Effect of Mobile Towers on House Sparrow Population

“Common bird goes uncommon”

Group #7 Amit Samdarshi (2010IPG-009) Jagdeep Singh (2010IPG-041) Prashant Gupta (2010IPG-072) Yameeni Sheshkar (2010IPG-103)

House Sparrows: You know them

• Scientific Name- Passer Domesticus

• Habitats- Mostly near to human habitations

• Nature- Cheerful, Noisy and gregarious.

• Traditionally considered as the most common bird.

• Presently a globally accepted endangered specie.

Basic Idea

• Problem- Exponential decrease in house sparrow population due to EMRs and other factors.

• Objective-

– To check the intensity of the problem.

– To check the current level of awareness.

– To find out the possible steps need to be taken.

Our Approach

• Rather than going to deep theories, we concentrated on practical approaches.

• Conducted survey to judge the general consciousness among people.

• Took references from researches already done.

• All these helped us to find out the seriousness of the problem.

Questionnaire

S No. Questions No. of People Yes No

1 Do you know the bird named sparrow? 20 0

2 Do you see them in your colony? 4 16

3 How long before did you see them?

3(A) 0 to 6 months before 3 17

3(B) 6 to 12 months before 4 16

3(C) 12 to 24 months before 4 16

3(D) 24 to 36 months before 3 17

3(E) Do not remember 6 14

Questionnaire contd…

S No. Questions No. of People Yes No

4 Do you know it is an endangered species? 5 15

5 What could be the greatest reason among following behind it's decline?

5(A) Insufficient food 0 20

5(B) Harmful fertilizers 7 13

5(C) Inappropriate environment for their breeding 5 15

5(D) Mobile radiation. 8 12

6 Do you think that there should be limited numbers of mobile network providers?

8 12

7 Do you think that there should be limited numbers of mobile towers?

5 15

Research

• Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) report used for judging global effect.

• Inclusion of its name in Red List of RBSP blown a siren globally.

• UK noticed more than 60% contraction of population and breeding over last 25 years.

• The effect is more intense in developed and rapidly developing countries.

• Other global organizations like WCS, WWF etc. have expressed their concern.

Research Contd.

• “The effect of Mobile Towers on Birds and Bees” by Dr Sainumuddin Pattazchy.

• Mentioned EMR contaminated cities also include tier-II & III cities like Bhopal, Nagpur, Gwalior, Indore (Dongre & Verma, 2009).

• Disappearance α Rate of increase in towers.

• Test conducted on 50 eggs by exposing them to EMR for 5 to 30 minutes, all the embryos were found damaged.

Intensity in India

Indian standards on exposure are much higher than many other countries.

Power Density (W/m2)

International Exposure limits adopted by various countries

10 FCC (USA) OET-65, Public exposure guidelines at 1800 MHz

9.2 ICNIRP and EU Recommendation 1998-adopted in India

3 Canada

2 Australia

In 2001- The # of Subscribers was only 37 Million. Net increase = 25 times

Findings

• Population Trends-

– Exponentially decreasing in India.

– Relatively higher population in rural India.

– World wide, >30% decline over ten years or three generations.

– Global decline not enough to reach the threshold.

– Hence, kept in Least Concern (ver 3.1) Red List category of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Findings

• Awareness-

– Most of the people noticed the disappearance.

– The major reason behind it is still not known to many.

– Most of the people don’t seethe adverse effects of mobile tower.

– Overall, the awareness for the problem is good.

– But the awareness for cause is poor.

Findings

• Other Causes-

– High use of pesticides, resulting in decrease in worms population.

– Transition from Home to Concrete Jungle.

• Steps needed-

– Regulation of EMR power density to make it eco-friendly.

– Limit the no. of service providers which in turn decrease the no. of towers.

– Conserve house sparrows in day-to-day life.

References

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) http:// www.rspb.org.uk/housesparrow‎

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/106008367/0

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India http:// www.trai.gov.in/‎

The effect of Mobile Towers on Birds and Bees Dr Sainumuddin Pattazchy