DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18617271
title: Phenology of 50 tree species across 9 years in a South Asian tropical rainforest indicates complex influence of climate, traits, and phylogeny

description: ================================================================================PHENOLOGY DATASET README================================================================================

This dataset is in association with the following manuscript: Phenology of 50 tree species across 9 years in a South Asian tropical rainforest indicates complex influence of climate, traits, and phylogenyAnd includes all relevant data and analysis files 

Last Updated: 02-13-2026

================================================================================AUTHORS================================================================================

AUTHOR #1 (Corresponding Author*)Name:           A. P. MadhavanAffiliation:    Nature Conservation Foundation, 1311, 12th A Main,                 Vijayanagar 1st Stage, Mysuru 570017, Karnataka, IndiaEmail:          madhavan@ncf-india.orgORCID:          https://orcid.org/0009-0009-2754-8256

AUTHOR #2Name:           Srinivasan KasinathanAffiliation:    Nature Conservation Foundation, 1311, 12th A Main,                 Vijayanagar 1st Stage, Mysuru 570017, Karnataka, IndiaEmail:          srini@ncf-india.orgORCID:          https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7323-6653

AUTHOR #3Name:           Akhil MuraliAffiliation:    individualEmail:          akhilmurali7100@gmail.comORCID:          https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6149-6458

AUTHOR #4Name:           K. B. SoniaAffiliation:    individualEmail:          ramjoolababurajsoni@gmail.com        AUTHOR #5Name:           G. MoorthiAffiliation:    Nature Conservation Foundation, 1311, 12th A Main,                 Vijayanagar 1st Stage, Mysuru 570017, Karnataka, IndiaAUTHOR #6Name:           T. SundarrajAffiliation:    Nature Conservation Foundation, 1311, 12th A Main,                 Vijayanagar 1st Stage, Mysuru 570017, Karnataka, India

AUTHOR #7Name:           T. VanidasAffiliation:    Nature Conservation Foundation, 1311, 12th A Main,                 Vijayanagar 1st Stage, Mysuru 570017, Karnataka, India

AUTHOR #8Name:           R. RajeshAffiliation:    Nature Conservation Foundation, 1311, 12th A Main,                 Vijayanagar 1st Stage, Mysuru 570017, Karnataka, India

AUTHOR #9Name:           Divya MudappaAffiliation:    Nature Conservation Foundation, 1311, 12th A Main,                 Vijayanagar 1st Stage, Mysuru 570017, Karnataka, IndiaEmail:          divya@ncf-india.orgORCID:          https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9708-4826

AUTHOR #10Name:           T. R. Shankar RamanAffiliation:    Nature Conservation Foundation, 1311, 12th A Main,                 Vijayanagar 1st Stage, Mysuru 570017, Karnataka, IndiaEmail:          trsr@ncf-india.orgORCID:          https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1347-3953

================================================================================

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: 2017-03-01 (Year, Month, Day)2. Ends: 2026-02-01 (Year, Month, Day)

Besides the README.txt file, the dataset includes file number 1-8 comma-delimited text (csv) files with the data in columns as explained below:

Additionally there are 4 R scripts pertaining to the analysis (files 9-12)

================================================================================FILE DESCRIPTIONS================================================================================

01_Tree Phenology_Monthly Data_FINAL_2025.csvPhenological data from 2017-2021 

02_2021 new phenology masterfile FINAL.csv

Phenological data from 2021-2026

DETAILS OF COLUMNS FOR BOTH SHEETS 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------PHENOLOGYDATA SHEET--------------------------------------------------------------------------------TreeNo              Unique numerical tree ID given after sequential sorting by trail and sideyrmo_code           Year and month of data collectionDate                Actual date of data collection of that row of dataTrail               Name of the tree phenology trailSide                Side of the trail surveyedSpecies             Scientific name of tree species being monitored on the trailH (m)               Vertical height of tree from ground to highest point, measured in metresGBH (cm)            Girth (circumference) of the tree trunk at breast height (1.3 m)Multistem           GBH of each stem in cm (comma separated) when there were multiple stems of the same individualDeadBrok            Indicates if tree has died ("Dead") or is dry or broken or fallen ("Brokendry")Leaf_Flush          Score as 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4. Scoring system belowLeaf_Mature         Score as 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4. Scoring system belowLeaf_Fallen         Score as Present/Yes (Y) or Absent/No (N)Flower_Buds         Score as 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4. Scoring system belowFlower_Open         Score as 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4. Scoring system belowFlower_Fallen       Score as Present/Yes (Y) or Absent/No (N)Fruit_Unripe        Score as 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4. Scoring system belowFruit_Ripe          Score as 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4. Scoring system belowFruit_Fallen        Score as Present/Yes (Y) or Absent/No (N)Notes               Remarks and additional information

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------PHENOLOGICAL SCORING SYSTEM--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Score for Leaves (Flush/Mature), Flowers (Buds, Open), Fruits (Unripe, Ripe):

0: 0% of canopy has the phenophase1: 1 – 25% of canopy has the phenophase2: 26 – 50% of canopy has the phenophase3: 51 – 75% of canopy has the phenophase4: 76 – 100% of canopy has the phenophase

Special codes:X                   Assigned to Flowers (buds, open, fallen) columns of Ficus sp. and Artocarpus sp.dead                Filled in columns for dead trees

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03_Surveys2017-2021.csv

04_Surveys2021-2026.csv 

Phenological survey information from 2021-2026

DETAILS OF COLUMNS FOR BOTH SHEETS 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------SURVEY SHEET--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date        Date of data collection for that particular trail each monthTrail       Name of the tree phenology trailSide        Side of the trail surveyedPersons present    Persons on team surveying that side of the trailWeather     Weather when data collection was started on the surveyed trailStart time  Start time of data collection of the surveyed trailEnd time    End time of data collection of the surveyed trailNotes       Remarks and additional information

