DOI: 10.5061/dryad.nk98sf80q
title: Data from: The evolution of gestation length in eutherian mammals

description: Eutherian mammals exhibit striking variation in their gestation lengths,
 which has traditionally been linked to and allometrically scales with
 variation in other life history traits, including body mass and lifespan.
 To understand how the phenotypic landscape of gestation length variation,
 including its associations with body mass and lifespan variation, changed
 over mammalian evolution, we conducted phylogeny-informed analyses of 845
 representative extant species. We found that gestation length
 substantially differed in both whether and how strongly it was associated
 with body mass and lifespan across mammalian clades. For example,
 gestation length was not associated with lifespan or body mass in
 Chiroptera and Cetacea but was strongly associated only with body mass in
 Carnivora. We also identified 52 evolutionary shifts in gestation length
 variation across the mammal phylogeny and 14 shifts when we jointly
 considered variation of all three traits; six shifts were shared. Notably,
 two of these shifts occurred at the roots of Cetacea and Pinnipedia,
 respectively, coinciding with the transition of these clades to the marine
 environment. These results suggest that evolutionary constraints on
 gestation length have varied substantially across mammalian phylogeny and
 that the genetic architecture of gestation length may differ between
 mammal clades.
description: We retrieved data on gestation length, lifespan, and body mass
 for 845 representative extant species of eutherian mammals. This
 information was sourced from four databases: PanTHERIA, AnAge,
 EltonTraits, and MOM-Mammals.
description: # Data from: The evolution of gestation length in eutherian mammals
 Overview This repository contains data, code, and supplemental materials
 associated with our study on mammalian trait evolution.
 all_mammals.newick: Phylogenetic tree of all mammalian species in Newick
 format. residuals.csv: CSV file containing residual values from
 statistical analyses. Data_S1.csv: Primary data file used for analysis,
 including species traits and ecological variables. Key Variables of
 Data_S1: Body Mass: The body mass of each mammalian species, measured in
 grams (g) Longevity: The expected lifespan of each species, measured in
 years. Gestation Length: The length of pregnancy for each species,
 measured in days Zenodo Files Software Files figure_1_code.r : R script
 used to generate Figure 1 in the manuscript. figure_2_code.r : R script
 used to generate Figure 2 in the manuscript. figure_4_code.zip :
 Compressed folder containing code and data to reproduce Figure 4.
 figure_3_code.zip : Compressed folder containing code and data to
 reproduce Figure 3. Supplemental Files SupplementaryMaterial.docx (1.06
 MB): Supplemental document providing additional details, methods, and
 results not included in the main manuscript. How to Use the Files Data
 files (all_mammals.newick, residuals.csv, Data_S1.csv) can be used with
 phylogenetic and statistical software to reproduce analyses presented in
 the study. Code files (.r scripts and .zip files) contain the R scripts
 used to generate the figures in the manuscript. Unzip the .zip files and
 follow the instructions in the accompanying README inside each folder to
 run the scripts. Supplementary materials provide additional context,
 methods, and data used in the study. Data from original study: The
 evolution of gestation length in eutherian mammals Danis, Thodoris; Rokas,
 Antonis (doi: 10.1098/rspb.2024-1412)