DOI: 10.5061/dryad.3n5tb2rr9
title: Gallery and spiny forest tree species inventory in Berenty Reserve, Madagascar

description: Madagascar's unique dry forests, particularly gallery and spiny
 forests, face severe threats and are significantly understudied, leaving
 only a fraction of the original extent intact. Thus, there is a critical
 need for characterizing, conserving, and restoring this diverse forest
 ecosystem. Conducting extensive floristic surveys and environmental
 analyses, we investigated structural and compositional differences between
 the gallery and spiny forests, as well as within distinct gallery forest
 sites in Berenty Reserve in the south of the island. We also evaluated
 differences in habitat quality between the spiny and gallery forests for
 three species of diurnal lemurs in the reserve, and analyzed the current
 population trend of the tamarind trees, a species of ecological and
 cultural importance in Madagascar. Our findings revealed that the spiny
 and gallery forests differed in composition and structure, confirming the
 unique ecological characteristics of gallery forests and the underexplored
 richness of spiny forests. Spiny forests exhibited higher species richness
 despite a comparatively lower sampling effort, emphasizing the need for
 focused conservation efforts in these overlooked ecosystems. Tamarind
 populations, vital for lemur nutrition, showed signs of inadequate
 regeneration suggesting a recruitment bottleneck, possibly due to factors
 like a lowering water table, brown lemur foraging habits, or shifts in
 environmental conditions. Urgent interventions, including enrichment
 plantations, were recommended to ensure the survival of this keystone
 species. Contrasting botanical and lemur-centric perspectives revealed
 that while spiny and gallery forests differed botanically, they offered
 comparable habitat quality for ring-tailed and sifaka lemurs. However,
 brown lemurs exhibit a preference for the gallery forest, highlighting the
 intricate relationship between plant composition and lemur habitat
 choices. Our study underscores the urgency of expanding our knowledge of
 Madagascar´s dry forests, and Berenty Reserve, as one of the few remaining
 protected areas with gallery and dry forests, serves as a reference for
 future research in Madagascar's understudied ecosystems. 
description: This data was collected in the private Berenty Reserve
 (24°58'60''S, 46°16'60''E) in Madagascar. We
 established 34 0.1 ha (20 x 50 m) plots in the gallery forest and 6 0.1 ha
 plots in the spiny forest. Floristic surveys were conducted from June to
 August 2018 and 2019. In each plot we counted, identified, and measured
 all the trees that met one of two criteria: a) they had a diameter at
 breast height (DBH) ≥ 10 cm (i.e., 1.3 m from ground level), or b) they
 had multiple branches below 1.3 m, whose cumulative stem diameters summed
 to ≥ 10 cm.
description: # Data of paper: "Structural and Compositional Differences in Gallery
 and Spiny Forests of Southern Madagascar: Implications for Conservation of
 Lemur and Tree Species" \[Access this dataset on Dryad](Dataset DOI
 link) ## Description of the data and file structure This csv file contains
 the data of the forest inventory conducted in Berenty Reserve over the
 period of 2018-2019. The data contains information about the species
 present in each forest plot, and measurements of their height, canopy, and
 circumference, as well as the calculated values for diameter at breast
 height and basal area. Each of the variables found in the file are
 detailed below: 1. Forest_type: Forest cover type where the plots were
 located. These include Spiny forest or Gallery forest. 2. Forest: Name
 given to the particular forest area in the Berenty Reserve. Each forest in
 the reserve is locally identified with a specific name. 3. Plot: plot
 identifier consisting in a combination of letters and numbers 4. Decimal
 latitude: latitudinal coordinates of each plot, expressed in decimal
 degrees plot under the geodetic datum WGS84. 5. Decimal longitude:
 longitudinal coordinates of each plot, expressed in decimal degrees plot
 under the geodetic datum WGS84. 6. Elevation: Elevation of each plot
 measured in meters above the sea level of each plot. Data obtained using a
 GPS device. 7. Number: Number of the individual tree. This number can also
 be found in the tags placed on the individuals in the forest. This will
 allow measurements of the trees in subsequent years. 8. Family: Botanical
 family to which the tree species belongs 9. Genus: Genus of the species
 (taxonomic rank below family) 10. Specific_epithet: second word of the
 binomial scientific name of the species (following a binomial
 classification) 11. Author: Person to whom the original description of the
 species is attributed. 12. Vernacular_name: local or common name, used to
 identify the species in Berenty Reserve. 13. Height_m: Estimated height of
 the tree in meters. 14. Crown_a_m: Crown diameter 1. It is measured
 orthogonal (i.e. 90 degree angle) to Crown diameter 2. Measured in meters.
 15. Crown_b_m: Crown diameter 2. It is measured orthogonal (i.e. 90 degree
 angle) to Crown diameter 1. Measured in meters. 16. CBH_cm: Circumference
 at Breast Height (CBH) of the tree, measured in centimeters at 1.3 meters
 above ground level. This column records the circumference of the main
 stem. For trees branching below 1.3 meters, it includes the circumferences
 of all branches at breast height. 17. Diameter_mm: Diameter of branches
 measured in the field with a vernier calliper. This measurement was taken
 ocasionally instead of diameter for multistemmed trees. Unit measured in
 milimiters. 18. DBH_branch_cm: Diameter at breast height (i.e at 1.3
 meters above the ground) of stems and branches in centimeters. This
 measurement was obtained either by converting diameters measured in
 millimiters to centimeters, by calculating from the Circumference at
 Breast Height (CBH) using the formula: diameter = CBH / π (where π is
 approximated as 3.14). 19. DBH_individual_cm: This column contains the
 data for the added diameter at breast height per species. 20. Basal area:
 basal area of each individual tree, calculated using the following
 formula: =(π*(diameter at breast height^2)/(4*10000). This formula uses
 the Diameter at Breast Height (DBH), squared, and divides the result by
 40,000 to convert the area into square meters. Note: In this dataset, rows
 correspond to tree individuals. Each individual receives a unique
 identifier per plot (column number). When multiple branches were measured
 per individual each is represented within its own row. This causes the
 absence of data in some cells. Please note that in columns where data are
 not applicable, cells have been filled with the term 'null'.