DOI: 10.5061/dryad.dfn2z35dh
title: Seasonal elevational dynamics of Central Himalayan mammals and birds: occurrences, richness metrics, abundance centres, boundary shifts, traits, and phylogeny

description: This data package quantifies seasonal shifts in species diversity, traits,
 and elevational distributions of mammals and birds in the Gyirong Valley,
 Central Himalayas. Field surveys were carried out in two distinct climatic
 periods—the warm season (May to September) and the cold season
 (October to April)—along twelve contiguous 300 m elevational bands
 spanning ~1 400–4 000 m a.s.l. For each band and season the
 package provides: Species occurrences for every elevational band and
 sample plot. Observed, interpolated, and Chao‑estimated species richness
 for mammals and birds. Abundance centres (mid‑points of abundance
 distributions) for 14 focal genera and all constituent species. Seasonal
 upper and lower elevational limits and the corresponding boundary‑shift
 values. Species‑level trait data (body mass, tiet, forest dependency,
 habitat or breeding elevation, etc.). Time‑calibrated phylogenies of the
 surveyed mammal and bird assemblages. All tabular datasets are supplied as
 .csv files with explicit variable definitions; phylogenetic trees are
 provided in .nex format. Important note: Analytical context, methods, and
 interpretation are detailed in the associated Ecography article, “Seasonal
 variation in community structure and elevational distributions of mammals
 and birds in the Central Himalayas.” Users are strongly encouraged to
 consult the paper when re‑using these data. Released under open‑data best
 practices, the files support comparative macro‑ecological, biogeographic,
 and conservation research on montane biodiversity and its response to
 seasonal and climatic change.
description: # Seasonal elevational dynamics of Central Himalayan mammals and birds:
 occurrences, richness metrics, abundance centres, boundary shifts, traits,
 and phylogeny Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.dfn2z35dh](10.5061/dryad.dfn2z35dh) This data package
 quantifies seasonal shifts in species diversity, traits, and elevational
 distributions of mammals and birds in the Gyirong Valley, Central
 Himalayas. Field surveys were carried out in two distinct climatic
 periods—the warm season (May to September) and the cold season
 (October to April)—along twelve contiguous 300 m elevational bands
 spanning ~1 400–4 000 m a.s.l. ## Description of the data and file
 structure These data arise from a multi‑year field campaign designed to
 quantify how Himalayan mammal and bird communities shift with season and
 elevation. Between 2018 and 2022 we surveyed the Gyirong Valley (Central
 Himalayas, 1 800–4 000 m a.s.l.) in two climatic periods—warm (May–Sep)
 and cold (Oct–Apr)—across twelve contiguous 300 m elevational bands.
 Terrestrial mammals were sampled with four replicated snap‑trap sessions
 (5 sites × 30 traps × 6 days per band) and a network of camera traps (5
 units per band, 60‑day windows matched to the snap‑trap months). Birds
 were censused along three 2.5 km line transects per band, repeated eight
 times (four warm‑, four cold‑season visits). The resulting tables report
 species occurrences, observed/interpolated/Chao‑estimated richness,
 abundance‑centre coordinates for 14 focal genera, seasonal boundary
 shifts, species traits, and matching phylogenies. These datasets underpin
 the analyses in the accompanying *Ecography* article on seasonal community
 dynamics along Himalayan mountain gradients. ### Files and variables
 **File: data.zip** #### 1 abundance centres of 14 genera and their species
 It contains 14 Excel files, each named after a bird genus, corresponding
 to 14 different bird genera. * **Recorded elevation**: Recorded elevation
 (m) of species field observations * **Abundance**: Number of individuals
 recorded * **Season**: Season of field survey * **Species**: Scientific
 name * **Abundance centres of species**: The abundance centre of each
 species was calculated by weighting the elevation of its occurrences
 according to the recorded number of individuals * **Abundance centres of
 genus**: The abundance centre of each genus was calculated by weighting
 the elevations of all species occurrences within the genus based on their
 respective abundances #### 2 observed, interpolated, and estimated species
 richness in each elevational band It contains two Excel files,
 corresponding to information on birds and mammals, respectively. *
 **Season**: Season of field survey * **Elevation (m)**: Range of the
 elevation band (m) * **Observed richness**: Observed richness refers to
 the actual number of different species recorded in a elevational band *
 **Chao2 statistic**: The Chao2 statistic is a non-parametric estimator of
 species richness; the Chao2 statistic is expressed in the format of
 "estimate ± SD" * **Survey effort (%)**: (Observed
 richness/Chao2 statistic)*100; Used to assess the intensity of field
 sampling * **Interpolated richness**: The interpolation method assumes
 that species exist at an elevation if they are recorded at both lower and
 higher elevations #### 3 species occurrences The folder "species
 occurrences in each elevational band" contains two folders,
 corresponding to information on birds and mammals, respectively. The files
 "dry-bird/mammal" and "wet-bird/mamaml" represent
