Data from: Ecological correlates of extinction risk in Chinese birds

China is one of the countries with the richest bird biodiversity in the world. Among the 1372 Chinese birds, 146 species are considered threatened and three species are regionally extinct according to the officially released China Biodiversity Red List in 2015. Here, we conducted the first extensive analysis to systematically investigate the patterns and processes of extinction and threat in Chinese birds. We addressed the following four questions. First, is extinction risk randomly distributed among avian families in Chinese birds? Second, which families contain more threatened species than would be expected by chance? Third, which species traits are important in determining the extinction risk in Chinese birds using a multivariate phylogenetic comparative approach? Finally, is the form of the relationship between traits additive or nonadditive (synergistic)? We found that the extinction risk of Chinese birds was not randomly distributed among taxonomic families. The families that contained significantly more threatened species than expected were the hornbills, cranes, pittas, pheasants and hawks and eagles. We obtained eleven species traits that are commonly hypothesized to influence extinction risk from the literature: body size, clutch size, trophic level, mobility, habitat specificity, geographical range size, nest type, nest site, flocking tendency, migrant status and hunting vulnerability. After phylogenetic correction, model selection based on Akaike’s information criterion identified the synergistic interaction between body size and hunting vulnerability as the single best correlate of extinction risk in Chinese birds. Our results suggest that, in order to be effective, priority management efforts should be given both to certain extinction-prone families, particularly the hornbills, pelicans, cranes, pittas, pheasants and hawks and eagles, and to bird species with large body size and high hunting vulnerability.

中国是全球鸟类生物多样性最为丰富的国家之一。据2015年正式发布的《中国生物多样性红色名录》显示，在记录的1372种中国鸟类中，有146种被列为受威胁物种，另有3种在国内区域性灭绝。本研究首次开展系统性大范围分析，全面探究中国鸟类的灭绝与受威胁模式及形成过程，并围绕以下四个问题展开研究：其一，中国鸟类的灭绝风险在鸟类各科间是否呈随机分布？其二，哪些科的受威胁物种数量显著高于随机预期水平？其三，借助多变量系统发育比较方法，哪些物种性状对中国鸟类的灭绝风险具有显著影响？其四，物种性状与灭绝风险之间的关联形式是相加性的，还是非相加性（协同）的？研究发现，中国鸟类的灭绝风险在分类学各科间并非随机分布。受威胁物种数量显著高于预期的类群包括犀鸟科、鹤科、八色鸫科、雉科以及鹰类与雕类。本研究从已有文献中筛选出11种被广泛认为会影响灭绝风险的物种性状：体型大小、窝卵数、营养级、移动能力、生境特化度、地理分布范围大小、巢型、巢址、集群倾向、迁徙状态以及狩猎易感性。经系统发育校正后，基于赤池信息准则（Akaike’s Information Criterion, AIC）的模型选择结果显示，体型大小与狩猎易感性之间的协同交互作用是解释中国鸟类灭绝风险的最优单一变量。本研究结果表明，若要实现高效的保护管理，需优先关注两类对象：一是易于发生灭绝的类群，尤其是犀鸟科、鹈鹕科、鹤科、八色鸫科、雉科以及鹰类与雕类；二是体型较大且狩猎易感性较高的鸟类物种。