An amniote life‐history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles

Abstract

Abstract. Studying life-history traits within and across taxonomic classifications has revealed many interesting and important patterns, but this approach to life history requires access to large compilations of data containing many different life-history parameters. Currently, life-history data for amniotes (birds, mammals, and reptiles) are split among a variety of publicly available databases, data tables embedded in individual papers and books, and species-specific studies by experts. Using data from this wide range of sources is a challenge for conducting macroecological studies because of a lack of standardization in taxonomic classifications, parameter values, and even in which parameters are reported. In order to facilitate comparative analyses between amniote life-history data, we created a database compiled from peer-reviewed studies on individual species, macroecological studies of multiple species, existing life-history databases, and other aggregated sources as well as published books and other compilations. First, we extracted and aggregated the raw data from the aforementioned sources. Next, we resolved spelling errors and other formatting inconsistencies in species names through a number of computational and manual methods. Once this was completed, subspecies-level data and species-level data were shared via a datasharing algorithm to accommodate the variety of species transformations (taxonomic promotions, demotions, merges, divergences, etc.) that have occurred over time. Finally, in species where multiple raw data points were identified for a given parameter, we report the median value. Here, we report a normalized and consolidated database of up to 29 life-history parameters, containing at least one life-history parameter for 21 322 species of birds, mammals, and reptiles.

The signature of human pressure history on the biogeography of body mass in tetrapods

“…Despite being susceptible to temporal fluctuations, body mass (in grams) is the most comparable index of body size across taxa that dramatically differ in body shape (Meiri, ). We obtained species‐level adult body mass data for Western Hemisphere mammals, birds and 95% of reptiles from global compilations (Dunning, ; Feldman, Sabath, Pyron, Mayrose, & Meiri, ; Myhrvold, Baldridge, Chan, Freeman, & Ernest, ; Slavenko et al, ; Smith et al, ; Wilman et al, ; Supporting Information Table 1 in Appendix S1). Body mass information for amphibian species of the Western Hemisphere was derived from the most up‐to‐date global species‐level compilation of amphibian traits (Oliveira, São‐Pedro, Santos‐Barrera, Penone, & Costa, in review).…”

Co-adjustment of yolk antioxidants and androgens in birds

“…Finally, we tested for associations between antioxidants and androgens, including either carotenoid or vitamin E concentration as response variables, and either testosterone or A4 as fixed effects. Because clutch size, egg mass and adult body mass have been shown to predict yolk androgen and/or antioxidant concentrations [15,16], we included them as covariables in our models (using data from Myhrvold et al [18], Dunning [19] and Jetz et al [20]). Clutch size was not available for two species and egg mass for another one, yielding a total of 75 species for which all data were available.…”

Biases in the current knowledge of threat status in lizards, and bridging the ‘assessment gap’

“…Detailed information on ecology and life history is lacking for a large proportion of lizard species (Grimm et al, 2014). For example, Myhrvold et al (2015) recently compiled life history data for 21,322 amniote species. That dataset includes nearly all bird and mammal species but only two thirds of reptile species (6576).…”