Fruit, seed dispersal, and life history traits of tropical rainforest trees of the Anamalai Hills, Western Ghats, India

This dataset contains compiled Fruit, seed dispersal, and life history traits of tropical rainforest trees of the Anamalai Hills, Western Ghats, India. The list of species included are mainly from the following two related publications:- Muthuramkumar, S., Ayyappan, N., Parthasarathy, N., Mudappa, D., Raman, T.R.S., Selwyn, M.A. and Pragasan, L.A. (2006), Plant Community Structure in Tropical Rain Forest Fragments of the Western Ghats, India. Biotropica, 38: 143-160. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-7429.2006.00118.x- Osuri, A., Chakravarthy, D., Mudappa, D., Raman, T., 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/S0266467417000219The present dataset is an expanded and updated version of the related dataset available at https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.vd0nn Species traits information was collated from BIOTIK (http://www.biotik.org/), Flowers of India (http://www.flowersofindia.net/), India Biodiversity Portal (http://indiabiodiversity.org/), Global wood density database (https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.234/1) and Osuri et al. (2014): https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266467417000219. We also referred to the following previous studies that provided information on the successional status of rain-forest species in the Western Ghats (Chetana 2013, Pascal 1988, Raman et al. 2009, Sreejith 2005). References:CHETANA, H. C. 2013. Assessing the ecological processes in abandoned tea plantations and its implication for ecological restoration in the Western Ghats, India. PhD thesis, Manipal University.OSURI, A. M., KUMAR, V. S. & SANKARAN, M. 2014. Altered stand structure and tree allometry reduce carbon storage in evergreen forest fragments in India’s Western Ghats. Forest Ecology and Management 329: 375–383.PASCAL, J. P. 1988. Wet evergreen forests of the Western Ghats of India: Ecology, structure, floristic composition and succession. Institut Français de Pondichéry, Pondicherry.RAMAN, T. R. S., MUDAPPA, D. & KAPOOR, V. 2009. Restoring rainforest fragments: survival of mixed-native species seedlings under contrasting site conditions in the Western Ghats, India. Restoration Ecology 17:137–147.SREEJITH, K. A. 2005. Ecological and ecophysiological studies on the successional status of tree seedlings in tropical wet evergreen and semi-evergreen forests of Kerala. PhD thesis, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun. Geographic Coverage:1. Location/Study Area: Valparai Plateau, Tamil Nadu, India; Anamalai Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu, India2. 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: 2024-02-10 (Year, Month, Day) Besides the README.txt file, the dataset includes the following comma-delimited text (csv) file with the data in columns as explained below: Anamalai_tree_traits_2024.csv spec_name_ORIG: Scientific name of the species used during the data collectiongenus: Genus of the taxonspecificEpithet: Specific epithet of the taxon in the Latin binomial nameAccept_name_WFO: Updated scientific name of the species as in Plants of the World Online (POWO, https://powo.science.kew.org/)Habit: life form of the species(tree/shrub/cane/palm)Distribution: Distribution of the species in the study area (Native/Endemic/Introduced)IUCN_status: IUCN status of the species (CR-Critically Endangered,DD-Data deficient,EN-Endangered,LC-Least Concern,NT-Near Threatened,VU-Vulnerable,NA-Unknown)Wden_final: Wood density value assigned for the species (g cm^-3); NA - not available; sourced from Global wood density database (https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.234/1)wd_level: Level in which the wood density value belongs (Species - wood density value is from species level; genus - wood density value assigned is the genus level average value)fruit_type: Morphological type of fruitfleshy_dry: Whether fruit is a dry fruit or fleshy, with aril or other parts seed_size: Species seed size: L = Large (>3 cm); M = Medium (1-3 cm); S = Small (<1 cm)disperser: Categories indicating seed dispersal mode: Bird, mammal, bird and mammal (Mammal_bird), gravity, wind, or unknownhabitat: Habitat affinity category: EG_edg - evergreen forest edge; EG_for - evergreen forest; Dec_for - deciduous forest; Int – Introduced species; Unknown – Unknownhabt_new: Habitat affinity new category: Mature – mature forest; Secondary – secondary forest, NA - unknown/Introduced speciesad_ht: Species maximum adult height (m)