Data from: Over three-quarters of earthworm species lack protection in China, a crisis exacerbated by climate change

This dataset was systematically constructed to assess the distribution of
earthworm diversity in China, the impacts of climate change, and
conservation gaps. It integrates earthworm distribution records from the
Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), the Chinese Earthworm
Database, the Taiwan Earthworm Database, and published literature,
spanning the period from 1986 to 2024. After rigorous coordinate
validation, removal of duplicate records, and spatial thinning at a 5 km
resolution, 5,334 valid records were obtained, covering 306 earthworm
species. Additionally, for rare species with fewer than five records
(accounting for approximately 51% of the total species), data were
separately compiled for climate change exposure analysis (e.g., PCA
climate distance calculation) to comprehensively evaluate the conservation
needs of all known earthworm taxa. For environmental data, bioclimatic
variables, soil properties, and topographic factors under current and
future (2050s, 2090s) scenarios across three Shared Socioeconomic Pathways
(SSP1-2.6, SSP3-7.0, SSP5-8.5) were collected. Following collinearity
diagnostics and principal component analysis, 10 key predictor variables
were selected. Based on the above data, a stacked species distribution
model (SSDM) was employed to simulate the spatial patterns of earthworm
species richness under current and future scenarios. This was combined
with the boundaries of protected areas in China and the distribution of
aboveground biodiversity (plants, vertebrates, etc.) to conduct
conservation gap and spatial matching analyses. Below are the complete
data files and variable descriptions.