DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18403197
title: Data from: Factors influencing seasonal and monthly changes in the group size of chital or axis deer in southern India

description: DESCRIPTION OF DATASET

This dataset contains data files and documents related to the following publication on group sizes (herd sizes) of chital or axis deer in Guindy National Park, Chennai, India:

Raman, T. R. S. 1997. Factors influencing seasonal and monthly changes in the group size of chital or axis deer in southern India. Journal of Biosciences 22: 203-218. DOI: 10.1007/BF02704733Available from: https://archive.org/details/raman-1996-group-size-jbiosci and as part of the present upload.

The data are from a field study of chital or axis deer (Axis axis) and blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra) antelope carried out by T. R. Shankar Raman between 14 July 1990 and 30 May 1993 in the Guindy National Park, Chennai (erstwhile Madras), India.

The main dataset of Raman (1997) included here as 02_Groups91-92.csv has data on chital groups or herds during 1991-1992 only. Archived scans of the original transcribed datasheets for all three years (1991 - 1993) are available on the Internet Archive:

Fieldnotes on Chital and Blackbuck Herds in Guindy National Park 1991-1993 Transcribedby T. R. Shankar Raman https://archive.org/details/fieldnotes-chital-blackbuck-herds-gnp-1991-1993-transcribed/Identifier-ark        ark:/13960/s2g9dngw83k 

Other Related Publications from the same field research project are:

Raman, T. R. S., Menon, R. K. G. & Sukumar, R. 1996. Ecology and management of chital and blackbuck in Guindy National Park, Madras. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 93: 178-192. https://archive.org/details/biostor-152252

Raman, T. R. S. 1998. Antler cycles and breeding seasonality of chital (Axis axis Erxleben) in southern India. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 95: 377-391. https://archive.org/details/raman-1998-antler-cycles-jbnhs

Raman, T. R. S., Menon, R. K. G., & Sukumar, R. 1995. Decline of blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra L.) in an insular nature reserve: The Guindy National Park, Madras. Current Science 68: 578-580. https://archive.org/details/raman-et-al.-1995-decline-of-blackbuck-in-gnp

Map of Guindy National Park

https://archive.org/details/map-of-guindy-national-park-chennai

Project Reports:

1991: https://archive.org/details/deer-and-blackbuck-in-guindy-np-1991-report-raman-trs1992: https://archive.org/details/deer-and-blackbuck-in-guindy-np-1992-report-raman-trs

AUTHOR CONTACTS

1. Name: T. R. Shankar Raman 2. Work Address: Nature Conservation Foundation, 1311, 12th A Main, Vijayanagar 1st Stage, Mysuru 570017, Karnataka, India3. Work Phone: +91 821 25156014. Email address: trsr@ncf-india.org 5. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1347-3953

Keywords:

tropical dry evergreen forest, tropical dry thorn forest, scrub jungle, grassland, urban biodiversity, Axis axis, Antilope cervicapra, ungulate ecology, habitat use, population ecology, breeding seasonality, grouping behaviour

Geographic Coverage:1. Location/Study Area: Guindy National Park, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India2. GPS coordinates: 12.9893° - 13.0089° N, 80.2169° - 80.2422° E3. Area: 2.7 square kilometres 

Temporal Coverage:1. Begins: 1990-07-14 (Year, Month, Day)2. Ends: 1993-05-30 (Year, Month, Day)
description: FILES INCLUDED IN THE DATASET

The dataset includes the following 11 files:

00_README.txt - This file describing the dataset and metadata.

01_Surveys.csv - Details of field visits to Guindy National Park (GNP) during 1990-1993

02_Groups91-92.csv - Main dataset containing group size data as described further below

03_additionalGroups.csv - Some additional groups discovered in fieldnotes and transcribed datasheets in 2026 that were not included in the original dataset and analysis in Raman (1997)

04_GPREGS.csv - Summarise group size and independent variables data used as input for regression analyses

05_additionalNotes.csv - Notes and remarks on the data entered in CSV files 02 and 03

06_GP.ZIP - dataset as originally archived in the mid 1990s

07_SupplementaryInformation.odt - document containing relevant results of analyses and other information

08_OriginalArchive_FileDetails.odt - document containing details of the files included in the original archive file (GP.ZIP)

09_FIGS.ZIP - original archive file of figures

10_Raman1997_Tables.pdf - Tables from Raman (1997)

11_Raman1997_GroupSize_JBioSci.pdf - Raman (1997) paper as published in Journal of Biosciences.
description: TECHNICAL INFORMATION AND DETAILS

01_Surveys.csv 

Date    Date of field visit to Guindy National ParkYear    Year of observationMonth    Month of observationDay    Day of observationTime    Entry and exit time in “hh:mm to hh:mm" formatWeather    Weather during the field visit with codes used in combination: Clr = clear; Su = Sunny; Clo = Cloudy; PClo = Partly cloudy; OC = Overcast; Dk = darkNotes    Remarks on the field notes and data collected    

