Published July 29, 2024 | Version v1
Dataset Open

CarniTraits: Functional traits of the worlds Late Quaternary terrestrial mammalian predators

Description

CarniTraits, a comprehensive functional trait database of all late Quaternary (~130,000 ybp) terrestrial mammalian carnivore species (149 species, >1kg body mass). The database contains the body mass, diet, locomotion, cooperative hunting, hunting habitat, hunting method, bone use, and hunting temporal activity patterns of all carnivores over the last ~130,000 years. We also include the IUCN status for all extant species and ground the database in a modern phylogeny and is thus compatible and easily interlinked with range maps published in PHYLACINE v1.2.1. CarniTraits is broadly applicable to assisting in local and macroecological studies, meta-analytic research, global syntheses, and paleoecological research.

CarniTraits includes data on:

  • Body Mass
  • Diet
  • Scavenging behaviour
  • Bone Consumption
  • Locomotion
  • Cooperative hunting
  • Hunting habitat
  • Hunting method
  • Hunting time
  • Brain mass
  • Encephalisation Quotient

Each of these traits is fundamental to the ecological impact that carnivores have on terrestrial ecosystems. Trait data compiled represents the best available knowledge on the functional traits of late Quaternary hypercarnivorous mammals. As such, CarniTraits provides a tool for the analysis of carnivore functional diversity both past and present, as well as their effects on ecosystem dynamics.

Each trait is accompanied by columns that describes the confidence in the data (notes), whether it was inferred and what level it was inferred from and the reference that the data was collected from.

Files

CarniTraitsv1.5.3.csv

Files (251.4 kB)

Name Size Download all
md5:25de3a6d2770ba04c229af4c416d4a58
249.3 kB Preview Download
md5:7467bb39f542423dc369a7ea3e9a246b
2.1 kB Download

Additional details

Funding

Danish National Research Foundation
Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere DNRF173

Software

Development Status
Active