Avian Diversity and Community Structure in Magadh University Campus Landscape, Bodh Gaya
- 1Post Graduate Department of Zoology, Magadh University, Bodh Gaya
Abstract
University campuses function as important refugia for biodiversity within an increasingly urbanizing landscape. Magadh University (MU) is among the oldest universities of Bihar, India, located in Bodh Gaya, a place of spiritual tourism, near a UNESCO heritage site. The campus hosts a mosaic of heterogeneous habitats, rich vegetation and dense canopy cover along with varied range of anthropogenic interferences. This study mainly focusses on measuring the alpha diversity of avifaunal species and persistence across four seasons from July 2025 to June 2026, in the peri-urban landscape of MU. A total of 78 bird species belonging to 41 families and 16 orders were recorded using a combination of point count, line transect and acoustic monitoring. The study revealed that the order Passeriformes was the most species-rich (47.44%). Muscicapidae was the most species-rich family (6 species). Relatively high Shannon diversity (H') = 3.278, low Simpson's dominance (D = 0.062) and a high Pielou's evenness (J) = 0.751 indicated the avian community was distributed across diverse assemblage. Species richness estimates from Chao1 (78.5), iChao1 (79.02) and ACE (79.53) were comparable to recorded 78 species, indicating sampling completeness. Observed species were further classified into five major feeding guilds, majority of which were insectivorous species. 77 of the observed species were classified as Least Concern while Coracias benghalensis was categorized as Near Threatened. These findings demonstrate that the MU campus supports significant taxonomic, functional and temporal avian assemblage, highlighting the conservation values of the campus landscapes within rapidly urbanizing regions.
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BibTeX
@misc{kumari2026avian,
title = {{Avian Diversity and Community Structure in Magadh University Campus Landscape, Bodh Gaya}},
author = {M. Kumari and P. P. Das and K. Aditi},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.17.752356},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.17.752356v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Avian Diversity and Community Structure in Magadh University Campus Landscape, Bodh Gaya
AU - M. Kumari
AU - P. P. Das
AU - K. Aditi
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/17
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.17.752356
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.17.752356v1
AB - University campuses function as important refugia for biodiversity within an increasingly urbanizing landscape. Magadh University (MU) is among the oldest universities of Bihar, India, located in Bodh Gaya, a place of spiritual tourism, near a UNESCO heritage site. The campus hosts a mosaic of heterogeneous habitats, rich vegetation and dense canopy cover along with varied range of anthropogenic interferences. This study mainly focusses on measuring the alpha diversity of avifaunal species and persistence across four seasons from July 2025 to June 2026, in the peri-urban landscape of MU. A total of 78 bird species belonging to 41 families and 16 orders were recorded using a combination of point count, line transect and acoustic monitoring. The study revealed that the order Passeriformes was the most species-rich (47.44%). Muscicapidae was the most species-rich family (6 species). Relatively high Shannon diversity (H') = 3.278, low Simpson's dominance (D = 0.062) and a high Pielou's evenness (J) = 0.751 indicated the avian community was distributed across diverse assemblage. Species richness estimates from Chao1 (78.5), iChao1 (79.02) and ACE (79.53) were comparable to recorded 78 species, indicating sampling completeness. Observed species were further classified into five major feeding guilds, majority of which were insectivorous species. 77 of the observed species were classified as Least Concern while Coracias benghalensis was categorized as Near Threatened. These findings demonstrate that the MU campus supports significant taxonomic, functional and temporal avian assemblage, highlighting the conservation values of the campus landscapes within rapidly urbanizing regions.
ER -