02_Groups91-92.csv

SNo    Running serial number as per original worksheet (GP9192.WK1, a Lotus 123 worksheet)seq    Sequence reordered (by year and month) in this datasheetyear    Year of observationmonth    Month of observationseason    Season: Dry – dry season (Jan–Mar, 1991 and 1992); Summer – summer months taken as Apr–May 1991 and Apr–Jun 1992; SWmonsoon –  southwest monsoon taken as June-Sep 1991 and July-Sep 1992; and NEmonsoon – northeast monson (Oct-Dec, 1991 and 1992).timeCat    Category used for hourly timeslots corresponding to timeBand (see below)timeBand    Hourly time band (h) as start/finish in hh:mm format corresponding to each timeCat timeCat - timeBand  A1 - 05:00/05:59  A2 - 06:00/06:59  A3 - 07:00/07:59  A4 - 08:00/08:59  A5 - 09:00/09:59  P1 - 15:00/15:59  P2 - 16:00/16:59  P3 - 17:00/17:59  P4 – 18:00/18:59 vegType    Vegetation or habitat type with three main categories coded as 1, 2 and 3 were: 1_Forest, 2_Scrubland, and 3_Grassland; habitats as described in Raman 1996; and 3 other minor types (data not used in Raman 1996). Three minor types coded as 4, 5, 6: 4_FF = fodder farm; 5_AFS = artificial feeding site; 6_Other = other locations such as road (Jackal Trail, Body Road etc when habitat could not be assigned), pond/lake (Bogy Pond, KK Tank, AK tank), parking lot, outsidegroupSize    Size of chital herd (number of individuals in a defined herd)Tp    Category: T – total, indicating a complete count of all individuals in the herd; A – Aggregation, indicating where the individuals had aggregated at a location or feeding site and may not necessarily be part of a single herd. Note that the main datasheet excludes data corresponding to a third category (P – Partial), used in the additionalGroups sheet indicating herds where all individuals were not visible or could not be accurately counted.

03_additionalGroups.csv

Columns are identical to Groups91-92 with a single additional column    time    Exact time at which the herd observation was made

04_GPREGS.csv

Sno    Serial number going from 1 (Jan 1991) to 24 (Dec 1992)Year    Year of observationMon    Month of observationRain    Total rainfall in the month (mm)LgRain    Log (x+1) of rainfallForGp    Mean chital group size in Forest habitatScrGp    Mean chital group size in Scrubland habitatPfGp    Mean chital group size in Grassland (Polo Field) habitatForTGP    Jarman's (1974) typical group size in Forest habitatScrTGP    Jarman's (1974) typical group size in Scrubland habitatPfTGP    Jarman's (1974) typical group size in Grassland (Polo Field) habitatForGd    Mean chital group encounter rate in Forest habitat (groups/km)ScrGd    Mean chital group encounter rate in Scrubland habitat (groups/km)PfGd    Mean number of chital groups in Grassland habitatForD    Mean chital encounter rate in Forest habitat (= ForGd x ForGp) in chital/kmScrD    Mean chital encounter rate in Scrubland habitat (= ScrGd x ScrGp) in chital/kmPfD    Mean number of chital in Grassland habitat (= ForGd x ForGp)ForDen    Mean chital density in Forest habitat (chital/sq. km), estimated as ForD/0.034 using the estimated effective strip width of 17 m and the Caughley (1977) formulaScrDen    Mean chital density in Scrubland habitat (chital/sq. km), estimated as ScrD/0.074 using the estimated effective strip width of 37 m and the Caughley (1977) formulaPfDen    Mean chital density in Grassland habitat (chital/sq. km), estimated as PfD/0.037, taking the area of Polo Field grassland as 3.7 haAdH    Rutting index (percentage of adult males in hard antler)Fw0    Fawning index (small fawns per hundred adult females)

05_additionalNotes.csv

This file contains some notes on the data entered in 02_Groups91-92.csv and 03_additionalGroups.csv and related remarks

06_GP.ZIP

This is the dataset as originally archived in the mid 1990s and found, curated, and elaborated for archiving on Zenodo as the present complete dataset. The ZIP file contains 22 files that are described in 08_OriginalArchive_FileDetails.odt and relevant outputs and analyses are also included with relevant headers and explanations in 07_SupplementaryInformation.odt 

07_SupplementaryInformation.odt

Open Document Format (.odt) document containing relevant results of analyses and other information

08_OriginalArchive_FileDetails.odt

Open Document Format (.odt) document containing details of the files included in the original archive file (GP.ZIP)

09_FIGS.ZIP

ZIP archive as originally saved of the figures in Harvard Graphics 3.0 (.CH3) format (unretrievable)

10_Raman1997_Tables.pdf

PDF file containing the Tables presented in Raman (1997)

11_Raman1997_GroupSize_JBioSci.pdf

PDF of Raman (1997) paper as published in Journal of Biosciences.
description: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The research was carried out when I was a BSc Zoology student of Loyola Collge, Chennai (1990-1993). I thank my parents (T. R. Rajagopalan and Sitalakshmi Rajagopalan for support and funding), and R. K. G. Menon and R. Sukumar for guidance through the project. I'm grateful to V. R Chitrapu, Sugato Dutt, and the The Tamil Nadu Forest Department for providing research permits (Chief Wildlife Warden, Madras, Ref No. PS/204/91 dated 26 January 1991). I'm indebted to a number of friends who helped in this research in various ways: V. Santharam, R. Kannan, Abi Tamim, Anin Nandanan, and Divya Mudappa.