Population & habitat use of Galliformes in Sariska Tiger Reserve

The avian order Galliformes include turkeys, grouse, fowls, quails, and pheasants. These constitute 70 genera and 284 species worldwide. These also include 17 species of Indian pheasants which are the most spectacular birds of the world constituting one-third of the global total of 50 pheasant species. The study was conducted in Sariska Tiger Reserve which is located in the Aravalli hills of Rajasthan. It is the third largest protected area among the 93 protected areas in India s semi arid region situated in the semi arid bio - geographic zone of India. Seven species of galliformes are reported from the region out of which present study reports the abundance estimation of five species encountered during February to May 2009. Line transects and DISTANCE 6.0 was used to estimate the encounter rates whereas, PC-ord, TWINSPAN & Non Metric Multidimentional Scaling (NMDS) was used to determine the extent of habitat use by the target species. The present study suggests undertaking possible conservation measures to protect the population status of galliformes in Sariska Tiger Reserve.