Mr madhusudan kattian introduction

He is assistant professor at california state univesity.

He did a research on leaf warblers ( genus phylloscopus) in western ghats,(kalakkad-mundanthurai tiger reserve) - (1995-98)

For the first time he figured out the role of warblers on our ecological system.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/know/common-warblers-in-a-royal-tigers-lair/article7035979.ece

ARE WABLERS LESS IMPORTANT THAN TIGERS?Madhusudan Katti

What are we doing?

Focusing on large fauna only Leaving mini and micro fauna on nature All the efforts are to protect habitat to food

chain of large mammals only Avifauna is being ignored Identification of warblers is a tough task for

anybody even hardcore bird watchers too.

Warblers- an introduction

There are total 19 species of warblers recorded in Indian subcontinent.

All of them are migratory. They breed in temperate summers from

himalaya north to the arctic circle They take over peninsular india, himalayan

foothils and much of north east from september to may.

So can you imagine the impact of that on our forests?

charecteristic Very small insectivorous Dull green colored Highly active in forest They stay 7 to 8 month in India Very difficult to indentify the sub species. Weight- 7 to 11 grams only (varies in different species) They are territorial. Stay within same field for that long. About 10 species have been recorded in

Ranthambhore.

They spend their 75% of waking hours in foraging. They use vocal and visual dialogue to maintain the

territorry All of them breed in temperate eurasian zone beyond

himalaya. They come from forest hill range around the caspian

sea via turkey east, southern russia,afganistan and kashmir.

Their breeding grounds are being deforested directly by humans or by climatic change at very large scale.

Role in ecosystem

Mr katti selected a plot of 20 hectare in forest to study warbler.

They can be one or more species but number remains almost this much.

Their waking time from dusk to dawn is about 11 hrs a day.

They spend most of the time in eating insects.

Their distribution is about 6 to 8 warblers per hectare.

On an average a leaf warbler eats 3 insects per minute

Thus one warblers consumes about 180 insects per minute and 1980 insects per day (11 hrs)

If there are 6 indivisuals, they will consume about 12000 insects in a day.

There are some other birds are also found in fields or forests like Shrikes, minivets, drongos, flycatchers, babblers and many others.

On an average around 40 insectivorous birds are found in each hectare.

If they consume 2 insect per bird per minute on an average, it becomes a huge number, about 5000 insects per hour and 50000 per day.

What if they are removed only for few weeks

All the soft and fresh leaves of forest canopy shall be consumed by insects and caterpillers

Rest of leaves shall be full of shit and nibblings of them. Plant shall start spending too much energy on self

defence and there will be less production of leave and flowers.

Slow regeneration of forest due to less seed production, less flowers.

Less pollination Due to less density of forest canopy more light on

ground to dry up the moisture.

In the last list terminology like this.

R: ResidentP: Passage (autumn and / or spring)

migrant S: Summer visitor W: Winter visitor V: Vagrant (erratic) (no certain stay

anywhere)

BLYTH'S REED WARBLERAcrocephalus dumetorum

P Rare

GREATER WHITETHROAT Sylvia communis V Rare

LESSERWHITE THROAT Sylvia curruca W Rare

HUME'S LESSER WHITETHROAT

Sylvia (curruca) althaea

W Rare

ORPHEAN WARBLER Sylvia hortensis W Rare

COMMON CHIFFCHAFF Phylloscopus collybita W Common

BROOK'S LEAF WARBLER Phylloscopus subvirdis

W Rare

SULPHER BELLIED WARBLER

Phylloscopus griseolus

W Rare

HUME'S WARBLER Phylloscopus humei W Rare

GREENISH WARBLER Phylloscopus trochiloides

W Common

Thank you