Data from: Plant Community Structure in Tropical Rain Forest Fragments of the Western Ghats, India

DESCRIPTION

This dataset includes vegetation plot data on trees, lianas, understorey plants, and regeneration, and related data and species name matching files in five rainforest sites collected in 2003 as part of the following study:

MUTHURAMKUMAR, S., AYYAPPAN, N., PARTHASARATHY, N., MUDAPPA, D., RAMAN, T. R. S., SELWYN, M. A. & PRAGASAN, L. A. 2006. Plant community structure in tropical rain forest fragments of the Western Ghats, India. Biotropica 38: 143–160. DOI: 10.1111/j.1744-7429.2006.00118.x

The regeneration data were analysed and presented in the following publication and related dataset:

OSURI, A. M., CHAKRAVARTHY, D., MUDAPPA, D., RAMAN, T. R. S., AYYAPPAN, N., MUTHURAMKUMAR, S. & PARTHASARATHY, N. 2017. Successional status, seed dispersal mode and overstorey species influence tree regeneration in tropical rain-forest fragments in Western Ghats, India. Journal of Tropical Ecology 33(4): 270-284. DOI: 10.1017/S0266467417000219

OSURI, A. M., CHAKRAVARTHY, D., MUDAPPA, D., RAMAN, T. R. S., AYYAPPAN, N., MUTHURAMKUMAR, S. & PARTHASARATHY, N. 2017. Data from: Successional status, seed dispersal mode and overstorey species influence tree regeneration in tropical rain-forest fragments in Western Ghats, India, Dryad, Dataset, https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.vd0nn

CONTACTS

CONTACT #1
1. Name: T. R. Shankar Raman
2. Work Address: Nature Conservation Foundation, 1311, 12th A Main, Vijayanagar 1st Stage, Mysuru 570017, Karnataka, India
3. Work Phone: +91 821 2515601
4. Email address: trsr@ncf-india.org
5. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1347-3953

CONTACT #2
1. Name: Divya Mudappa
2. Work Address: Nature Conservation Foundation, 1311, 12th A Main, Vijayanagar 1st Stage, Mysuru 570017, Karnataka, India
3. Work Phone: +91 821 2515601
4. Email address: divya@ncf-india.org
5. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9708-4826

CONTACT #3
1. Name: Anand M. Osuri
2. Work Address: Nature Conservation Foundation, 1311, 12th A Main, Vijayanagar 1st Stage, Mysuru 570017, Karnataka, India
3. Work Phone: +91 821 2515601
4. Email address: aosuri@ncf-india.org
5. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9909-5633

CONTACT #4
1. Name:  N. Ayyappan
2. Work Address: French Institute of Pondicherry, No. 11, Post Box No. 33, Saint Louis Street, Pondicherry – 605 001, India.
3. Work Phone: + 91- 413-2231616
4. Email address: ayyappan.n@ifpindia.org
5. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4383-557X

CONTACT #5
1. Name:  S. Muthuramkumar
2. Work Address: V.H.N.S.N. College, 3/151-1, College Road, Virudhunagar - 626001, Tamil Nadu, India.
3. Work Phone: + 91-4562-280154
4. Email address: muthuramkumar@vhnsnc.edu.in
5. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7791-8499

CONTACT #6
1. Name:  N. Parthasarathy
2. Work Address: Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Pondicherry University, R Venkat Raman Nagar, Kalapet, Pondicherry 605014, India
3. Work Phone: + 91-413-2654326
4. Email address: parthapu@yahoo.com
5. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4172-5441

KEYWORDS

Anamalai hills; biodiversity hotspot; disturbance; endemics; fragmentation; lianas; plant conservation; tree diversity; tropical rain forest; understory plants.

