Saurabh Sawant

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Papers by Saurabh Sawant

Notes on the Newly Discovered Population of Sind Jerdon's Babbler Chrysomma altirostre scindicum in Harike Wildlife Sanctuary, Punjab, India

Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, Dec 1, 2013

Jerdon's Babbler Chrysomma altirostre is native to India, Pakistan, and Myanmar, and is class... more Jerdon's Babbler Chrysomma altirostre is native to India, Pakistan, and Myanmar, and is classified as Vulnerable by IUCN. The western race of the species, namely scindicum, was known only from a few localities in the floodplains of the Indus river and its tributaries in Pakistan, till it was recorded in Harike Wildlife Sanctuary, Punjab, India, in October 2012. During a follow-up study in Harike in December 2012, 33 individuals were recorded, which suggested that Harike wetland could have a significant population of this species and the subspecies scindicum in India. The assemblage of tall, dense, long, and unbroken grass stands of Phragmites-Saccharum-Imperata were found to be important for the species. This paper discusses the observations and localities where the birds were recorded, and the sonograms of their calls and songs.

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Kerala Bird Atlas 2015–20: features, outcomes and implications of a citizen-science project

Current Science

Citizen-science driven exercises (e.g. bird surveys) and online platforms (e.g. eBird) provide vo... more Citizen-science driven exercises (e.g. bird surveys) and online platforms (e.g. eBird) provide voluminous data on bird occurrence. However, the semi-structured nature of their data collection makes it difficult to compare bird distribution across space and time. Bird atlases are based on standardized surveys and describe the distribution of bird species over a predefined region and have fewer biases, and thus are better suited for use in research. The recently concluded Kerala Bird Atlas (henceforth KBA) is Asia's largest bird atlas in terms of geographical extent, sampling effort and species coverage. The entire state of Kerala was systematically surveyed twice a year during 2015-20 and over 0.3 million records of 380 species from 25,000 checklists were aggregated. The dataset was filtered and various metrics were estimated. A total of 915 cells were laid out for systematic surveys, of which 888 were surveyed in either or both the seasonsdry season (January-March) and wet season (July-September); 27 cells could not be surveyed in either of the seasons due to logistical constraints. However, this variation in sampling effort had a minimal effect on survey completeness. The slope of the species accumulation curve suggested nearcomplete species sampling in over 70% of the cells. After eliminating nocturnal and pelagic species, data from 361 species were analysed. Species count was higher in the dry season than in the wet season. Species richness (count) and evenness were higher in the northern and central districts than in the southern districts. High elevation regions of the southern Western Ghats were the largest contiguous areas lacking sufficient sampling. We found that most of the endemics were concentrated in the Western Ghats, but threatened species were as likely to occur along the coasts as in the Ghats. The KBA dataset is a valuable resource for testing various ecological hypotheses and suggesting science-backed conservation measures. KBA model could be replicated for similar atlases in other states or biogeographic regions of India.

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Notes on the Newly Discovered Population of Sind Jerdon's Babbler Chrysomma altirostre scindicum in Harike Wildlife Sanctuary, Punjab, India

Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 2013

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Microhyla laterite sp. nov., A New Species of Microhyla Tschudi, 1838 (Amphibia: Anura: Microhylidae) from a Laterite Rock Formation in South West India

PloS one, 2016

In recent times, several new species of amphibians have been described from India. Many of these ... more In recent times, several new species of amphibians have been described from India. Many of these discoveries are from biodiversity hotspots or from within protected areas. We undertook amphibian surveys in human dominated landscapes outside of protected areas in south western region of India between years 2013-2015. We encountered a new species of Microhyla which is described here as Microhyla laterite sp. nov. It was delimited using molecular, morphometric and bioacoustics comparisons. Microhyla laterite sp. nov. appears to be restricted to areas of the West coast of India dominated by laterite rock formations. The laterite rock formations date as far back as the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary and are considered to be wastelands in-spite of their intriguing geological history. We identify knowledge gaps in our understanding of the genus Microhyla from the Indian subcontinent and suggest ways to bridge them.

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Seshadri et al 2016 microhyla laterite

by Seshadri Kadaba Shamanna, Saurabh Sawant, Pratik Modi, and Gururaja KV

In recent times, several new species of amphibians have been described from India. Many of these ... more In recent times, several new species of amphibians have been described from India. Many of these discoveries are from biodiversity hotspots or from within protected areas. We undertook amphibian surveys in human dominated landscapes outside of protected areas in south western region of India between years 2013–2015. We encountered a new species of Microhyla which is described here as Microhyla laterite sp. nov. It was delimited using molecular, morphometric and bioacoustics comparisons. Microhyla laterite sp. nov. appears to be restricted to areas of the West coast of India dominated by laterite rock formations. The laterite rock formations date as far back as the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary and are considered to be wastelands in-spite of their intriguing geological history. We identify knowledge gaps in our understanding of the genus Microhyla from the Indian subcontinent and suggest ways to bridge them.

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