Replication data for "Indigenous Peoples and local communities report a consistent decline in the body mass of birds across three continents"

Increasing evidence shows that genuine collaboration between scientists and Indigenous Peoples and local communities can deepen global understanding of species’ ecological distribution ranges, baselines and trends. In this study, we explore trends in bird body mass as reflected in the collective biocultural memory of 10 place-based communities from three different continents. To do so, we conducted a globally coordinated survey asking 1434 adult participants about the most common bird species around their territories both at present and during their childhood. Such survey resulted in 6914 unique bird reports, corresponding to 283 different bird species and covering an 80-year period (1940-2020). By combining our ethno-ornithological dataset with scientific data on species’ body mass, we assessed whether the composition of locally abundant bird assemblages has shifted towards smaller-bodied species over time. Our results show a general shift in the bird species observed over the participants’ lifetimes, with recent species assemblages being composed of species with smaller body sizes than those in the past. Despite variation among sites, we find an overall statistically significant body mass reduction of 72% across all sites over the last 80 years. This work illustrates that the depth of the current avian extinction crisis, which has been thoroughly documented by scientists, is also widely acknowledged by Indigenous Peoples and local communities through their deep ecological knowledge and place-based observations. It highlights the substantial benefits of establishing meaningful collaborations across different knowledge systems to increase the evidence basis that underpins biodiversity policy and practice.

越来越多的研究证据表明，科学家与原住民（Indigenous Peoples）和地方社区开展深度务实合作，能够进一步深化全球对物种生态分布范围、基线水平与动态趋势的认知。
本研究依托来自三大洲10个本地化社区的集体生物文化记忆，探讨鸟类体重的变化趋势。为此，我们开展了一项全球协同调研，向1434名成年受访者询问其居住区域周边当前及童年时期最为常见的鸟类物种。此次调研共收集到6914份有效鸟类观测记录，涵盖283个不同鸟类物种，时间跨度达80年（1940年至2020年）。
我们将民族鸟类学（ethno-ornithological）数据集与物种体重的科学观测数据相结合，以此评估当地优势鸟类群落的组成是否随时间向体型更小的物种偏移。研究结果显示，在受访者的一生中，其观测到的鸟类物种整体发生了显著转变：近期观测到的鸟类群落，其组成物种的体型普遍小于过往观测到的物种。尽管各调研点位间存在一定差异，但我们发现，在过去80年间，所有调研点位的鸟类平均体重整体下降了72%，该结果具有统计学显著性。
本研究表明，当前鸟类灭绝危机的严峻程度——这一结论已被科学家们全面记录证实——同样通过原住民和地方社区的深度生态知识与地域化观测得到了广泛印证。本研究凸显了跨知识体系建立富有意义的合作的重要价值，这有助于夯实支撑生物多样性政策与实践的证据基础。