采访了猎人，以记录狩猎强度、目标物种和狩猎动机。我们的研究结果表明，狩猎导致水鸟多样性和数量急剧下降，并使群落向较小的物种倾斜。狩猎强度、水域面积和植被覆盖是水鸟数量和群落结构的三个最重要决定因素。物种丰富度、食鱼物种密度和中型物种（31-65厘米）受狩猎影响最大。在记录的53个物种中，有47个被猎杀，人们更倾向于猎杀大型鸟类。尽管非法，但近年来狩猎活动有所增加，且是由市场需求驱动的。这挑战了人们普遍持有的观点，即印度的水鸟狩猎是一种低强度的自给活动，并削弱了农业湿地在水鸟保护中的重要性。