GEOGRAPHIC COVERAGE

1. Location/Study Area: Valparai Plateau, Tamil Nadu, India; Anamalai Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu, India

2. GPS coordinates: Valparai Plateau (10°15'- 10°22'N, 76°52' - 76°59'E); Anamalai Tiger Reserve (10°12' - 10°35'N, 76°49' - 77°24'E)

TEMPORAL COVERAGE

1. Begins: 2003-03-01 (Year, Month, Day)
2. Ends: 2003-04-30 (Year, Month, Day)

METHODS

Methods involved systematic vegetation plots for trees, lianans and understorey plants as described in Muthuramkumar et al. 2006 (Biotropica 38: 143–160. DOI: 10.1111/j.1744-7429.2006.00118.x) and for tree and woody regeneration as described in Osuri et al. 2017 (Journal of Tropical Ecology 33(4): 270-284. DOI: 10.1017/S0266467417000219). The vegetation sampling methods are briefly described below.

The present study was conducted in five tropical wet evergreen forest fragments located on the Valparai plateau (Fig. 1): Akkamalai (AK, 2600 ha), Upper Manamboli (UM, 100 ha), Lower Manamboli (LM, 100 ha), Tata Finlay (TF, 32 ha), and Injipara (IP, 18 ha).

In each site, vegetation was sampled in randomly placed noncontiguous plots of 20 × 20 m located at least 50 m apart and at least 20 m into the fragment interior from the edges, major trails, or roads. We sampled 20 plots each in IP, TF, and LM, and 25 plots each in UM and AK. Within each plot, all trees ≥30cm girth at breast height (gbh, at 1.3 m; corresponding to DBH of 9.55 cm) and lianas ≥1 cm diameter at breast height (DBH) were identified to species, counted, and their girth/diameter measured. For multi-stemmed trees bole girths were measured separately, basal area calculated and summed. Each 20 x 20 m plot was divided into four 10 × 10 m quarters.

For understory plants, 2 × 2 m quadrats were laid at the four corners of the 20 × 20 m plot (one in each of the corresponding four quarters) and all shrubs, undershrubs, herbs, ferns, and small twiners found within the quadrats were enumerated and identified. The regeneration sampling was done in a 5 × 5-m plot (0.0025 ha) placed at the outer corner of the first (south-west) quarter of the 20 x 20 m plot. Within each regeneration plot, we identified, counted and measured all tree saplings >1 cm diameter at breast height (dbh, at 1.3 m) and <9.55 cm dbh (equivalent to <30 cm girth at breast height, gbh). Woody shrubs of 1–9.55 cm dbh were alsorecorded in the regeneration plots (but these were excluded in the Osuri et al. 2017 analysis).

For vegetatively propagating plants a clump of stems that is basally connected was considered as one individual. Canopy height was measured with a range finder and canopy closure was measured using a spherical densiometer. Vouchers were identified with regional flora and confirmed with the Western Ghats collections available in the herbarium of Salim Ali School of Ecology, Pondicherry University, from our previous works in the region.

ACKNOLWEDGEMENTS

Funders and other supporters of the research are acknowledged in the original publications. The compilation and publication of this dataset was carried out as part of an NCF project supported by Fondation Franklinia.

FILES INCLUDED

Besides the 00_README.txt file that contains this metadata, the dataset includes the following 11 files, whose details and contents are explained below.

01_all_sites.csv

Description: The file contains details of the five study sites (three continuous forest and two forest fragment sites).
 
Note: Current Name of TF (Tata Finlay) site is Old Valparai, current name of Akkamalai (AK) is Iyerpadi-Akkamalai complex. Sites and codes correspond to the Muthuramkumar et al. 2006 paper (https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-7429.2006.00118.x).

