Plant species of Okhla Bird Sanctuary: a wetland of Upper Gangetic Plains, India [with erratum]

By

Manral, Upma
Raha, Angshuman
Solanki, Ridhima
Hussain, Syed Ainul
Babu, Mattozbiyil Mani
Mohan, Dhananjai
Veeraswami, Gopi G.
Sivakumar, K
Talukdar, Gautam

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2013-4-1

Original Publication

Check list : journal of species lists and distribution

Volume

9

Series / Issue

Issue: 2

Pages

263--274

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

[São Paulo, Brazil] Luís Felipe Toledo 2005-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15560/9.2.263

 

Abstract

The Okhla Bird Sanctuary (OBS), a man-modified floodplain wetland having high human impact, is located in an urbanized landscape. Its location in the Central Asian Flyway of migratory birds makes it an ideal transit and wintering ground for birds. This paper describes the vegetation composition and significance of the Sanctuary as a bird habitat. A floristic survey was carried out from winter 2009 to spring 2010 while preparing a management plan for OBS. 192 species of plants belonging to 46 families were recorded from the area. Thirteen species of weeds were observed covering 70% of the sampled area in peak summer. Among trees, highest density was found for two exotic species viz., Leucaena leucocephala and Prosopis juliflora. The aquatic system is facing threat from proliferation of Eichhornia cressipes and Typha angustifolia. Strategic eradication of invasive and plantation of native species in the sanctuary are needed for better management.