Data from: Asynchronous demographic responses to Pleistocene climate change in Eastern Nearctic vertebrates

Pleistocene climatic cycles altered species distributions in the Eastern Nearctic of North America, yet the degree of congruent demographic response to the Pleistocene among codistributed taxa remains unknown. We use a hierarchical approximate Bayesian computational approach to test if population sizes across lineages of snakes, lizards, turtles, mammals, birds, salamanders and frogs in this region expanded synchronously to Late Pleistocene climate changes. Expansion occurred in 75% of 74 lineages, and of these, population size trajectories across the community were partially synchronous, with coexpansion found in at least 50% of lineages in each taxonomic group. For those taxa expanding outside of these synchronous pulses, factors related to when they entered the community, ecological thresholds or biotic interactions likely condition their timing of response to Pleistocene climate change. Unified timing of population size change across communities in response to Pleistocene climate cycles is likely rare in North America.更新世（Pleistocene）气候旋回改变了北美东部新北区（Eastern Nearctic）的物种分布格局，但同分布类群对更新世气候旋回的种群动态响应一致性程度仍未明晰。本研究采用分层近似贝叶斯计算方法（hierarchical approximate Bayesian computational approach），检验该区域内蛇类、蜥蜴类、龟类、哺乳类、鸟类、蝾螈类及蛙类的各支系种群规模是否曾响应晚更新世（Late Pleistocene）气候变化发生同步扩张。74个支系中有75%发生了种群扩张；其中，群落整体的种群规模动态轨迹呈现部分同步性，每个类群中至少50%的支系存在共扩张现象。对于未参与此类同步扩张事件的类群，其进入群落的时间、生态阈值或生物间相互作用等因素，可能决定了它们响应更新世气候变化的时间节点。在北美地区，跨群落的种群规模变化响应更新世气候旋回的时间呈现统一特征的情况，大概率较为罕见。