A dataset on the morphological, life-history and ecological traits of mammals in China

Species
traits reflect the species’ ecological function and fitness. The trait
databases play a vital role in studying biodiversity maintenance and loss,
species evolution and adaptation, ecological interactions and processes,
ecosystem functions, and species responses to both climate change and human
pressures. China is one of the countries with the richest mammal diversity in
the world, so far, there is no comprehensive resource of morphological, life
history, ecological and geographical distribution data of the mammals in China.
We compiled 24 traits data of 754 Chinese mammals (including recently regional extinct
species and those species with disputed taxonomy and distribution) between 2008
and 2021 through systematic literature review and dataset integration, referred
to mammalian monographs and field guides. The main sources used in
completing the dataset were: the life history traits were retrieved from trait database (COMBINE: COalesced Mammal dataBase of
INtrinsic and Extrinsic traits, Soria et al, 2021); Smith and Xie (2009) A Guide to the Mammals of China and Pan et al (2007)
A Field Guide to the Mammals of China, and the zoogeographical regionalization
and distribution type were searched in Zhang (2011) China Animal Geography, and
species distribution in provinces and threatened category were cited from Jiang
et al (2021) China’s Red list of Biodiversity: Vertebrates, Volume I, Mammals
and Liu et al (2019; 2020) Handbook of Mammals of China. In addition, Handbook
of the Mammals of the World (Wilson & Mittermeier, 2009; 2011; 2012; 2018;
2019;
Mittermeier & Wilson,
2014; Wilson
et al, 2016), Mammal Diversity Database (American Society of Mammalogists,
ASM, 2021) and COMBINE (COalesced Mammal dataBase of INtrinsic and Extrinsic
traits, Soria et al, 2021) were taken as supplementary data source. Further, peer–reviewed scientific
publications from 1990 to 2021 were searched in CNKI, Google Scholar to supplementary
traits data. Our dataset included body weight, brain size, head body length,
tail length, forearm length (Chiroptera), hind foot length, ear length, sexual
maturity time, gestation length, litter size, litters per year, generation
length, diet, activity pattern, habitat type, habitat breadth, realm, biome,
endemic species, elevational range, distribution type, zoogeographical
regionalization, geographical distribution. Among these twenty-four traits, the data integrity ranged from 30.11% to 100.00%. The
traits data were incomplete to some extent due to lack of research while the information
about endemic species, geographical distribution in province of China’s mammals
are completed. The dataset is the latest and most complete database on the
traits of China’s mammals, which lays the foundation for future researches in
mammalogy and biodiversity study and promote information sharing and in-depth
mining of mammal diversity in China.