The study of microclimate in response to different plant community association in tropical moist deciduous forest from northern India

The data on microclimate were collected between 2010 and 2011 in five forest communities (dry miscellaneous, sal mixed, lowland miscellaneous, teak and savannah) in a tropical moist deciduous forest in Katerniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, Uttar Pradesh, India to compare how vegetation structure affects microclimate. Diurnal variations in microclimatic variables [photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) at forest understory level, air temperature, soil surface temperature, ambient CO₂, air absolute humidity] were measured with LI-COR 840, LI-COR 191, LI-COR 190 SZ, LI-1400-101 and LI-1400-103 (LI-COR; Lincoln, NE, USA) at centre of three 0.5 ha plots in each forest community. The diurnal trend in microclimatic parameters showed wide variations among communities. PAR at forest floor ranged from 0.0024 to 1289.9 (μmol m⁻²s⁻¹) in post-monsoon season and 0.0012 to 1877.3 (μmol m⁻²s⁻¹) in mid-winter season. Among the five communities, the highest PAR value was observed in savannah and lowest in sal mixed forest. All the forest communities received maximum PAR at forest floor between 1000 and 1200 h. The ambient air temperature ranged from 19.15 to 26.69°C in post-monsoon season and 11.31 to 23.03°C in mid-winter season. Soil temperature ranged from 13.54 to 36.88°C in post-monsoon season and 6.39 to 29.17°C in mid-winter season. Ambient CO₂ ranged from 372.16 to 899.14 μmol mol⁻¹ in post-monsoon season and 396.65 to 699.65 μmol mol⁻¹ in mid-winter season. In savannah ecosystem, diurnal trend of ambient CO₂ was totally different from rest four communities. According to Canonical correspondence analysis, PAR and ambient CO₂ are most important in establishment of forest community, among microclimatic variables.