Data from: Generation length of the world's amphibians and reptiles

Variation in life histories influences demographic processes, from
adaptive changes to population declines leading to extinction. Among life
history traits, generation length offers a critical feature to forecast
species’ demographic trajectories such as population declines (widely used
by the IUCN Red List) and adaptability to environmental change over time.
Therefore, estimates of generation length are crucial to monitor
demographic stability or predict future changes in highly threatened
organisms, particularly amphibians and reptiles, which are particularly
threatened among vertebrates and for which uncertainty in future impacts
remains high. Despite its importance, generation length for amphibians and
reptiles is largely missing. Here, we aim to fill-in this gap by modeling
generation lengths for amphibians, squamates and testudines as a function
of species size, climate, life history, and phylogeny using generalized
additive models and phylogenetic generalized least squares. We estimated
generation lengths for 5,059 (57%) amphibians, 8,722 (73%) squamates and
117 (32%) testudines. Our models performed well for most families (e.g.,
Bufonidae among amphibians, Lacertidae and Colubridae among squamates, and
Geoemydidae among testudines), while we found high uncertainty around the
prediction of a few families, notably Chamaeleonidae. Species’ body size
and mean temperature were the main predictors of generation length in all
groups. Although our estimates are not meant to substitute robust and
validated measurements from field studies or natural history museums, they
can help reduce existing biases in conservation assessments until field
data will be comprehensively available.