Data from: Drivers and spatial patterns of avian defaunation in tropical forests

Aim: Wildlife overexploitation, either for food consumption or for the pet
trade, is one of the main threats to bird species in tropical forests.
Yet, the spatial distribution and intensity of harvesting pressure on
tropical birds remain challenging to quantify. Here, we identify the
drivers of hunting-induced declines in bird abundance and quantify the
magnitude and the spatial extent of avian defaunation at a pantropical
scale.   Location: Pantropical  
Methods: We compiled 2968 abundance estimates in hunted and
non-hunted sites across the tropics spanning 518 bird species. Using a
Bayesian modelling framework, we fitted species’ abundance response ratios
to a set of drivers of hunting pressure and species traits. Subsequently,
we applied our model to quantify the spatial patterns of avian defaunation
across tropical forests and to assess avian defaunation across
biogeographic realms, and for species captured for the pet trade or for
food consumption.   Results: Body mass and its
interactions with hunters accessibility and proximity  to urban
markets were the most important drivers of hunting-induced bird abundance
declines. We estimated a mean abundance reduction of 12% across the
tropics, and that 50% of all tropical forests harbour defaunated avian
communities. Large-bodied species and the Indomalayan realm displayed the
greatest abundance declines. Further, hotspots of high defaunation
extended over 11.1% of the pantropical forest area, with distinct spatial
patterns for species captured for the pet trade (Brazil, China and
Indonesia) and for food consumption (SE Asia and West
Africa).     Conclusions: Our study
emphasizes the role of hunters’ accessibility and the proximity to urban
markets as major drivers of bird abundance declines due to hunting and
trapping. We further identified hotspots where overexploitation has
detrimental effects on tropical birds, encompassing local extinction
events, thus underscoring the urgent need for conservation efforts to
address unsustainable exploitation for both subsistence and trade.