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Global biogeographical regions reveal a signal of past human impacts

Rueda, Marta1; González-Suárez, Manuela2; Revilla, Eloy3

Published Oct 23, 2023 on Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.cfxpnvxcn

Cite this dataset

Rueda, Marta; González-Suárez, Manuela; Revilla, Eloy (2023). Global biogeographical regions reveal a signal of past human impacts [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.cfxpnvxcn

Abstract

Ecologists have long documented that the world's biota is spatially organised in regions with boundaries shaped by processes acting on geological and evolutionary timescales. Although growing evidence suggests that historical human impact has been key in how biodiversity is currently assembled, its role as a driver of the geographical organisation of biodiversity remains unclear. Using non-volant terrestrial mammals, we set up a bioregionalization procedure focused on two data sets, one describing the current ranges of terrestrial mammals, and another describing their potential natural ranges in the absence of historic anthropogenic land use. We then quantified the relative importance of anthropogenic land use (5000 and 2000 years ago, and present time) to predict the current and natural biogeographical regions across the Earth. In general, past and present human land use were important predictors of current bioregions but did not largely contribute to predicting natural bioregions. Past anthropogenic land use seems to have left an imprint on the taxonomic differentiation of some of the largest biogeographical realms, whereas land use at present stands out as a driver of the taxonomic differences between medium-sized subregions, i.e., within and among continents. Our findings suggest that anthropogenic actions during the last millennia have had a far-reaching effect on the spatial organisation of the Earth´s non-volant mammals.

README: Global biogeographical regions reveal a signal of past human impacts

https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.cfxpnvxcn

Description of the data and file structure

1.- Current_predictors.csv: Contains latitude (LAT) and longitude (LON) info of each grid cell (ID) and the classification values of the two main biogeographical levels (Medium_bio, and Large_bio) calculated using current distribution ranges of terrestrial mammals (IUCN 2016 in PHYLACINE 1.2).
It also contains 11 environmental and human land use predictors:

  • Diff_elevat: the difference between maximum and minimum elevation. Continuous data
  • T_season: Temperature seasonality. Continuous data
  • Pre_season: Precipitation seasonality. Continuous data
  • HI5000BP: human land use 5000 years ago. Continuous data
  • HI2000BP: human land use 2000 years ago. Continuous data
  • HI2000_current: current human land use. Continuous data
  • Plate_code: Code given to each tectonic plate. Categorical data: AF (Africa plate); AM (Amur plate); AP (Altiplano plate); AR (Arabia plate); AS (Aegean Sea plate); AT (Anatolia plate); AU (Australia plate); BH (Birds Head plate); BS (Banda Sea plate); CA (Caribbean plate); EU (Eurasia plate); IN (India plate); MO (Maoke plate); MS (Molucca Sea plate); NAm (North America plate); ND (North Andes plate); OK (Okhotsk plate); ON (Okinawa plate); PA (Pacific plate); PM (Panama plate); PS (Philippine Sea plate); SA (South America plate); SO (Somalia plate); SU (Sunda plate); TI (Timor plate); WL (Woodlark plate); YA (Yangtze plate).
  • vcc_LGM_meanT: velocity of climate change since the Last Glacial Maximum with respect to mean temperature. Continuous data
  • vcc_LGM_AnnP: velocity of climate change since the Last Glacial Maximum with respect to annual precipitation. Continuous data
  • vcc_MH_meanT: velocity of climate change since the Mid-Holocene with respect to mean temperature. Continuous data
  • vcc_MH_AnnP: velocity of climate change since the Mid-Holocene with respect to annual precipitation. Continuous data

2.- Current_predictors_with eigenvectors_autocorrelation.csv: Contains the same information as the file Current_predictors.csv plus 6 eigenvectors (named in the file as autocorr1, autocorr2, autocorr3, autocorr4, autocorr5 and autocorr6). These eigenvectors were calculated to consider potential spatial autocorrelation and work as predictors in the analyses.
 
3.- Current_predictors_without_Australia&Madagascar.csv: Contains the same information as the file Current_predictors.csv but excluding Australia and Madagascar bioregions.
 
4.- Current_Local importances.csv: Contains latitude (LAT) and longitude (LON) info of each grid cell (ID) and the associated values of the local importance for human land use predictors for Large (Large_bio) and Medium current bioregions (Medium_bio).

