Abstract:
Tetrapods (amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals) are model systems for global biodiversity science, but continuing data gaps, limited data standardisation, and ongoing flux in taxonomic nomenclature constrain integrative research on this group and potentially cause biased inference. We combined and harmonised taxonomic, spatial, phylogenetic, and attribute data with phylogeny-based multiple imputation to provide a comprehensive data resource (TetrapodTraits 1.0.0) that includes values, predictions, and sources for body size, activity time, micro- and macrohabitat, ecosystem, threat status, biogeography, insularity, environmental preferences, and human influence, for all 33,281 tetrapod species covered in recent fully sampled phylogenies. We assess gaps and biases across taxa and space, finding that shared data missing in attribute values increased with taxon-level completeness and richness across clades. Prediction of missing attribute values using multiple imputation revealed substantial changes in estimated macroecological patterns. These results highlight biases incurred by nonrandom missingness and strategies to best address them. While there is an obvious need for further data collection and updates, our phylogeny-informed database of tetrapod traits can support a more comprehensive representation of tetrapod species and their attributes in ecology, evolution, and conservation research.
摘要:
四足类(两栖类,爬行动物,鸟,和哺乳动物)是全球生物多样性科学的模型系统,但是持续的数据差距,有限的数据标准化,分类学命名法的不断变化限制了对该群体的综合研究,并可能导致偏颇的推论。我们结合并协调了分类学,空间,系统发育,和具有基于系统发育的多重插补的属性数据,以提供包括值的全面数据资源(TetrapodTraits1.0.0),预测,和身体大小的来源,活动时间,微型和大型栖息地,生态系统,威胁状态,生物地理学,孤立,环境偏好,和人类的影响,在最近完全采样的系统发育中覆盖的所有33,281个四足动物物种。我们评估了分类单元和空间的差距和偏见,发现属性值中缺少的共享数据随着分类单元级的完整性和跨分支的丰富度而增加。使用多重归因对缺失属性值的预测显示,估计的宏观生态模式发生了实质性变化。这些结果突出了非随机错误引起的偏见以及解决这些偏见的最佳策略。虽然显然需要进一步收集和更新数据,我们的四足动物特征的系统发育信息数据库可以支持四足动物物种及其在生态学中的属性的更全面表示,进化,和保护研究。