Phenology of a tropical dry deciduous forest of Bhadra wildlife sanctuary, southern India

Introduction: This paper describes the leafing, flowering and fruiting phenology of canopy trees in the dry deciduous forest of Bhadra wildlife sanctuary from June 2004 to May 2006. Method: All the woody canopy individuals (> 20 cm girth at breast height) were identified and tagged with a unique number along a transect of approximately 2. Km comprising 157 individuals of 22 species. Observations were made at monthly intervals from June 2004 to May 2006 for leafing, flowering and fruiting phenophases. Result: Leaf fall starts in September, with a peak in December and January. Leaf initiation begins in February, with a peak in April before the monsoon. Leaf expansion starts in February from pre-monsoon with a peak in May and July during the monsoon. Leaf senescence begins in September to November and peaks in January to March. Flower bud initiates in January with a peak in April and May, and pollination begins in April with a peak in May and July before the monsoon to onset of monsoon. Fruit bud initiates in May with a peak in September and October. Unripened fruit was observed in May with a peak in September and November. Fruit fall begins in November with a peak in March. Conclusion: Our results show that leafing and flowering activities occur in the summer or pre-monsoon. Fruiting patterns occur during the monsoon to post - monsoon season. Seasonality among various phenophases indicates that leaf senescence flower initiation and fruit fall have strong seasonality. © 2014. Nanda et al.; licensee Springer.