The largest remaining population of the Great Indian Bustard is found in which…

Concept

Species distribution is governed by habitat suitability: climate, vegetation structure, food availability, and breeding conditions. Birds adapted to open, dry grasslands are therefore associated with arid and semi-arid landscapes rather than humid coasts or river deltas.

Application

The Great Indian Bustard is a large ground-dwelling bird of open dry grasslands and scrub. The Wildlife Institute of India reports that its largest remaining population occurs in the Thar Desert of Rajasthan, while the other surviving populations are much smaller.

Contrast

• Coastal regions of India are marine-influenced belts and are not a precise description of the species’ principal arid-grassland range.

• The Malabar Coast is a humid, high-rainfall tropical belt in southwestern India, unlike the bird’s characteristic dry grassland habitat.

• Delta regions are river-mouth wetlands with channels, marshes, and floodplains, which represent a different habitat system.

Result

Therefore, the region containing the largest remaining population of the Great Indian Bustard is the Thar Desert of Rajasthan.