Terrestrial and aquatic vertebrate behavioural and life-history traits from literature sources
Default
IdentificationAbout this resource
- Alternate Identifier
-
ef70dcaa-8bd5-432f-8532-aa38fd60f621
- Publication Date
- 2026-01-28
- Title
-
Terrestrial and aquatic vertebrate behavioural and life-history traits from literature sources
- Abstract
-
This dataset includes species-level records from literature sources or gathered from online repositories/websites on home range, body mass, and longevity for vertebrate species of mammals, birds, reptiles, and fishes from around the world. It also contains associated categorical information on taxonomic group, realm, thermoregulatory system, locomotion mode, and primary food type.
- purpose
-
The dataset is intended for testing and executing workflows within the "Biomass VRE" platform, developed as part of the ITINERIS project.
- Dataset Language
-
English
- Dataset Creator
- Dataset Creator
- Dataset Creator
- Dataset Creator
- Dataset Creator
- Metadata Provider
- Metadata Provider
- Associated Party
- Associated Party
- Dataset Contact
- Keywords (Environmental Thesaurus)
-
-
biodiversity
-
vertebrates
-
- Keywords (Traits Thesaurus)
-
-
Behavioural trait
-
Life-history trait
-
Geographic Coverage
- Geographic Description
-
Global
Bounding Box
- West Bounding Coordinate
-
-180
- East Bounding Coordinate
-
180
- North Bounding Coordinate
-
90
- South Bounding Coordinate
-
-90
Taxonomic Coverage
Taxonomic Classification
- Taxonomic Rank Name
-
Class
- Taxonomic Rank Value
-
Aves
- Taxon ID
-
V2
Taxonomic Classification
- Taxonomic Rank Name
-
Class
- Taxonomic Rank Value
-
Mammalia
- Taxon ID
-
6224G
Taxonomic Classification
- Taxonomic Rank Name
-
Class
- Taxonomic Rank Value
-
Squamata
- Taxon ID
-
45C
Taxonomic Classification
- Taxonomic Rank Name
-
Class
- Taxonomic Rank Value
-
Elasmobranchii
- Taxon ID
-
LB
Taxonomic Classification
- Taxonomic Rank Name
-
Class
- Taxonomic Rank Value
-
Holocephali
- Taxon ID
-
CK
Taxonomic Classification
- Taxonomic Rank Name
-
Class
- Taxonomic Rank Value
-
Crocodylia
- Taxon ID
-
329
Taxonomic Classification
- Taxonomic Rank Name
-
Class
- Taxonomic Rank Value
-
Testudines
- Taxon ID
-
477
resourceLicensesLicense Information
Resource License
- License Name
-
cc-by
Project
• Project
- Title
-
Italian Integrated Environmental Research Infrastructures System (ITINERIS)
Personnel
Individual Name
- Given Name
-
Flavio
- Surname
-
Monti
- Organization Name
-
National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Institute of Research on Terrestrial Ecosystems (IRET)
- Position Name
-
Researcher
- User ID
-
0000-0001-8835-1021
- Role
-
Content Provider
Personnel
Individual Name
- Given Name
-
Jessica
- Surname
-
Titocci
- Organization Name
-
National Research Council (CNR), Institute of Research on Terrestrial Ecosystems (IRET)
- Position Name
-
Research Technologist
- User ID
-
0000-0001-9157-1578
- Role
-
Information Manager
Personnel
Individual Name
- Given Name
-
Teodoro
- Surname
-
Semeraro
- Organization Name
-
National Research Council (CNR), Institute of Research on Terrestrial Ecosystems (IRET)
- Position Name
-
Researcher
- User ID
-
0000-0001-9239-9060
- Role
-
Information Manager
Personnel
Individual Name
- Given Name
-
Lorenzo
- Surname
-
Liberatore
- Organization Name
-
National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Institute of Research on Terrestrial Ecosystems (IRET)
- Position Name
-
Research Technologist
- User ID
-
0000-0002-0409-2286
- Role
-
Information Manager
Personnel
Individual Name
- Given Name
-
Alberto
- Surname
-
Basset
- Organization Name
-
University of Salento
- Position Name
-
Full professor
- User ID
-
0000-0002-3603-9316
- Role
-
Principal Investigator
- Abstract
-
Most critical issues currently faced by our society involve key environmental challenges. Pollution, land use and climate change, and their impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem integrity need to be urgently addressed, providing quantitative knowledge to be transformed into actionable strategies. Given the complexity of such challenges, a multi-disciplinary approach to the Earth System is deemed crucial. This approach involves combining field and laboratory measurements, analyses, experiments, data analysis, and modeling tools across the various interlinked environmental domains. Italy is actively involved in all major pan-European Environmental Research Infrastructures (RIs) and also hosts other nationally relevant RIs, all essential for providing the systematic and coherent information needed for high-level research. Given the large number and heterogeneity of these infrastructures, coordinated actions are essential to integrate and interlink them, as well as to harmonize their activities. To achieve an integrated approach to the Earth system and its changes, the 22 participating RIs agreed to jointly prepare and build the thematic network called ITINERIS. The primary objective of ITINERIS is to establish the italian integrated system of the Research Infrastructures in the environmental scientific domain, facilitating observation and study of processes in the atmosphere, marine domain, terrestrial biosphere, and geosphere. Such a broad-scale and long-term vision of environmental research, sustained by the main Italian scientists currently involved in European RIs, is truly innovative and it will support Italy in taking a leading role in European environmental research activities, designing the framework for the next decades.