Column names and descriptions:
eventDate: Date range when sampling was carried out in the sites
old_sitename: Name of the site as used in the Muthuramkumar et al. (2006) paper (https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-7429.2006.00118.x)
sitecode: Site code as used in the Muthuramkumar et al. (2006) paper (https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-7429.2006.00118.x)
site: Site name as at present and used in this dataset
decimalLatitude: latitude in decimal degrees North
decimalLongitude: longitude in decimal degrees East
geodeticDatum: Geodetic Datum WGS 84
coordinateUncertaintyInMeters: Uncertainty in metres of the GPS location (as only one location available for entire site where points were distributed)
type: Indicates whether site was continuous rainforest or rainforest fragment
Area_ha: Area in hectares
Altitude_min_m: Minimum altitude in metres of sampled plots
Altitude_max_m: Maximum altitude in metres of sampled plots
Ownership: Whether site is in privately owned land or within state-protected reserve
Average_canopy_height_m: average canopy height in metres
Canopy_closure_%: estimated canopy closure in percentage
Nearby_plantations: Adjoining plantations

02_all_trees_adult_data.csv

Description: The file contains records of all adult trees >= 30 cm girth at breast height of 1.3 m (gbh) recorded within 20 m x 20 m plots across three continuous forests and two forest fragments.

Note: Same as in the Osuri et al. (2017) dataset (https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.vd0nn), with Tithonia diversifolia added back in Injipara and data from one additional site (Manamboli Lower) added back from the original dataset corresponding to the Muthuramkumar et al. 2006 paper (https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-7429.2006.00118.x).
 
Column names and descriptions:
x: Row index
site: Name of forest site
plot_no: An unique plot number assigned to each 20m x 20m adult tree plot within each site
q_no: An unique number assigned to each of four 10m x 10m quarters within each adult plot
t_no: An unique number assigned to each individual tree within each site.
old_code: Species codes used at the time of data collection (refer to Appendix A of the main paper for full species names, and the 06_all_species_names.csv file with this dataset)
osuri_code: Revised species codes used in the Osuri et al. 2017 paper in Journal of Tropical Ecology 33: 270-284 (https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266467417000219) and related dataset (https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.vd0nn)
current_code: Species codes used at present
gbh_1 to gbh_16: Girth at breast height of single- (gbh_1) and multi-stemmed (gbh_2 – gbh_16) individuals, measured in centimetres (cm)
P_ID: Unique plot ID created by combining columns site and plot_no

03_all_liana_data.csv

Description: The file contains records of all lianas >= 1 cm diameter at breast height of 1.3 m (dbh) recorded within 20 m x 20 m plots across three continuous forests and two forest fragments.

Note: Lianas were not included in the Osuri et al. (2017) dataset (https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.vd0nn).

Column names and descriptions:
x: Row index
site: Name of forest site
plot_no: An unique plot number assigned to each 20m x 20m adult tree plot within each site
q_no: An unique number assigned to each of four 10m x 10m quarters within each adult plot
t_no: An unique number assigned to each individual tree within each site.
old_code: Species codes used at the time of data collection (refer to Appendix A of the main paper for full species names, and the 06_all_species_names.csv file with this dataset)
osuri_code: Indicated as NA since these data were not used in the Osuri et al. 2017 paper in Journal of Tropical Ecology 33: 270-284 (https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266467417000219) and related dataset (https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.vd0nn)
current_code: Species codes used at present
dbh_1 to dbh_11: Diameter at breast height of single- (dbh_1) and multi-stemmed (dbh_2 – dbh_11) individuals, measured in centimetres (cm)    
P_ID: Unique plot ID created by combining columns site and plot_no

04_all_herbs_data.csv

Description: The file contains records of all understorey plants (shrubs, undershrubs, herbs, ferns, and small twiners) recorded in 2 m × 2 m quadrats laid at the four corners of each 20 m × 20 m plot in three continuous forests and two forest fragments.

Note: Understorey plants were not included in the Osuri et al. (2017) dataset (https: //doi.org/10.5061/dryad.vd0nn).

