Data to: Remotely sensed tree height and density explain global gliding vertebrate richness
Data files
Sep 06, 2023 version files 114.54 MB
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all_genus.tif
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all_species.tif
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data_100x100.RData
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data_1x1_RS_verts.csv
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data_extract.R
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rast_amph_genus.tif
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rast_amph_species.tif
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rast_mam_species.tif
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rast_rep_genus.tif
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rast_rep_species.tif
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README.md
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review_extract.R
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S1_Checklist.csv
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S2_References.csv
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S3_IUCN_Species.csv
Abstract
In vertebrates, gliding evolved as a mode of energy-efficient locomotion to move between trees. Gliding vertebrate richness is hypothesised to increase with tree height and decrease with tree density but empirical evidence for this is scarce, especially at a global scale. Here, we test the ability of tree height and density to explain species richness of gliding vertebrates globally compared to richness of all vertebrates, while controlling for biogeographical and climatic factors. We compiled a global database of 193 gliding amphibians, mammals and reptiles and created maps of species richness from extent-of-occurrence range maps. We paired species richness of gliding vertebrates with spatial estimates of global tree height and density and biogeographical regions as covariates to account for ecological differences among global regions. We used univariate linear and multivariate generalised linear mixed-effect models to evaluate relationships between species richness and tree height and density and the interaction between both. We found that richness of all gliding vertebrate species increased significantly with tree height, while results for richness of amphibians, mammals and reptiles alone indicated mixed responses, especially among different biogeographical regions. Mixed-effect models mirrored these results for richness of all species combined, while also revealing the mixed responses to tree height and density of richness of amphibians, mammals and reptiles. Richness of all vertebrate species – gliding and non-gliding – also increased with tree height and density but at a lesser rate than richness of gliding vertebrates indicating a greater influence of forest structure on richness patterns of gliding vertebrates. Our results support hypotheses stating that gliding in vertebrates globally evolved in tall forests as energy-efficient locomotion between trees and provide further evidence for the importance of forest structure to explain the distribution of gliding vertebrates.
README: Data to: Remotely sensed tree height and density explain global gliding vertebrate richness
Benjamin Wagner, Holger Kreft, Craig R. Nitschke & Julian Schrader
Correspondence to: jschrader@posteo.de AND benjamin.wagner@unimelb.edu.au
Abstract: In vertebrates, gliding evolved as a mode of energy-efficient locomotion to move between trees. Gliding vertebrate richness is hypothesised to increase with tree height and decrease with tree density but empirical evidence for this is scarce, especially at a global scale. Here, we test the ability of tree height and density to explain species richness of gliding vertebrates globally compared to richness of all vertebrates, while controlling for biogeographical and climatic factors. We compiled a global database of 193 gliding amphibians, mammals and reptiles and created maps of species richness from extent-of-occurrence range maps. We paired species richness of gliding vertebrates with spatial estimates of global tree height and density and biogeographical regions as covariates to account for ecological differences among global regions. We used univariate linear and multivariate generalised linear mixed-effect models to evaluate relationships between species richness and tree height and density and the interaction between both. We found that richness of all gliding vertebrate species increased significantly with tree height, while results for richness of amphibians, mammals and reptiles alone indicated mixed responses, especially among different biogeographical regions. Mixed-effect models mirrored these results for richness of all species combined, while also revealing the mixed responses to tree height and density of richness of amphibians, mammals and reptiles. Richness of all vertebrate species – gliding and non-gliding – also increased with tree height and density but at a lesser rate than richness of gliding vertebrates indicating a greater influence of forest structure on richness patterns of gliding vertebrates. Our results support hypotheses stating that gliding in vertebrates globally evolved in tall forests as energy-efficient locomotion between trees and provide further evidence for the importance of forest structure to explain the distribution of gliding vertebrates.
All data is available used in the paper: Wagner, Kreft, Nitschke, and Schrader (2023) Remotely sensed tree height and density explain global gliding vertebrate richness. Ecography. doi: 10.1111/ecog.06435. This includes a checklist to all gliding vertebrates worldwide, a reference list and the IUCN thread status of all these species. Layers, codes and further information can be found on: https://github.com/BennyWag/glider-trees
Data provided include a checklist for all gliding vertebrates globally, references used to create the checklist, IUCN conservation status of all species, and statistical model outputs. Headers of tabular data is self-explanatory and described in attached .csv files. Also, R scripts are provided as well as raster data for spatial analyses. Raster data is georeferenced and explained in the methods of the paper.
data_1x1_RS_verts.csv: table containing all species richness and environmental data for each cell used for all main analyses and results.
Column names:
- all: total richness of all gliding vertebrates per cell
- all_genus: total richness as genus level of all gliding vertebrates per cell
- mam: total richness of all gliding mammals per cell
- mam_genus: total richness at genus level of all gliding mammals per cell
- amph: total richness of all gliding amphibians per cell
- amph_genus: total richness at genus level of all gliding amphibians per cell
- rep: total richness of all gliding reptiles per cell
- rep_genus: total richness at genus level of all gliding reptiles per cell
- tree_height: maximum tree height per cell (in m) from Simard, M., Pinto, N., Fisher, J.B. & Baccini, A. (2011) Mapping forest canopy height globally with spaceborne lidar. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 116.
- tree_density: mean tree density per cell (in number of stems with diameter at breast height >10cm per ha) from Crowther, T.W., Glick, H.B., Covey, K.R., Bettigole, C., Maynard, D.S., Thomas, S.M., Smith, J.R., Hintler, G., Duguid, M.C. & Amatulli, G. (2015) Mapping tree density at a global scale. Nature, 525, 201.
- elevation: mean elevation per cell (in m) from Farr, T.G., Rosen, P.A., Caro, E., Crippen, R., Duren, R., Hensley, S., Kobrick, M., Paller, M., Rodriguez, E. & Roth, L. (2007) The shuttle radar topography mission. Reviews of geophysics, 45.
- temp: mean annual temperature per cell (in C) from WorldClim2
- precip: mean monthly precipitation (in mm) per cell from WorldClim2
- country: country where cell was located
- island: whether cell was located on an island
- BGR: ID linking to biogeographical regions as defined by Kreft, H. & Jetz, W. (2010) A framework for delineating biogeographical regions based on species distributions. Journal of Biogeography, 37, 2029-2053.
- vert_all: total richness of all vertebrates per cell
- mam_all: total richness of all mammals per cell
- amp_all: total richness of all amphibians per cell
- rep_all: total richness of all reptiles per cell
- x: Longitude in degrees
- y: Latitude in degrees