Endemic Species Presentation Bachelor of Education Biological Sciences Applied Ecology – BDB32101E Batch 7 Student ID – BEd72018172 Course Instructor – Dr. Roshini Wimalarathne CONTENT 2 Who are Endemic Species?? Endemic species are plants and animals that exist only in one geographical region which can be endemic to large or small areas of the world; to a particular continent, to a part of a continent or to a single island. An endemic species are important because they are in the habitats restricted to a particular area due to climate change, urban development or other occurrences. Therefore endemic species are often endangered and it is important to save the species. Factors affecting Endemic Species 1. Habitat loss and fragmentation due to draining and filling of inland wetlands 2. Pollution Species become endemic in 2 ways 1. Autochthonous or native 2. Allochthonous 4 Ceylon Whistling Thrush Myophonus blighi Taxonomy and scientific classification of Myophonus blighi Kingdom Animalia Phylum Chordata Class Aves Order Passeriformes Family Muscicapidae Genus Myophonus Species Myophonus blighi (Holdsworth, 1872) Vernacular names Sinhala - ලංකා අරංගයා Male Female • Only 20 cm. • Adult males are velvety black spangled with a lustrous blue sheen, particularly on the inner wingcoverts (shoulders), forehead and above the eyes. • Female is dull brown above with a mute purplishblue shoulder-patch, and reddish-brown underparts, rump and under tail-coverts. • Juveniles are similar to adult females but have more rusty-brown underparts and narrow buff streaking on the head, neck and breast • The male’s hissing srhee.. srhee.. call, as it flutters between bushes in the evening, is usually heard before the bird itself is seen. • Females are even shyer than males, and rarely seen. The birds are crepuscular. Geographic Distribution of Ceylon Whistling Thrush Ecosystem & Habitat Dieting & Feeding Confined to the central mountains or highlands of Sri Lanka Ground-dwelling bird restricted to dense, relatively undisturbed evergreen mountain forests above around 900 m, although it is now found mainly between 1,200 and 2,100 m. Usually found close to rapidflowing water and streams, particularly in ravines and gorges at dawn at Horton Plains National Park, Haggala Botanical Gardens close to Nuwara Eliya town. Omnivores At the margins of water, feeds mainly on insects, snails, small reptiles (geckos and lizards) amphibians (frogs) and berries. 9 Breeding Threats & Conservation Breeding season – from January to May, and possibly again in September. Notoriously difficult species to see, even when the males are singing in the breeding season, which starts in February. Positioned on a rock ledge or tree fork next to waterfalls or rapids, the large, compact neat nests are constructed out of green moss and fern roots, lined with grass and rootlets Clutches seem to contain one to two pale green eggs faintly speckled in reddish-brown are laid. Faced threats like clearance of its upland forest habitat due to timber plantations and agriculture, firewood collection, gem mining. The replacement of natural, mixed forests containing fruiting trees with single-species plantations reduce its available food supply. Streams within this species' range are becoming polluted with run-off chemicals Legally protected in Sri Lanka and occurs in several national parks and forest reserves, most notably Peak Wilderness Sanctuary and Hakgala Strict Nature Reserve A moratorium was also passed in 1990 to protect wet zone forests 10 from logging Indian Pitta Pitta brachyura Taxonomy and scientific classification of Pitta brachyura Kingdom Animalia Phylum Chordata Class Aves Order Passeriformes Family Pittidae Genus Pitta Species Pitta brachyuran (Linnaeus, 1766) Vernacular names English: Indian pitta German: Bengalenpitta Indonesian: Paok Sinhala : අවිච්චියා Bio Metrics Length: 15-25 cm Wingspan: 20-25 cm Weight: 45-65 g • The Indian pitta is a small secretive bird. • Buff colored cap from the forehead to hind crown. • A black central stripe head to white supercilium at the nape. • A thick black eye stripe from lores to nape with a conspicuous white line beneath. Blackish iris and gray eye ring. • Chin and throat are white. • Upper parts and wings are shades of green and upper tail is blue. • The underparts are bright yellowish buff and the lower belly, vent and under short and stubby tail are bright red in adults. • Both the sexes have similar plumage and the juveniles are duller. • The bill of these Indian pitta species is dark gray. • The legs are long and strong and pale pinkish gray in color. Geographic Distribution of Indian Pitta Ecosystem & Habitat Moderate forest dependence. Normally occur in altitudes from 0 to 1800 meters. Met with both near and away from human habitations. The natural ecosystems and habitats; - tropical and subtropical moist montane forests, - evergreen forests, - moist shrublands with dense undergrowth, - tropical and subtropical moist lowland forests, - deciduous forests - wetlands. Dieting & Feeding Omnivorous Small invertebrates : insects, insect larvae, ants, termites, beetles, spiders, cicadas and crickets, earthworms, small snails and millipedes Occasionally eat food scraps from the ground in rural areas Forage on the forest floor and under dense undergrowth Cratch and scrape the leaf litter for insect prey and also hop about and pick insects on the forest floor. 15 Breeding Migration Breeding season - from April and September with a peak in May to August. Monogamous. Roost in trees but nest on the ground or on low branches of shrubs in a globular structured nest made up of dry leaves and grasses. The clutch is 4-5 glossy white, spherical eggs. The eggs have deep brown and maroon spots and speckles. Both the parents take turns to incubate the eggs. The chicks hatch out in 16-17 days. The hatchlings are altricial and nidicolous, born helpless, blind and without feathers, simply unable to fend for themselves. Mostly migratory birds Breeding populations - in tropical and subtropical submontane forests and scrub jungles along the foothills of Himalayas, northeast Pakistan, gangetic plains, central and west Indian hills. Migrate South to Southwest of Indian peninsula and Sri Lanka during October and November for wintering and return to the breeding grounds in the early summer. Passage birds are found throughout the subcontinent. 16 Life span of Indian Pitta is up to 4.2 years. Although there global population size not quantified their overall population is decreasing. Habitat alteration and destruction, deforestation and hunting the migrating birds are the main threats which we have to consider to survive from being endangered. 17 Refernces • https://www.vedantu.com/biology/endemicspecies#:~:text=Endemic%20species%20are%20those%20plants, others%20to%20a%20single%20island • https://editors.eol.org/eoearth/wiki/San_F%C3%A9lixSan_Ambrosio_Islands_temperate_forests • http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/indian-pitta-pittabrachyura • https://indianbirds.thedynamicnature.com/2017/10/indian-pittapitta-brachyura.html?m=1 • https://nss.iitb.ac.in/birds/birdswiki.php?page=Nauranga • https://eol.org/pages/45517528/articles • https://www.lakpura.com/pages/ceylon-whistling-thrush • https://dibird.com/species/sri-lanka-whistling-thrush/ • https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lanka_whistling_thrush • https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Sri_Lanka_Whistling_Thrush • http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/sri-lanka-whistling18 thrush-myophonus-blighi T H A N K YOU Have A Nice Day!