- Funding
-
ITINERIS is a project funded by EU - Next Generation EU PNRR- Mission 4 “Education and Research” - Component 2: “From research to business” - Investment 3.1: “Fund for the realization of an integrated system of research and innovation infrastructures”.
Methods
• Method
Method Step
- Description
-
For data on home range estimates and body mass we relied on three different available published resources: 1) Tamburello, Natascia; Côté, Isabelle M.; Dulvy, Nicholas K. (2015). Data from: Energy and the scaling of animal space use [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.q5j65; 2) Pinsky, M., McCauley, D. (2019) Home range and body size data compiled from the literature for marine and terrestrial vertebrates. Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). (Version 1) Version Date 2019-01-31. doi:10.1575/1912/bco-dmo.752795.1 ; 3) Udyawer, Vinay (2022). Scaling of activity space in marine organisms across latitudinal gradients [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.h70rxwdmx.
Method Step
- Description
-
As these datasets contained a different number of species, sometimes expressed even at the genus or subspecies level, a long process of filtering, checking and cleaning the datasets was carried out. Before being assembled, for each of these original datasets, we carried out a taxonomic identification via the GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility - https://www.gbif.org/) “species name matching” validation tool, in order to avoid some misspelled names and unaccepted synonyms. Species names were thus corrected, as per the most recent internationally accepted nomenclature.
Method Step
- Description
-
We then proceeded by combining data from these different datasets to provide a unified version in a single dataset. Data for individual species were averaged across datasets to obtain single home range (expressed in m2) and body size (expressed in g) values for each species. The resulting dataset was thus composed by 1164 records at species level, spanning fish (n = 191, including Elasmobranchs), reptiles (n = 136), mammals (n = 642) and birds (n = 195), from around the globe.
Method Step
- Description
-
We ammended to this dataset, data on longevity/lifespan as the maximum recorded age at species level, by relying on the AnAge dataset: a database of vertebrate longevity records and their relation to other life-history traits (De Magalhaes and Costa, 2009), as well as from other available resources such as: ADW Animal Diversity Web: ( https://animaldiversity.org/), World Species: ( https://worldspecies.org/) and FishBase: ( https://www.fishbase.se/).
Method Step
- Description
-
After this step, we proceeded by adding, for each species, the following four behavioural and life-history traits: realm (aquatic vs terrestrial), thermoregulation system (endotherm vs ecthoterm), locomotion type (crawling, flying, walking, swimming), primary diet (carnivore vs herbivore). For the latter category, omnivores have been included as carnivores or herbivores, based on their prevalent diet, following trophic classification databases or published literature. In addition to that, we included for each species the conservation status according to the IUCN Red List Categories (i.e. NE: Not Evaluated; DD: Data Deficient; LC: Least Concern; NT: Near Threatened; VU: Vulnerable; EN: Endangered; CR: Critically Endangered), as per the most recent available version on the IUCN website.
qualityControl
- Description
-
A taxonomic check via the GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility - https://www.gbif.org/) “species name matching” validation tool, was employed to avoid some misspelled names and unaccepted synonyms.
Data Tables
• Data Table
- Name
-
vertabrate_behavioural_lifehistory_traits_20260128.csv
Physical
- Object Name
-
vertabrate_behavioural_lifehistory_traits_20260128.csv
- Size
-
314345
- Authentication
-
MD5:7fad65bbdec9eb1677582b20510c27e4
- Character Encoding
-
UTF-8
Data Format
- textFormat
-
1
column
;
Attribute List
Attribute
- Name
-
catalogNumber
- Label
-
Catalog Number
- Definition
-
An identifier (preferably unique) for the record within the data set or collection.
Measurement Scale
nominal
nonNumericDomain
textDomain
- Definition
-
Any Text
Attribute
- Name
-
kingdom
- Label
-
Kingdom
- Definition
-
The full scientific name of the kingdom in which the dwc:Taxon is classified.
Measurement Scale
nominal
nonNumericDomain
textDomain
- Definition
-
Any Text
Attribute
- Name
-
phylum
- Label
-
Phylum
- Definition
-
The full scientific name of the phylum or division in which the dwc:Taxon is classified.
Measurement Scale
nominal
nonNumericDomain
textDomain
- Definition
-
Any Text
Attribute
- Name
-
class
- Label
-
Class
- Definition
-
The full scientific name of the class in which the dwc:Taxon is classified.
Measurement Scale
nominal
nonNumericDomain
textDomain
- Definition
-
Any Text
Attribute
- Name
-
order
- Label
-
Order
- Definition
-
The full scientific name of the order in which the dwc:Taxon is classified.
