Table 5.
Geographic coordinates, climatic conditions and unique characteristics of study sites.
| Site | Geographic coordinates | *Seasonal rainfall during the study period in mm (Jan 2011–Dec 2011) | *Monsoon period in study year | *Seasonal mean of minimum and maximum T (in °C) | Uniqueness and reasons for selection as study site | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter | Summer | Monsoon | Onset | Withdrawal | Mean Min. | Mean Max. | |||
| Loc1: (BHU) Banaras Hindu University, Uttar Pradesh | 25°16′34.93″N 82°59′20.22″E | 8.5 | 247.3 | 844.5 | 17 June | 30 Sept. | 8.8 (W), 16.3 (S), 20.7 (M) | 29.3 (W), 40.9 (S), 33.8 (M) | Located in the highly fertile Gangetic plain of India |
| Loc2: (HN) Hathinala, Uttar Pradesh | 24°18′0.97″N 83°6′29.96″E | 9.5 | 267.8 | 1094 | 17 June | 30 Sept. | 11.1 (W), 22.69 (S), 22.65 (M) | 25.82 (W), 37.44 (S), 31.24 (M) | Located in the dry deciduous tropical forest of Vindhayan region |
| Loc3: (RB) Ranibagh, Uttrakhand | 29°17′31.97″N 79°32′34.23″E | 97.8 | 462.90 | 1460.5 | 20 June | 26 Sept. | 1.7 (W), 7.5 (S), 9.7 (M) | 15.4 (W), 23.5 (S), 21.6 (M) | Located in the biodiversity rich Himalayan foot hills with prevailing low temperature |
| Loc4: (RGU) Rajiv Gandhi University, Arunachal Pradesh | 27°8′52.34″N 93°45′53.44″E | 51.5 | 1158.1 | 1948.3 | 8 June | 13 Oct. | 15 (W), 20.4 (S), 22 (M) | 21(W), 34.2 (S), 30.2 (M) | Located in one of the world’s top mega diversity centre, world’s northernmost tropical rain forest, receives almost heaviest annual precipitation worldwide |
(*Source: National Data Centre, IMD, Pune, India). W = Winter, S = Summer, M = Monsoon.