Check List 9(2): 263-274, doi: 10.15560/9.2.263
Plant species of Okhla Bird Sanctuary: a wetland of Upper Gangetic Plains, India [with erratum]
expand article infoUpma Manral‡, Angshuman Raha‡, Ridhima Solanki‡, Syed Ainul Hussain‡, Mattozbiyil Mani Babu‡, Dhananjai Mohan‡, Gopi G. Veeraswami‡, K. Sivakumar‡, Gautam Talukdar‡
‡ Wildlife Institute of India, India

Corresponding author: Syed Hussain ( hussain@wii.gov.in )

© 2017 Upma Manral, Angshuman Raha, Ridhima Solanki, Syed Hussain, Mattozbiyil Babu, Dhananjai Mohan, Gopi Veeraswami, K. Sivakumar, Gautam Talukdar.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation: Hussain S, Raha A, Mohan D, Solanki R, Manral U, Sivakumar K, Veeraswami G, Babu M, Talukdar G (2013) Plant species of Okhla Bird Sanctuary: a wetland of Upper Gangetic Plains, India [with erratum]. Check List 9(2): 263-274. https://doi.org/10.15560/9.2.263
Open Access
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.
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