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Lead Proponent: |
Dr. Kuldeep Barwal
Assistant Professor,
Govt. College, Bilaspur
7, Bilaspur, Kosrian Sector, Bilaspur
Himachal Pradesh 174001
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Project Brief Description: |
Flycatchers are seasonal migrants, breeding in higher-latitude temperate and subarctic regions and wintering in subtropical and tropical areas. Species that breed in subtropical and tropical regions are resident there, although some of them may undertake seasonal movements between low- and high-altitude habitats. They build nest is generally placed in the fork of a branch, on a ledge of a bank, or in a cavity in a tree, stump, or cliff. They lay two to seven spotted or mottled eggs. The incubation period ranges from about 12–22 days. Flycatchers use a variety of feeding tactics to prey on insects and other arthropods. Some species also feed by gleaning prey from bark, branches, foliage, or spider webs, or by swooping down to feed on arthropods spotted on the ground. Global warming has altered the phenology and distribution of many plant and animal species, resulting in marked changes from the level of individuals to whole communities. Elevated temperatures have affected population dynamics and have advanced events such as leaf unfolding, flowering, emergence, and breeding, whereas leaf fall has become delayed, leading to an extended growing season. In some cases, there is evidence that the timing of birds´ breeding and migration is affected by climatic variation. We used flycatures as a model species to understand the synchrony between plant phenology and flycatures breeding timing with respect to fate of climate warming in Himalayas. There are some birds species that are able to adjust their behaviour to match the change in climate, and some that cannot. This means that seasonal events like bird breeding timing, migration and insect emergence will start to fall out of synchrony with flowering and fruiting. This causes problems for the animals that don´t have food when they expect it. There is evidence, for example, that some birds are arriving too late to get the caterpillars they need to feed their young; the insects are responding to the earlier warming of the spring in their location, but the birds, which have spent the winter far away, have not gotten any "signal" to start earlier in time to harvest the emerging caterpillars.
Phonological traits are generally expected to be closely related to individual fitness, especially in seasonal habitats such as temperate and alpine habitats, where food availability is restricted to a short burst. In these ecosystems, the seasonally changing environmental conditions set an ´optimal time window´ for activities such as breeding, migrating or hibernating. This ´optimal time window´ is determined by a variety of factors, of which the most relevant in the context of climate change are climatic factors and the phenology of other trophic levels. Many food resources show a clear seasonal trend in abundance or suitability. For example, the abundance of caterpillars, an important prey for many passerines during their reproductive period, shows a pronounced and short peak in spring in temperate and alpine forests. Consequently, climatic variables can induce selection on spring phenology of birds either indirectly by affecting processes at lower or higher trophic levels, or more directly by influencing their breeding timing probability. Hence, in temperate and alpine zone organisms relying on strong seasonal changes in the ecosystem, one would expect climate change to alter selection on phenology and generally to lead to directional selection for earlier breeding and migration. Hence climate change led to shifts in phenology in birds distributed widely across different eco-regions. Here, we assume that the shift in the phenology of a species' food abundance is shift in phenology of another species. Therefore, it is important to obtain conclusive information about the impact of climate on bird breeding timing or migration in the middle and higher Himalayan region. The proposed study will generate data to fill this gap and examine whether changes in flycatures breeding timing can be attributed to climate change. Many such linkages are likely to be broken or altered as climate change continues, and our careful observations can help paint the picture!
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