DOI: 10.5061/dryad.4mw6m907q
title: Data from: Effects of Habitat Structure and Adjacent Habitats on Birds in Tropical Rainforest Fragments and Shaded Plantations in the Western Ghats, India

description: This dataset includes bird community, habitat structure, and vegetation
 data from the following publication: Raman, T.R.S. 2006. Effects of
 Habitat Structure and Adjacent Habitats on Birds in Tropical Rainforest
 Fragments and Shaded Plantations in the Western Ghats, India. Biodiversity
 and Conservation 15: 1577–1607. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-005-2352-5
 Abstract: As large nature reserves occupy only a fraction of the earth’s
 land surface, conservation biologists are critically examining the role of
 private lands, habitat fragments, and plantations for conservation. This
 study in a biodiversity hotspot and endemic bird area, the Western Ghats
 mountains of India, examined the effects of habitat structure, floristics,
 and adjacent habitats on bird communities in shade-coffee and cardamom
 plantations and tropical rainforest fragments. Habitat and birds were
 sampled in 13 sites: six fragments (three relatively isolated and three
 with canopy connectivity with adjoining shade-coffee plantations and
 forests), six plantations differing in canopy tree species composition
 (five coffee and one cardamom), and one undisturbed primary rainforest
 control site in the Anamalai hills. Around 3300 detections of 6000
 individual birds belonging to 106 species were obtained. The coffee
 plantations were poorer than rainforest in rainforest bird species,
 particularly endemic species, but the rustic cardamom plantation with
 diverse, native rainforest shade trees, had bird species richness and
 abundance comparable to primary rainforest. Plantations and fragments that
 adjoined habitats providing greater tree canopy connectivity supported
 more rainforest and fewer open-forest bird species and individuals than
 sites that lacked such connectivity. These effects were mediated by strong
 positive effects of vegetation structure, particularly woody plant
 variables, cane, and bamboo, on bird community structure. Bird community
 composition was however positively correlated only to floristic (tree
 species) composition of sites. The maintenance or restoration of habitat
 structure and (shade) tree species composition in shade-coffee and
 cardamom plantations and rainforest fragments can aid in rainforest bird
 conservation in the regional landscape.
description: The data were collected as described in Raman (2006), <em>Biodiversity and Conservation</em> 15: 1577–1607. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-005-2352-5. This includes data from 381, five-minute bird point count surveys from 13 sites (see file: Sites.csv). It also includes corresponding habitat structure and floristic data from point-centred quarter (PCQ) plots, 5 m radius plots, and point surveys as described in the publication. Note that tree density and basal area were obtained from replicate PCQ plots in 12 sites (see file: PCQ_data.csv), but were obtained from 5 m radius circular plots in 1 site (Site I, SIVCO, Siva Coffee; see file: SivaCoffeePlots.csv), where it was not possible to use the PCQ method. Note the bird point count data has also been uploaded as 5-min stationary count checklists to the eBird India portal (http://ebird.org/india) with the following Submission Comment that will appear in the Checklist comments of each corresponding list: Bird point count data from: Raman, T. R. S. 2006. Effects of habitat structure and adjacent habitats on birds in tropical rainforest fragments and shaded plantations in the Western Ghats, India. Biodiversity and Conservation 15: 1577–1607. DOI: 10.1007/s10531-005-2352-5 The compilation and archiving of this data was carried out as part of the project "<em>Long-term bird community dynamics in a fragmented tropical rainforest landscape in the Western Ghats, India</em>" supported by the Science and Engineering Board, India (Project: EMR/2016/007968).
description: Files in the dataset corresponding to the Raman (2006)
 paper. 1) 01_ReadMe.txt: Refer this file for details of
 each column of data in the following files that are included in the
 dataset. 2) 02_Sites.csv: Details of 13 surveyed
 sites 3) 03_BirdSpecies.csv: Details of bird species
 recorded during the survey, including codes, categories, and updated
 taxonomy 4) 04_PointCountData.csv: Contains the data
 from the 381, 5-min point count surveys 5)
 05_Detections.csv: Species by site summary of number of detections
 recorded 6) 06_Abundance.csv: Species by site summary
 of number of individual birds recorded 7)
 07_Appendix.csv: Appendix as in Raman (2006) publication
 8) 08_PCQ_data.csv: Data from Point-Centred Quarter (PCQ) plots
 in the various sites 9) 09_Habitat_structure.csv:
 Habitat structure data from the various sites 10)
 10_SivaCoffeePlots.csv: Data from 5 m radius vegetation plots in Siva
 Coffee (Site I) 11) 11_SivaCoffeeTrees.csv: Floristic
 data from an 80-tree sample in Siva Coffee (Site I)