Data from: Environmental variation is a major predictor of global trait turnover in mammals

Aim: To evaluate how environment and evolutionary history interact to influence global patterns of mammal trait diversity (a combination of 14 morphological and life-history traits). Location: The global terrestrial environment. Taxon: Terrestrial mammals. Methods: We calculated patterns of spatial turnover for mammalian traits and phylogenetic lineages using the mean nearest taxon distance. We then used a variance partitioning approach to establish the relative contribution of trait conservatism, ecological adaptation and clade specific ecological preferences on global trait turnover. Results: We provide a global scale analysis of trait turnover across mammalian terrestrial assemblages, which demonstrates that phylogenetic turnover by itself does not predict trait turnover better than random expectations. Conversely, trait turnover is consistently more strongly associated with environmental variation than predicted by our null models. The influence of clade-specific ecological preferences, reflected by the shared component of phylogenetic turnover and environmental variation, was considerably higher than expectations. Although global patterns of trait turnover are dependent on the trait under consideration, there is a consistent association between trait turnover and environmental predictive variables, regardless of the trait considered. Main conclusions: Our results suggest that changes in phylogenetic composition are not always coupled with changes in trait composition on a global scale and that environmental conditions are strongly associated with patterns of trait composition across species assemblages, both within and across phylogenetic clades.研究目标：评估环境与演化历史如何共同作用，影响哺乳动物性状多样性（14种形态学与生活史特征的组合）的全球分布格局。 研究区域：全球陆地生态环境。 研究类群：陆地哺乳动物。 研究方法：采用平均最近类群距离（mean nearest taxon distance）计算哺乳动物性状与系统发育支系的空间周转格局；随后采用方差分解法，明确性状保守性、生态适应以及支系特异性生态偏好对全球性状周转的相对贡献度。 研究结果：本研究针对全球陆地哺乳动物群落的性状周转格局开展了大尺度分析，结果显示仅依靠系统发育周转，对性状周转的预测效果并不优于随机预期。反之，性状周转与环境变异的关联程度始终高于本研究零模型（null models）的预测水平。由系统发育周转与环境变异的共享组分所反映的支系特异性生态偏好的影响，远高于预期。尽管全球性状周转格局因所研究的性状不同而存在差异，但无论选取何种性状，性状周转与环境预测变量之间均存在稳定的关联关系。 主要结论：本研究结果表明，全球尺度下系统发育组成的变化并非始终与性状组成变化同步；且无论在系统发育支系内部还是支系之间，环境条件均与物种种群群落的性状组成格局存在显著关联。