Column names and descriptions:
x: Row index
site: Name of forest site
plot_no: An unique plot number assigned to each 20m x 20m plot within each site
corner_no: An unique number assigned to each of four 2 m x 2 m quadrat laid at the four corners of the 20 m x 20 m plot
t_no: A number assigned to each individual species recorded within the corner plot.
old_code: Species codes used at the time of data collection (refer to Appendix A of the main paper for full species names, and the 06_all_species_names.csv file with this dataset)
osuri_code: Indicated as NA since these data were not used in the Osuri et al. 2017 paper in Journal of Tropical Ecology 33: 270-284 (https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266467417000219) and related dataset (https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.vd0nn)
current_code: Species codes used at present
count: Number of individuals counted (for vegetatively propagating plants a clump of stems that was basally connected was considered as one individual)
P_ID: Unique plot ID created by combining columns site and plot_no

05_all_regeneration_data.csv

Description: The file contains records of woody seedlings and saplings (1-5 cm diameter at breast height at 1.3 m, dbh) and larger-stemmed trees (>5 cm dbh) recorded within single 5 m x 5 m regeneration plots nested within 20 m x 20 m plots. Plots were located in three continuous forests and two forest fragments. Data were filtered during analysis in Osuri et al. (2017, Journal of Tropical Ecology) to retain only seedling and saplings, defined as individuals with effective diameter <=5 cm.

Note: Same as in the Osuri et al. (2017) dataset, with Tithonia diversifolia added back in Injipara from original dataset; and data from one additional site (Manamboli Lower) added back from the Muthuramkumar et al. 2006 dataset.
 
Column names and descriptions:
x: Row index
site: Name of forest site
plot_no: An unique plot number assigned to each 20m x 20m adult tree plot within each site
q_no: The 5 m x 5 m plot was placed in the SW corner of the 20 m x 20 m plot in this q_no which indicates one of the four 10 m x 10 m quarters of the 20 m x 20 m plot, where each quarter was given a unique number in each site
t_no: An unique number assigned to each individual seedling, sapling or tree within each site.
old_code: Species codes used at the time of data collection (for full species names refer to 06_all_species_names.csv file with this dataset)
osuri_code: Revised species codes used in the Osuri et al. 2017 paper in Journal of Tropical Ecology 33: 270-284 (https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266467417000219) and related dataset (https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.vd0nn)
current_code: Species codes used at present
dbh_1 to dbh_12: Diameter at breast height of single- (dbh_1) and multi-stemmed (dbh_2 – dbh_12) individuals, measured in centimetres (cm)    
eff_dbh: Effective diameter at breast height (cm)- calculated as ((dbh)^2 +(dbh_1)^2 +...+(dbh_12)^2)^(1/2),
P_ID: Unique plot ID created by combining columns site and plot_no

06_all_canopy_readings.csv

Description: The file contains canopy-related measurements taken in each 20 m × 20 m plot in three continuous forests and two forest fragments.

Note: Units of light meter reading were not recorded

Column names and descriptions:
site: Name of forest site
plot_no: An unique plot number assigned to each 20m x 20m adult tree plot within each site
reading: A number assigned to the 1 to 4 readings taken in each plot
light: Light measurement taken with a light meter in the plot
canopy_openness: Canopy openness (scored from 0-100%) using a spherical densiometer (Canopy cover = 100 - canopy openness)
P_ID: Unique plot ID created by combining columns site and plot_no

07_all_extracanopy_trees_data.csv

Description: The file contains records of additional trees outside the 5 x 5 m plot whose canopy was overhead of the plot.

Note: Species codes are used to denote presence (not count of stems) of that species in the overhead canopy.

