Data from: Patterns and biases in climate change research on amphibians and reptiles: a systematic review

Climate change likely has severe impacts on animal populations, but demonstrating a causal link can be difficult because of potential influences by additional factors. Assessing global impacts of climate change effects may also be hampered by narrow taxonomic and geographic research foci. We review studies on the effects of climate change on populations of amphibians and reptiles to assess climate change effects and potential biases associated with the body of work that has been conducted within the last decade. We use data from 104 studies regarding the effect of climate on 313 species, from 464 species-study combinations. Climate change effects were reported in 65% of studies. Climate change was identified as causing population declines or range restrictions in half of the cases. The probability of identifying an effect of climate change varied among regions, taxa, and research methods. Climatic effects were equally prevalent in studies exclusively investigating climate factors (>50% of studies) and in studies including additional factors, thus bolstering confidence in the results of studies exclusively examining effects of climate change. Our analyses reveal biases with respect to geography, taxonomy, and research question, making global conclusions impossible. Additional research should focus on underrepresented regions, taxa, and questions. Conservation and climate policy should consider the documented harm climate change causes reptiles and amphibians.气候变化或对动物种群造成严重影响，但由于存在其他潜在干扰因素，证明二者间的因果关联颇具难度。此外，研究仅聚焦于有限的分类群与地理区域，也会阻碍气候变化全球影响的评估工作。本研究针对气候变化对两栖动物（Amphibia）与爬行动物（Reptilia）种群的影响展开综述，以此评估气候变化的实际影响，以及近十年相关研究领域中存在的潜在偏倚。本研究整合了104项相关研究的数据，这些研究共涉及313个物种，形成464个物种-研究组合。65%的研究报告了气候变化的影响效应。其中半数研究指出，气候变化会导致种群数量下降或分布范围缩减。气候变化影响的检出概率，会因研究区域、分类群以及研究方法的不同而存在差异。仅针对气候因素开展的研究（占比超50%）与纳入其他干扰因素的研究中，气候变化效应的检出率相当，这一结果增强了学界对仅聚焦气候变化影响的研究结论的可信度。本研究的分析结果显示，该领域在地理分布、分类学范畴以及研究议题上均存在偏倚，因此无法得出全球性的研究结论。未来的研究应聚焦于当前覆盖不足的区域、分类群与研究议题。相关保护政策与气候政策应充分考虑气候变化对两栖动物与爬行动物已被证实的危害。