Abstract:
Conservation and management of riparian habitats for wild life and sustainable human use
has become a challenging task in the midst of present day development activities and other
human influences. In Sri Lanka there are diverse riparian habitats providing shelter and
food for various plant and animal species including birds. Riparian ecosystems and
associated avifauna in Sri Lanka have not been widely studied. We have investigated the
avifauna of different habitats namely a garbage dumping site, a bush land, a paddy field
and a freshwater marshland associated with Nilwala River for a period of six months. The
total number of species recorded at garbage dumping site, bush land, freshwater marshland
and paddy field were 52, 48, 61 and 41 respectively. The spatial distribution patterns of
birds in me different riparian were evident. Highest and lowest diverse bird community
was recorded in the freshwater marshland and the garbage dumping sites respectively. This
information will provide a great insight not only to further understanding of bird
distribution patterns in riparian systems associated with Nilwala River in relation to the
human influence but also to implement conservation measures.
