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The Thar, one of the most populated deserts in the world, has long been perceived as a barren wasteland. However, a recent study by IIT-Jodhpur shows that this arid ecosystem harbours remarkable biodiversity, containing four distinct ecoregions.
The study used community science, specifically crowdsourced bird data from the online resource eBird, to assess the biota and delineate the ecoregions.
The roughly 3.85 lakh sq km Thar Desert accounts for about 9 per cent of India’s land area and 2.12 per cent of its fauna — 682 species of flora and 1,195 species of fauna.
Manasi Mukherjee, one of the researchers, says the Thar has not received as much attention in global ecological studies as the larger deserts like the Sahara and Namib due to its smaller size and the lack of interdisciplinary research and long-term ecological assessments.
Four ecoregions
Eastern Thar, comprising nine districts, is marked by the Aravalli region and the eastern agro-industrial region.
Western Thar, with five districts, includes the western arid regions.
The ‘transitional zone’ consists of 13 districts on either side of the Aravalli range.
The ‘cultivated zone’, with six districts scattered across the Thar, was identified as an evolving zone due to anthropogenic activities and a higher risk of habitat fragmentation, posing a concern for near-threatened species, Mukherjee says.
As the report puts it, “As relatively fewer species and high endemism characterise deserts, loss of one species is reflected as a much higher percentage of biodiversity loss.”
Bird methodology
Birds have been found to be valuable indicators of ecosystem functions, making them essential to ecological research, Mukherjee says. “Using crowdsourced data from eBird, we report for the first time how a single taxon can be successfully used for delineation of ecoregions,” the report says.
A total of 492 bird species were recorded across 33 districts in Rajasthan, which collectively make up nearly 70 per cent of Thar.
The birds serve as a representative biota for inferring shifts in ecoregions, the effect of anthropogenic activities, and the need for ecoregion-based conservation strategies to protect endangered habitats and species.
Mukherjee says crowdsourcing data through citizen science programmes is a cost-effective means of covering a wide spatial area.
Birds played a central role in this research, serving as indicators of ecoregion dynamics.
The report says that “the variation in bird diversity is a reflection of the differences in the major geographic regions of Thar”.
Mukherjee says that, thanks to their adaptability and wide distribution, birds also helped in identifying invasive species and the ecological changes due to climate change or human activities.
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