Data from: Patterns and biases in climate change research on amphibians and reptiles: a systematic review

Climate change probably has severe impacts on animal populations, but demonstrating a causal link can be difficult because of potential influences by additional factors. Assessing global impacts of climate change effects may also be hampered by narrow taxonomic and geographical research foci. We review studies on the effects of climate change on populations of amphibians and reptiles to assess climate change effects and potential biases associated with the body of work that has been conducted within the last decade. We use data from 104 studies regarding the effect of climate on 313 species, from 464 species–study combinations. Climate change effects were reported in 65% of studies. Climate change was identified as causing population declines or range restrictions in half of the cases. The probability of identifying an effect of climate change varied among regions, taxa and research methods. Climatic effects were equally prevalent in studies exclusively investigating climate factors (more than 50% of studies) and in studies including additional factors, thus bolstering confidence in the results of studies exclusively examining effects of climate change. Our analyses reveal biases with respect to geography, taxonomy and research question, making global conclusions impossible. Additional research should focus on under-represented regions, taxa and questions. Conservation and climate policy should consider the documented harm climate change causes reptiles and amphibians.

气候变化或对动物种群造成严重影响，但由于其他潜在干扰因素的存在，要证实二者间的因果关联往往颇具难度。此外，当前相关研究在分类学与地理学维度上的聚焦范围较为狭窄，这也会阻碍对气候变化全球影响的评估工作。
本研究针对气候变化对两栖动物（Amphibians）与爬行动物（Reptiles）种群影响的相关文献开展综述，旨在评估气候变化的实际影响效应，并梳理近十年相关研究体系中存在的潜在偏倚。本次综述共纳入104项相关研究的数据，涉及464个物种-研究组合，覆盖313个物种的气候影响相关分析。
其中65%的研究报道了气候变化的影响效应；在半数研究案例中，气候变化被证实会导致种群数量下降或分布范围缩减。不同区域、物种类群以及研究方法下，检测到气候变化影响的概率存在显著差异。仅聚焦气候因素的研究（占总研究量的50%以上）与纳入额外干扰因素的研究中，气候影响的检出率并无显著差异，这一结果提升了仅针对气候变化影响开展的研究结果的可信度。
本次分析揭示了研究在地理学、分类学以及研究议题维度上存在的偏倚，使得我们无法得出普适性的全球结论。未来的研究应聚焦于当前覆盖不足的区域、类群与研究议题。野生动物保护与气候政策的制定应充分考虑气候变化对两栖动物与爬行动物已被证实的危害。