Measurement Scale
nominal
nonNumericDomain
textDomain
- Definition
-
Any Text
Attribute
- Name
-
family
- Label
-
Family
- Definition
-
The full scientific name of the family in which the dwc:Taxon is classified.
Measurement Scale
nominal
nonNumericDomain
textDomain
- Definition
-
Any Text
Attribute
- Name
-
genus
- Label
-
Genus
- Definition
-
The full scientific name of the genus in which the dwc:Taxon is classified.
Measurement Scale
nominal
nonNumericDomain
textDomain
- Definition
-
Any Text
Attribute
- Name
-
scientificName
- Label
-
Scientific Name
- Definition
-
The full scientific name, with authorship and date information if known. When forming part of a dwc:Identification, this should be the name in lowest level taxonomic rank that can be determined. This term should not contain identification qualifications, which should instead be supplied in the dwc:identificationQualifier term.
Measurement Scale
nominal
nonNumericDomain
textDomain
- Definition
-
Any Text
Attribute
- Name
-
acceptedNameUsage
- Label
-
Accepted Name Usage
- Definition
-
The full name, with authorship and date information if known, of the currently valid (zoological) or accepted (botanical) dwc:Taxon.
Measurement Scale
nominal
nonNumericDomain
textDomain
- Definition
-
Any Text
Attribute
- Name
-
measurementRemarks
- Label
-
Measurement Remarks
- Definition
-
Comments or notes accompanying the dwc:MeasurementOrFact.
Measurement Scale
nominal
nonNumericDomain
textDomain
- Definition
-
Any Text
Attribute
- Name
-
associatedReferences
- Label
-
Associated References
- Definition
-
A list (concatenated and separated) of identifiers (publication, bibliographic reference, global unique identifier, URI) of literature associated with the dwc:Occurrence.
Measurement Scale
nominal
nonNumericDomain
textDomain
- Definition
-
Any Text
Attribute
- Name
-
meanHomeRange
- Label
-
Mean home range
- Definition
-
The mean value in a range of home range values.
Measurement Scale
Ratio
Unit
- standardUnit
-
squareMeter
Numeric domain
- Number type
-
real
Attribute
- Name
-
bodyMass
- Label
-
Body weight
- Definition
-
Any measurable characteristic related to the body weight of an organism.
Measurement Scale
Ratio
Unit
- standardUnit
-
gram
Numeric domain
- Number type
-
real
Attribute
- Name
-
organismGroup
- Label
-
organism group
- Definition
-
An organism group is a classification of living things based on shared characteristics.
Measurement Scale
nominal
nonNumericDomain
textDomain
- Definition
-
Any Text
- source
-
EUNIS species classification: https://eunis.eea.europa.eu/species-groups.jsp
Attribute
- Name
-
habitat
- Label
-
Habitat
- Definition
-
Category or classification of a habitat based on its environmental characteristics and the types of organisms it supports.
Measurement Scale
nominal
nonNumericDomain
textDomain
- Definition
-
Any Text
Attribute
- Name
-
thermoregulation
- Label
-
thermoregulation
- Definition
-
Biological mechanism by which an organism maintains its internal body temperature within a specific, optimal range.
Measurement Scale
nominal
nonNumericDomain
textDomain
- Definition
-
Any Text
Attribute
- Name
-
locomotion
- Label
-
Movement
- Definition
-
Any traits related to the movement of an organism.
Measurement Scale
nominal
nonNumericDomain
textDomain
- Definition
-
Any Text
Attribute
- Name
-
foodType
- Label
-
Food type
- Definition
-
Type of food primarily consumed by an organism.
Measurement Scale
nominal
nonNumericDomain
textDomain
- Definition
-
Any Text
Attribute
- Name
-
longevity
- Label
-
Life span
- Definition
-
The maximum or mean duration of life. It can be measured at individual or species level.
Measurement Scale
Ratio
Unit
- Custom Unit
-
Year
Numeric domain
- Number type
-
real
Attribute
- Name
-
referencesForLongevity
- Label
-
References For Longevity
- Definition
-
References used to provide species longevity data.
Measurement Scale
nominal
nonNumericDomain
textDomain
- Definition
-
Any Text
Attribute
- Name
-
conservationStatus
- Label
-
Conservation status
- Definition
-
The IUCN conservation status records whether animal or plant species is threatened with extinction in their native home.These include 'least concern', 'near threatened', 'vulnerable', 'endangered', 'critically endangered', 'extinct in the wild', and 'extinct'.
Measurement Scale
nominal
nonNumericDomain
enumeratedDomain
- codeDefinition
-
LC
least concern
-
- codeDefinition
-
NT
near threatened
-
- codeDefinition
-
VU
vulnerable
-
- codeDefinition
-
EN
endangered
-
- codeDefinition
-
CR
critically endangered
-
- codeDefinition
-
DD
data deficient
-
- codeDefinition
-
NE
not evaluated
-
- numberOfRecords
-
1164