Column names and descriptions:
site: Name of forest site
plot_no: An unique plot number assigned to each 20m x 20m adult tree plot within each site
q_no: The 5 m x 5 m plot was placed in the SW corner of the 20 m x 20 m plot in this q_no which indicates one of the four 10 m x 10 m quarters of the 20 m x 20 m plot, where each quarter was given a unique number in each site
old_code: Species codes used at the time of data collection (for full species names refer to 06_all_species_names.csv file with this dataset)
osuri_code: Revised species codes used in the Osuri et al. 2017 paper in Journal of Tropical Ecology 33: 270-284 (https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266467417000219) and related dataset (https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.vd0nn)
current_code: Species codes used at present
P_ID: Unique plot ID created by combining columns site and plot_no

08_all_species_names.csv

Description: This file provides species codes and species scientific names as originally used in the Muthuramkumar et al. 2006 paper (https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-7429.2006.00118.x), and as matched with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) species name matching tool

Note: For plots that had no species occurrences (old_code = No herbs, Noliana), NA has been used for other columns

Column names and descriptions:
group: Code indicating main dataset group where species occurs (tree and regeneration data, liana data, understorey plants data)
old_code: Species codes used at the time of data collection (refer to traits data file for full species names)
osuri_code: Revised species codes if used in the Osuri et al. 2017 paper in Journal of Tropical Ecology 33: 270-284 (https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266467417000219) and related dataset (https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.vd0nn) or else indicated as NA
current_code: Species codes used at present
original_name: Scientific name of plant species as used at the time of the original publication (Muthuramkumar et al. 2006)
original_fullname: Scientific name and authorship of plant species as used at the time of the original publication (Muthuramkumar et al. 2006)
original_family: Family of the plant species as used at the time of original publication
GBIFname: Scientific name as matched by GBIF species name matching tool
key: GBIF name matching tool key number
matchType: Type of match
confidence: Confidence returned by name matching tool
status: Whether accepted name or synonym
rank: Taxanomic rank (level) to which identified
kingdom: Taxonomic Kingdom
phylum: Taxonomic Phylum
class: Taxonomic Class
order: Taxonomic Order
family: Taxonomic Family
genus: Taxonomic Genus
species: Taxonomic Species
canonicalName: Canonical part of scientific name matched by GBIF
authorship: Authorship of scientific name matched by GBIF
scientificName: Current scientific name (from species, genus, or family columns)

09_tabula_Biotropica_appendix1.csv

Description: This file contains tabled values extracted from Appendix 1 of Muthuramkumar et al. 2006 paper in Biotropica (DOI: 10.1111/j.1744-7429.2006.00118.x); extraction from PDF carried out using Tabula software (https://tabula.technology/)

Note: Last 5 columns contain total abundance (count of individuals/stems) in the corresponding site.

Column names and descriptions:
slno: serial number
habit: Plant habit indicating trees, lianas, or understorey plants
species: species name as used in Appendix 1 of Muthuramkumar et al. 2006
asterisk: species endemic to Western Ghats are indicated by an asterisk (∗ ), and invasive species by double asterisk (∗∗ ).
voucher_number: voucher number of herbarium specimen deposited in the herbarium of Salim Ali School of Ecology, Pondicherry University, India.
family: plant family as in Appendix 1
Iyerpadi-Akkamalai: abundance (total number of individuals counted) in this site
Manamboli_Upper: abundance (total number of individuals counted) in this site
Manamboli_Lower: abundance (total number of individuals counted) in this site
Old_Valparai: abundance (total number of individuals counted) in this site
Injipara: abundance (total number of individuals counted) in this site

10_Muthuramkumar et al 2006_Abstract and Appendix 1_extract_Biotropica.pdf

Extracted PDF of first page with Abstract and Appendix 1 of Muthuramkumar et al. 2006 (DOI: 10.1111/j.1744-7429.2006.00118.x).

11_figure_1_Biotropica_paper.jpg

JPEG image of Figure 1 (map of study area) from the following publication:
MUTHURAMKUMAR, S., AYYAPPAN, N., PARTHASARATHY, N., MUDAPPA, D., RAMAN, T. R. S., SELWYN, M. A. & PRAGASAN, L. A. 2006. Plant community structure in tropical rain forest fragments of the Western Ghats, India. Biotropica 38: 143–160. DOI: 10.1111/j.1744-7429.2006.00118.x