Maguri-Motapung Wetland recently seen in the news, it is located ina)...
In News: Recently, casualties have been reported after clashes on the issue of compensation for damages to Maguri-Motapung wetland (or beel).
• The wetland derives its name from ‘Magur', the local word for the catfish Clarius batrachus, once found here in abundance. The second half of the name comes from a village nearby and Beel is the Assamese word for the wetland.
• It is located close to the Dibru Saikhowa National Park in Upper Assam’s Tinsukia district.
o The Dibru river flows from east to west through the wetland. To the northwest of the wetland is a river, which was once called Dangori. It has been captured by the bigger river Lohit.
• The wetland regime is a critical part of the Dibru-Saikhowa Biosphere Reserve, an ecological corridor to Namdapha National Park and sustains the ecological integrity of the Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot.
• This landscape is mostly water and comprises wetlands, swamp forests and grasslands.
o It has a grassland adjacent to it and the entire ecosystem (grassland and wetland) is very important as it is home to at least 304 bird species, including a number of endemic ones like Black-breasted parrotbill and Marsh babbler.
• It is home to 37 species of mammals, 503 species of birds, 42 species of reptiles, 17 species of amphibia, 104 species of fish and 105 species of butterflies, according to one 2016 survey.
o It has over 110 bird species, of which eight are regarded as threatened by the IUCN, which include the Falcated Duck, Ferruginous duck and Swamp Prinia.
o The Lesser Adjutant, Baikal Teal, Swamp Francolin and Marsh Babbler are classified as less threatened.
• It was declared an Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) in 1996 by the Bombay Natural History Society.
• In May 2020, it was adversely affected by a blowout and fire at an Oil India Limited-owned gas well.
o The resulting oil spill killed a number of fish, snakes as well as an endangered Gangetic dolphin, and the fire had burnt a large portion of the grassland.