<scp>AVOTREX</scp>: A Global Dataset of Extinct Birds and Their Traits

ABSTRACT Motivation Human activities have been reshaping the natural world for tens of thousands of years, leading to the extinction of hundreds of bird species. Past research has provided evidence of extinction selectivity towards certain groups of species, but trait information is lacking for the majority of clades, especially for prehistoric extinctions identified only through subfossil remains. This incomplete knowledge potentially obscures the structure of natural communities, undermining our ability to infer changes in biodiversity across space and time, including trends in functional and phylogenetic diversity. Biases in currently available trait data also limit our ability to identify drivers and processes of extinction. Here we present AVOTREX, an open‐access database of species traits for all birds known to have gone extinct in the last 130,000 years. This database provides detailed morphological information for 610 extinct species, along with a pipeline to build phylogenetic trees that include these extinct species. Main Types of Variables Contained For each extinct bird species, we provide information on the taxonomy, geographic location, and period of extinction. We also present data on island endemicity, flight ability, and body mass, as well as standard measurements of external (matching the AVONET database of extant birds) and skeletal morphology from museum specimens where available. To ensure comprehensive morphological data coverage, we estimate all missing morphological measurements using a data imputation technique based on machine learning. Finally, we provide an R package to graft all extinct species onto a global phylogeny of extant species (BirdTree). Spatial Location and Grain Global. Time Period and Grain All known globally extinct bird species from 130,000 years ago up until 2024. Major Taxa and Level of Measurement Birds (Class Aves), species level. Software Format Spreadsheets (.csv) stored in Dryad.

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Publication Details

Journal
Global Ecology and Biogeography
Published
2024-10-24
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13927
Citations
12
Primary Topic
Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
5.51

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article

AVOTREX: A Global Dataset of Extinct Birds and Their Traits

Juan Carlos Illera, Joseph P. Wayman, Kostas A. Triantis, Rhys T. Lemoine et al.
12 citations
Global Ecology and Biogeography
Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
5.51
article

AVOTREX: A Global Dataset of Extinct Birds and Their Traits

Juan Carlos Illera, Joseph P. Wayman, Kostas A. Triantis, Rhys T. Lemoine, Chase D. Mendenhall, Oriol Lapiedra, Eva Benavides, Ferran Sayol, Rob Cooke, Jay R. Margolis, Alex L. Pigot, Ariadna Sanglas, Paul Dufour, Julian P. Hume, Filipa C. Soares, Thomas J. Matthews, Søren Faurby, Joseph A. Tobias, Natàlia Martínez‐Rubio, Thomas E. Martin, Maria Wagner Jørgensen
article en
12 citations

Abstract

ABSTRACT Motivation Human activities have been reshaping the natural world for tens of thousands of years, leading to the extinction of hundreds of bird species. Past research has provided evidence of extinction selectivity towards certain groups of species, but trait information is lacking for the majority of clades, especially for prehistoric extinctions identified only through subfossil remains. This incomplete knowledge potentially obscures the structure of natural communities, undermining our ability to infer changes in biodiversity across space and time, including trends in functional and phylogenetic diversity. Biases in currently available trait data also limit our ability to identify drivers and processes of extinction. Here we present AVOTREX, an open‐access database of species traits for all birds known to have gone extinct in the last 130,000 years. This database provides detailed morphological information for 610 extinct species, along with a pipeline to build phylogenetic trees that include these extinct species. Main Types of Variables Contained For each extinct bird species, we provide information on the taxonomy, geographic location, and period of extinction. We also present data on island endemicity, flight ability, and body mass, as well as standard measurements of external (matching the AVONET database of extant birds) and skeletal morphology from museum specimens where available. To ensure comprehensive morphological data coverage, we estimate all missing morphological measurements using a data imputation technique based on machine learning. Finally, we provide an R package to graft all extinct species onto a global phylogeny of extant species (BirdTree). Spatial Location and Grain Global. Time Period and Grain All known globally extinct bird species from 130,000 years ago up until 2024. Major Taxa and Level of Measurement Birds (Class Aves), species level. Software Format Spreadsheets (.csv) stored in Dryad.

Global Ecology and BiogeographyVol. 33(12)
Universidade dos Açores (PT), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Natural History Museum (GB), University of Lisbon (PT), École Pratique des Hautes Études (FR), Bangor University (GB), Universidad de Oviedo (ES), Slippery Rock University (US), Université de Montpellier (FR), National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (GR), Operation Wallacea (GB), Göteborgs Stads (SE), Sorbonne Université (FR), Centre d'Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive (FR), UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (GB), Centre d'Écologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (FR), Centre for Research on Ecology and Forestry Applications (ES), Forest Research (GB), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR), University College London (GB), Imperial College London (GB), University of Birmingham (GB), Virginia Tech (US), University of Gothenburg (SE)
“la Caixa” Foundation, European Regional Development Fund
Life in Land
Openalex Percentile: Top 4%
Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
5.51
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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