  • HI2000 CE_Limp_Large bio: Local importance values for current human land use in the Large bioregions
  • HI2000BP_L_Imp_Large bio: Local importance values for human land use 2000 years ago in the Large bioregions
  • HI5000BP_L_imp_Large bio: Local importance values for human land use 5000 years ago in the Large bioregions
  • HI2000 CE_Limp_Medium bio: Local importance values for current human land use in the Medium bioregions
  • HI2000BP_L_Imp_Medium bio: Local importance values for human land use 2000 years ago in the Medium bioregions
  • HI5000BP_L_imp_Medium bio: Local importance values for human land use 5000 years ago in the Medium bioregions

5.- CURRENT_GLOBAL_BIOREGIONS files contains the ArcGIS files (.cpg, .dbf, .prj, .sbn, .sbx, .shp, .shx) for the four biogeographical levels calculated using current distribution ranges of terrestrial mammals (downloaded from PHYLACINE 1.2). All these files are needed to show the information about current bioregions in a GIS.
 
6.- Natural_predictors.csv: Contains latitude (LAT) and longitude (LON) info of each grid cell (ID) and the classification values of the two main biogeographical levels (Medium_bio, and Large_bio) calculated using natural distribution ranges of terrestrial mammals (IUCN 2016 in PHYLACINE 1.2).
It also contains 11 environmental and human land use predictors:

  • Diff_elevat: the difference between maximum and minimum elevation. Continuous data
  • T_season: Temperature seasonality. Continuous data
  • Pre_season: Precipitation seasonality. Continuous data
  • HI5000BP: human land use 5000 years ago. Continuous data
  • HI2000BP: human land use 2000 years ago. Continuous data
  • HI2000_current: current human land use. Continuous data
  • Plate_code: Code given to each tectonic plate. Categorical data: AF (Africa plate); AM (Amur plate); AP (Altiplano plate); AR (Arabia plate); AS (Aegean Sea plate); AT (Anatolia plate); AU (Australia plate); BH (Birds Head plate); BS (Banda Sea plate); CA (Caribbean plate); EU (Eurasia plate); IN (India plate); MO (Maoke plate); MS (Molucca Sea plate); NAm (North America plate); ND (North Andes plate); OK (Okhotsk plate); ON (Okinawa plate); PA (Pacific plate); PM (Panama plate); PS (Philippine Sea plate); SA (South America plate); SO (Somalia plate); SU (Sunda plate); TI (Timor plate); WL (Woodlark plate); YA (Yangtze plate).
  • vcc_LGM_meanT: velocity of climate change since the Last Glacial Maximum with respect to mean temperature. Continuous data
  • vcc_LGM_AnnP: velocity of climate change since the Last Glacial Maximum with respect to annual precipitation. Continuous data
  • vcc_MH_meanT: velocity of climate change since the Mid-Holocene with respect to mean temperature. Continuous data
  • vcc_MH_AnnP: velocity of climate change since the Mid-Holocene with respect to annual precipitation. Continuous data

 
7.- Natural_predictors_with_eigenvectors_autocorrelation.csv: Contains the same information as the file Natural_predictors.csv plus 6 eigenvectors (named in the file as autocorr1, autocorr2, autocorr3, autocorr4, autocorr5 and autocorr6). These eigenvectors were calculated to consider potential spatial autocorrelation and work as predictors in the analyses.
 
8.- Natural_predictors_without_Australia&Madagascar.csv: Contains the same information as the file Natural_predictors.csv but excluding Australia and Madagascar bioregions. Abbreviations and definitions of predictors are the same as in the file Natural_predictors.csv
 
9.- Natural_Local importances.csv: Contains latitude (LAT) and longitude (LON) info of each grid cell (ID) and the associated values of the local importance for human land use predictors for Large (Large_bio) and Medium natural bioregions (Medium_bio).

  • HI2000 CE_Limp_Large bio: Local importance values for current human land use in the Large bioregions
  • HI2000BP_L_Imp_Large bio: Local importance values for human land use 2000 years ago in the Large bioregions
  • HI5000BP_L_imp_Large bio: Local importance values for human land use 5000 years ago in the Large bioregions
  • HI2000 CE_Limp_Medium bio: Local importance values for current human land use in the Medium bioregions
  • HI2000BP_L_Imp_Medium bio: Local importance values for human land use 2000 years ago in the Medium bioregions
  • HI5000BP_L_imp_Medium bio: Local importance values for human land use 5000 years ago in the Medium bioregions

 
10.- NATURAL_GLOBAL_BIOREGIONS.zip files contains the ArcGIS files (.cpg, .dbf, .prj, .sbn, .sbx, .shp, .shx) for the four biogeographical levels calculated using natural distribution ranges of terrestrial mammals (downloaded from PHYLACINE 1.2). All these files are needed to show the information about natural bioregions in a GIS.

Sharing/Access information

Data was derived from the following sources:

Methods

This dataset has been collected from different publicly available databases. Most of the data has been processed in R and ArcGIS. 

Funding

Regional Government of Andalusia, Award: 2020/125-US/JUNTA/FEDER EU

Agencia Estatal de Investigación, Award: CGL2017-83045-R