Data from: Potential effects of future climate change on global reptile distributions and diversity

Aim: Until recently, complete information on global reptile distributions
has not been widely available. Here, we provide the first comprehensive
climate impact assessment for reptiles on a global scale. Location:
Global, excluding Antarctica Time period: 1995, 2050, 2080 Major taxa
studied: Reptiles Methods: We modelled the distribution of 6,296 reptile
species and assessed potential global as well as realm-specific changes in
species richness, the change in global species richness across climate
space, and species-specific changes in range extent, overlap and position
under future climate change. To assess the future climatic impact on 3,768
range-restricted species, which could not be modelled, we compared the
future change in climatic conditions between both modelled and
non-modelled species. Results: Reptile richness was projected to decline
significantly over time, globally but also for most zoogeographic realms,
with the greatest decrease in Brazil, Australia and South Africa. Species
richness was highest in warm and moist regions, with these regions being
projected to shift further towards climate extremes in the future. Range
extents were projected to decline considerably in the future, with a low
overlap between current and future ranges. Shifts in range centroids
differed among realms and taxa, with a dominating global poleward shift.
Non-modelled species were significantly stronger affected by projected
climatic changes than modelled species. Main conclusions: With ongoing
future climate change, reptile richness is likely to decrease
significantly across most parts of the world. This effect as well as
considerable impacts on species’ range extent, overlap, and position were
visible across lizards, snakes and turtles alike. Together with other
anthropogenic impacts, such as habitat loss and harvesting of species,
this is a cause for concern. Given the historical lack of global reptile
distributions, this calls for a re-assessment of global reptile
conservation efforts, with a specific focus on anticipated future climate
change.