Data from: Ecological correlates of extinction risk in Chinese birds

China is one of the countries with the richest bird biodiversity in the
world. Among the 1372 Chinese birds, 146 species are considered threatened
and three species are regionally extinct according to the officially
released China Biodiversity Red List in 2015. Here, we conducted the first
extensive analysis to systematically investigate the patterns and
processes of extinction and threat in Chinese birds. We addressed the
following four questions. First, is extinction risk randomly distributed
among avian families in Chinese birds? Second, which families contain more
threatened species than would be expected by chance? Third, which species
traits are important in determining the extinction risk in Chinese birds
using a multivariate phylogenetic comparative approach? Finally, is the
form of the relationship between traits additive or nonadditive
(synergistic)? We found that the extinction risk of Chinese birds was not
randomly distributed among taxonomic families. The families that contained
significantly more threatened species than expected were the hornbills,
cranes, pittas, pheasants and hawks and eagles. We obtained eleven species
traits that are commonly hypothesized to influence extinction risk from
the literature: body size, clutch size, trophic level, mobility, habitat
specificity, geographical range size, nest type, nest site, flocking
tendency, migrant status and hunting vulnerability. After phylogenetic
correction, model selection based on Akaike’s information criterion
identified the synergistic interaction between body size and hunting
vulnerability as the single best correlate of extinction risk in Chinese
birds. Our results suggest that, in order to be effective, priority
management efforts should be given both to certain extinction-prone
families, particularly the hornbills, pelicans, cranes, pittas, pheasants
and hawks and eagles, and to bird species with large body size and high
hunting vulnerability.

搜集汇总

背景与挑战

背景概述

该数据集基于2015年中国生物多样性红色名录，系统分析了中国鸟类的灭绝风险，涵盖1372种鸟类中的146种受威胁物种和3种区域灭绝物种。研究发现灭绝风险在鸟类科中非随机分布，易受威胁的科包括犀鸟、鹤、八色鸫、雉类、鹰和雕等，并通过多元系统发育比较识别出体型大小与狩猎脆弱性的协同交互作用是预测灭绝风险的关键因素，为优先保护管理提供了科学依据。