Corrected species names from UtaxonsStand (https://ecoinfor.shinyapps.io/UTaxonstandOnline/)--------------------------------------------------------------------------------SPECIES NAMES--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

verbatimScientificName    Scientific name of the species as recorded verbatim in the fieldfamily                    Taxonomic family to which the species belongsspecies                   Binomial species name (Genus species)

 

06_IyerpadiMonthlySummary3.0.csv

Data columns description for monthly weather station summary 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------WEATHER DATA--------------------------------------------------------------------------------year            Yearmonth           Monthrainfall        Sum of precipitation (mm)maxTemp         Maximum temperature (°C)minTemp         Minimum temperature (°C)absmaxTemp      Absolute maximum temperature (°C)temperature     Mean temperature (°C)maxRH           Maximum relative humidity (%)minRH           Minimum relative humidity (%)humidity        Mean relative humidity (%)maxwind         Maximum wind speed (m/s)minwind         Minimum wind speed (m/s)windspeed       Mean wind speed (m/s)maxgust         Maximum wind gust (m/s)mingust         Minimum wind gust (m/s)gustspeed       Mean wind gust speed (m/s)maxdew          Maximum dew point (°C)mindew          Minimum dew point (°C)dewpoint        Mean dew point (°C)maxRad          Maximum irradiance (μmol m–² s–¹)minRad          Minimum irradiance (μmol m–² s–¹)radiance        Mean irradiance based on PAR (μmol m–² s–¹)daylight        Number of daylight hours indicated by photosynthetically available radiation (PAR > 1.2 μmol m–² s–¹) each day and averaging by month (hours)

 

 

07_TPL_names.csv 

Species names downloaded from the The Plant List though UTaxonStand (https://ecoinfor.shinyapps.io/UTaxonstandOnline/)--------------------------------------------------------------------------------TAXONOMIC STANDARDIZATION COLUMNS (Taxonstand/TPL)--------------------------------------------------------------------------------SORTER              Internal sorting/indexing columnSubmitted_Name      Original species name as submitted to TaxonstandSubmitted_Genus     Genus portion of the submitted nameSubmitted_Rank      Taxonomic rank of the submitted name (e.g., species, variety, subspecies)Name_in_database    Matched name found in The Plant List (TPL) databaseAuthor_in_database  Author citation for the matched name in TPL databaseGenus_in_database   Genus of the matched name in TPL databaseID_in_database      Unique identifier code for the taxon in TPL databaseFuzzy               Indicates if fuzzy matching was used (TRUE/FALSE)Score               Matching score/confidence level from Taxonstand (0-1 scale, 1 = perfect match)name.dist           Name distance metric indicating similarity between submitted and matched namesauthor.dist         Author distance metric indicating similarity between submitted and matched authorsNew_name            Updated/corrected species name after taxonomic standardizationNew_author          Updated/corrected author citation after taxonomic standardizationNew_ID              Updated taxonomic identifier after standardizationFamily              Plant family assignment from TPL databaseName_spLev          Species-level name after standardizationAccepted_SPNAME     Accepted species name according to TPL nomenclature standardsNOTE                Additional notes or flags regarding taxonomic changes or issues

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08_Anamalais_trait_data_2024.csv--------------------------------------------------------------------------------FUNCTIONAL TRAIT DATA--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Refer to Zenodo database (10.5281/zenodo.10643064) for details on this dataset 

 

================================================================================DATA SCRIPTS================================================================================

09_Phenology2021extension_final.Rmd

First script to run which does data management and signal processing 

 

10_Species_climate.R

Second script to run which runs Species climate correlations 

 

11_Pheno_phylo,R

Mantel tests and Pagels lambda 

12_Poster graphs.R

Last script graph outputs for all graphs 

 

 
description: Seven phenology trails (total length 2.9 km; 265 m – 575 m length) were established and sampled monthly from March 2017 along existing access routes in ATR (6 trails) and the Valparai Plateau (1 trail), spanning the elevational range  of 700 m – 1405 m and floristic range of the mid-elevation tropical wet evergreen rainforest type. One trail (Panathiar) at 700 m elevation in ATR was discontinued from October 2020 due to logistics reasons, leaving the remaining six spanning 790 – 1405 m. Within each trail, all trees ≥30 cm girth at breast height (gbh) located within 5 m on either side of the edge of each trail were identified to species, measured for girth (using tape measure) and tree height (using a rangefinder), and mapped with geographical coordinates obtained using a Garmin eTrex GPS handset. For the present study, we used data from all tree species that were represented by at least 10 individuals, capping the number of monitored individuals of more common species at 40 individuals. To complement a parallel study on threatened trees, we added 97 individuals of six threatened tree species from along or near the phenology trails in March 2021 (to achieve a minimum of 20 individuals per species). Trees were monitored for phenology at the beginning of each calendar month: from March 2017 onwards for the 920 trees of 44 species, and from March 2021 onwards for the 97 individuals of the six threatened species. From March 2021 onwards phenology was monitored on a fortnightly basis but only the first survey was analysed to maitain consistency with the previous years. 

Five phenophases—leaf flush, flower buds, flowers open, unripe fruits, and ripe fruits—were observed and recorded for each individual tree by two observers using 8x42 binoculars. Through a complete visual scan of the crown, phenophase intensity was scored 0 – 4 based on the percentage of canopy estimated to have the phenophase (0: 0% canopy; 1: 1 – 25%; 2: 26 – 50%; 3: 51 – 75%; 4: 76 – 100%). Dead individuals were not replaced, so sample sizes for some species decreased slightly over time. Damage or death was recorded, and individuals were monitored for resprouted shoots for 12–24 months.