AnimalTraits - a curated animal trait database for body mass, metabolic rate and brain size

Marie E. Herberstein*, Donald James McLean, Elizabeth Lowe, Jonas O. Wolff, Md Kawsar Khan, Kaitlyn Smith, Andrew P. Allen, Matthew Bulbert, Bruno A. Buzatto, Mark D. B. Eldridge, Daniel Falster, Laura Fernandez Winzer, Simon C. Griffith, Joshua S. Madin, Ajay Narendra, Mark Westoby, Martin J. Whiting, Ian J. Wright, Alexandra J. R. Carthey

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

24 Citations (Scopus)
103 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Trait databases have become important resources for large-scale comparative studies in ecology and evolution. Here we introduce the AnimalTraits database, a curated database of body mass, metabolic rate and brain size, in standardised units, for terrestrial animals. The database has broad taxonomic breadth, including tetrapods, arthropods, molluscs and annelids from almost 2000 species and 1000 genera. All data recorded in the database are sourced from their original empirical publication, and the original metrics and measurements are included with each record. This allows for subsequent data transformations as required. We have included rich metadata to allow users to filter the dataset. The additional R scripts we provide will assist researchers with aggregating standardised observations into species-level trait values. Our goals are to provide this resource without restrictions, to keep the AnimalTraits database current, and to grow the number of relevant traits in the future.

Original languageEnglish
Article number265
Pages (from-to)1-11
Number of pages11
JournalScientific Data
Volume9
Issue number1
Early online date2 Jun 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2 Jun 2022

Bibliographical note

Copyright the Author(s) 2022. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

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