 presence–absence matrices of bird/mammal species recorded at different
 elevation bands during the dry and wet seasons, respectively. In the
 occurrence presence-absence matrix, each row represents an elevational
 band, and each column represents a species. The folder "species
 occurrences in each sampling plot" contains data on the seasonal
 occurrences (abundance data) of 25 mammal species and 75 bird species
 across different transects and plots. Using birds as an example, the first
 column "transect" refers to the 36 specific transect lines
 surveyed. Rows numbered 1–36 represent data from the warm season, while
 37–72 correspond to the cold season. For mammals, rows 1–60 represent the
 warm season, and 61–120 correspond to the cold season. The first row,
 labeled “s1, s2, s3, s4......”, represents repeated survey occasions. The
 files "Standardized_siteCovs_mammal" and
 "Standardized_siteCovs_bird" contain Standardized environmental
 variables associated with each sampling plot for mammals and birds,
 respectively. * **transect or site**: The transect or plot ID
 corresponding to the entries in "species occurrences in each sampling
 plot" * **ele**: Elevation of the sampling plot * **ele2**: Square of
 the elevation of the sampling plot * **ndvi**: Normalized Difference
 Vegetation Index * **sea**: Season of the survey; w indicates the warm
 season, and c indicates the cold season * **length**: Length of bird
 transects #### 4 species traits, elevational boundary shifts, and
 phylogenetic information for 25 mammal and 75 bird species The folder
 "species traits, elevational boundary shifts, and phylogenetic
 information for 25 mammal and 75 bird species" contains data for 25
 mammal species (in the "mammal" subfolder) and 75 bird species
 (in the "bird" subfolder), including species traits, elevational
 boundary shifts, and phylogenetic information. The Excel files “75birds”
 and “25mammals” contain species traits related to the elevational
 distribution ranges of each species. * **Common**: English name of the
 species * **Species**: Scientific name of the species * **lower boundary
 warm**: Lower elevational limit (m) of the species during the warm season
 * **lower boundary cold**: Lower elevational limit (m) of the species
 during the cold season * **upper boundary warm**: Upper elevational limit
 (m) of the species during the warm season * **upper boundary cold**: Upper
 elevational limit (m) of the species during the cold season * **range size
 warm**: Elevational range size (m) of the species during the warm season
 (upper minus lower limit) * **range size cold**: Elevational range size
 (m) of the species during the cold season (upper minus lower limit) *
 **abundance center warm**: Elevation (m) of the species' abundance
 center during the warm season * **abundance center cold**: Elevation (m)
 of the species' abundance center during the cold season * **breeding
 elevation**: Breeding elevation of birds; L, M, and H refer to low, mid,
 and high elevations, respectively. * **habitat elevation**: Habitat
 elevation of mammals during the warm season; L, M, and H refer to low,
 mid, and high elevations, respectively * **flocking status**: Indicates
 whether a bird species exhibits mixed-species flocking behavior;
 "flock" denotes presence of this behavior, while "non"
 denotes that the species does not exhibit this behavior * **forest
 dependency**: Indicates whether a species is dependent on forest habitats;
 "forest" denotes forest dependency, while "non"
 denotes lack of such dependency * **hibernation**: Indicates whether a
 mammal species exhibits hibernation; "hiber" denotes presence of
 this behavior, while "non-hiber" indicates absence * **diet**:
 Diet indicates the feeding behavior of the species. For mammals, “her”
 refers to herbivores, “car” to carnivores, and “omn” to omnivores that
 consume both plant and animal matter. For birds, “omnivore” refers to
 species that feed on both plant and animal matter; “plantSeed” denotes
 those that primarily consume plant materials such as leaves, buds, or
 seeds; “insectivore” describes species that specialize in feeding on
 insects and other small invertebrates; and “fruiNect” refers to those that
 mainly feed on fruits and nectar. The Excel files "`the significance
 of lower elevational range boundary shifts`" and "`the
 significance of upper elevational range boundary shifts`" contain
 information on changes in the lower and upper elevational range
 boundaries, respectively, for 25 mammal and 75 bird species, along with
 their corresponding species traits. The trait abbreviations are consistent
 with those used previously. * **mass(g)**: Body mass (g) * **upper(m)**:
 Change in the upper elevational boundary (cold season minus warm season),
 measured in meters (m) * **lower(m)**: Change in the lower elevational
 boundary (cold season minus warm season), measured in meters (m) *
 **sig**: Significance of the elevational range boundary shift (p &lt;
 0.05); 1 indicates significant, 0 indicates not significant. The
 phylogenetic information file is in .nex format. We downloaded 5,000
 phylogenetic trees from vertlife.org, based on the "mammal
 birth-death node-dated completed tree" (Upham et al., 2019) for
 mammals and the "Hackett All Species" tree (Jetz et al., 2012)
 for birds. Maximum Clade Credibility trees for both groups were computed
 using the R package phangorn (Schliep, 2011).