EltonTraits 1.0: Species‐level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals

Abstract

Species are characterized by physiological, behavioral, and ecological attributes that are all subject to varying evolutionary and ecological constraints and jointly determine species' role and function in ecosystems. Attributes such as diet, foraging strata, foraging time, and body size, in particular, characterize a large portion of the ''Eltonian'' niches of species.Here we present a global species-level compilation of these key attributes for all 9993 and 5400 extant bird and mammal species derived from key literature sources. Global handbooks and monographs allowed the consistent sourcing of attributes for most species. For diet and foraging stratum we followed a defined protocol to translate the verbal descriptions into standardized, semiquantitative information about relative importance of different categories. Together with body size (continuous) and activity time (categorical) this enables a much finer distinction of species' foraging ecology than typical categorical guild assignments allow. Attributes lacking information for specific species are flagged, and interpolated values based on taxonomy are provided instead. The presented data set is limited by, among others, these select cases missing observed data, by errors and uncertainty in the expert assessment as presented in the literature, and by the lack of intraspecific information. However, the standardized and transparent nature and complete global coverage of the data set should support an array of potential studies in biogeography, community ecology, macroevolution, global change biology, and conservation. Potential uses include comparative work involving these traits as focal or secondary variables, ecological research on the trait or trophic structure of communities, or conservation science concerned with the loss of function among species or in ecosystems in a changing world. We hope that this publication will spur the sharing, collaborative curation, and extension of data to the benefit of a more integrative, rigorous, and global biodiversity science.

Functional Rarity: The Ecology of Outliers

“…Moreover, if traits that are selected are highly correlated with each other, then the 'true' functional distinctiveness, which may become evident if other traits or combinations of traits were considered, can be obscured. It is also important to note that, although trait databases have emerged in many different kingdoms [83][84][85][86], they are often biased towards traits measured on common species [87][88][89], which can impede an accurate assessment of functional distinctiveness.…”

Functional traits reveal the expansion and packing of ecological niche space underlying an elevational diversity gradient in passerine birds

“…We used recently published data [35] on the proportional use of different food types to classify species into four dietary guilds: specialist insectivore, granivore or frugivore (i.e. more than or equal to 60% food obtained from corresponding food type) and omnivores (i.e.…”

The Geography of Ecological Niche Evolution in Mammals

“…Species ecological niches were defined using a set of four traits (diet, body-mass, activity cycle and foraging strata) that produce a coarse representation of animal Eltonian niches [13][14][15][16]. While diet and body mass directly refer to species resource requirement, foraging location and activity represent behavioural traits reflecting how species acquire food from their environment.…”