ReptIslands: Mediterranean islands and their reptile fauna

The Mediterranean region is a biodiversity hotspot, hosts a large number of reptile species and has been the focus of detailed biodiversity inventories in the last decades. We gathered a dataset with detailed information on the geographic information of a large number of islands in the Mediterranean basin and Macaronesia, and summarizing the data on reptile distribution on these islands.Location: Islands from the Mediterranean Basin, from the Atlantic Ocean within the Mediterranean biogeographical region, and from Macaronesia (Canary and Savage Islands, Azores, Madeira, Cape Verde).Taxon: Reptiles (squamates and turtles).Methods: We first developed a geographic database describing the main islands of the study region, and then gathered information on reptile occurrence on islands from 394 bibliographic sources, including atlases, published papers and the grey literature. Through a critical review of these sources, we also obtained available information on the status of populations (native, island endemic, non-native) and on the reliability of occurrence data.We report basic geographic information from 1875 islands covering the whole study area and with a very broad range of geographical features. We gathered 4156 records of reptile occurrence on islands representative of 198 taxonomic units; information on population status was available for 85% of records. The database provides a key resource for biogeographical analyses, and can also serve as backbone for evolutionary analyses and for conservation studies. Furthermore, the availability of a large database on island features can also be useful for biogeographers working on other taxonomic groups. More data are certainly required for some geographic areas, to ascertain the status (e.g. native vs non-native) of many populations, and to understand the interplay between natural and human-driven processes.ReptIslands includes a total of three comma-delimited data files.1) Island_features.csvThis file contains the names of islands, alternative names, geographic coordinates (decimal degrees, WGS84), country, archipelago name and basic geographic information: surface area (km2), and maximum elevation.2) Reptile_records.csvThis file reports the reptile records, along with information on the status of the populations, the references, and some notes for the most controversial cases. Specifically, we report:a) Species name according to the Reptile Database version 14.In some cases, nomenclatural issues exist, particularly when recent nomenclatural changes occurred, or when closely related species cannot be easily identified through morphology. All these cases are highlighted as:- sp.: unidentified species within genus;- s.l.: sensu latu, referring to a species complex- c.f.: species identification is uncertain in absence of more accurate (e.g. genetic) data- sp. nova: still undescribed species.b) Type of record (Direct observation by the authors in the references / reported (e.g. in review papers))c) Occurrence (Present / extinct / dubious / possibly wrong)d) Status (Native / Island endemic / probably native / non-native / probably non-native).e) references (the number refer to the number in the table of references)d) additional notes3) References.csvPlease note that openign this file with MS excel may result in errors in the spelling of author's names. No issues if the file is opened with text readers (e.g. datapad) or with LibreOffice

地中海区域是全球生物多样性热点地区，孕育了大量爬行动物类群，近数十年来一直是精细化生物多样性清查的重点研究区域。我们构建了一套涵盖地中海盆地及马卡罗尼西亚大量岛屿的精细化地理信息数据集，并汇总了这些岛屿上的爬行动物分布数据。
研究区域：地中海盆地的岛屿、地中海生物地理区内大西洋海域的岛屿，以及马卡罗尼西亚区域（含加那利群岛、萨维奇群岛、亚速尔群岛、马德拉群岛、佛得角群岛）。
分类单元：爬行动物（有鳞目爬行动物与龟类）。
研究方法：首先构建了描述研究区域主要岛屿的地理数据库，随后从394篇文献来源（包括图鉴、已发表学术论文及灰色文献）中收集各岛屿的爬行动物出现记录。通过对这些文献的批判性审阅，我们同时获取了种群现状（本土物种、岛屿特有种、外来物种）以及出现数据可靠性的相关信息。
本数据集包含覆盖全部研究区域、地理特征跨度极广的1875座岛屿的基础地理信息，共收集到代表198个分类单元的4156条岛屿爬行动物出现记录，其中85%的记录附带种群现状信息。该数据库为生物地理学分析提供了关键资源，同时可作为进化分析与保护研究的基础框架。此外，这套包含大量岛屿特征的数据库，同样可为研究其他分类群的生物地理学者提供助力。当前部分地理区域仍需补充更多数据，以明确多数种群的现状（如本土与外来类群的区分），并厘清自然过程与人为驱动过程间的相互作用。
本数据集ReptIslands共包含3个逗号分隔格式的数据文件：
1. Island_features.csv
该文件包含岛屿名称、别名、地理坐标（十进制度数，WGS84坐标系）、所属国家、群岛名称及基础地理信息：表面积（单位：平方千米）与最大海拔高度。
2. Reptile_records.csv
该文件记录了爬行动物出现记录，同时附带种群现状、参考文献及针对争议性案例的注释信息。具体记录内容包括：
a) 依据《爬行动物数据库（Reptile Database）》第14版标注的物种名称。部分场景下存在命名学问题，尤其当近期发生命名变更，或通过形态学难以区分近缘物种时。此类情况将通过以下标注说明：
- sp.：属内未鉴定物种
- s.l.：广义类群（sensu latu），指代物种复合群
- c.f.：在缺乏更精准（如遗传）数据的情况下，物种鉴定存疑
- sp. nova：尚未正式描述的新物种
b) 记录类型（参考文献中作者的直接观测 / 转述记录，如综述论文中的记载）
c) 出现状态（存在 / 灭绝 / 存疑 / 疑似错误）
d) 种群现状（本土物种 / 岛屿特有种 / 疑似本土物种 / 外来物种 / 疑似外来物种）
e) 参考文献（编号对应参考文献表格中的序号）
f) 附加注释
3. References.csv
请注意：使用Microsoft Excel打开该文件可能会导致作者姓名拼写出现错误，使用文本阅读器（如datapad）或LibreOffice打开则无此问题。