Faunal
diversity during rainy season in reclaimed sodic land
of Uttar Pradesh, India
S.K.
Singh?, S.P. Srivastava?, Pankaj Tandon? and B.S. Azad?
?Division of Crop Protection,
Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur
- 208 024, India
?Department
of Zoology, D.A.V.P.G. College, Kanpur
- 208 001, India
(Received: February 22, 2008; Revised
received: July
26, 2008; Accepted: October 01, 2008)
Abstract: Faunal diversity is an indicator of
soil amelioration. Estimating the population size or density of an animal
species in an area is fundamental to understand its status and demography, and
to plan for its management and conservation. Considering this, faunal diversity
in reclamed sodic land was
monitored during rainy season 2000-01 at different locations of district viz., Aligarh,
Etah, Fatehpur, Mainpuri and Raebareli in Uttar
Pradesh. The Shannon-Weiner species diversity index (H) of different fauna
complex of each location was compared with zero years (1995-1996) indexes
(before reclamation). Insects diversity index, in reclaimed sodic
soil, varied from 3.8178(Fatehpur: Bariyampur) to 4.623 (Fatehpur: Katoghan), which was 3.028 in zero year at Katoghan in Fatehpur. ?H? index
of other-arthropods ranged widely from 0.9743 (Etah: Bawali) to 2.0674 (Mainpuri: Pundari). The species diversity index of molluscs registered as high as 1.8637 at Ladhauwa site in Aligarh, which exhibited identical
with Saripur site of Raebareli. ?H?index
of mammal resulted with the highest (2.19) at Pundari
in district Mainpuri.The avifauna and amphibian?s
indices were recovered maximal at Saripur site of Raebareli and Bariyampur site of Fatehpur, respectively.?
Our result revealed that various fauna enriched with soil reclamation,
which is good indicator of restoration of land, primarily due to soil-
arthropods and earthworms and its eventual improvement along with succeeding
rice-wheat cropping system widespread over there. It clearly shows that soil
fauna strongly affects the composition of natural vegetation and we suggest
that this knowledge might improve the restoration and conservation of
biodiversity.
Key words: Faunal diversity, Sodic
land, Species diversity, Species richness, Abundance, Reclamation
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