DOI: 10.5061/dryad.j6q573nm4
title: Data to: Remotely sensed tree height and density explain global gliding vertebrate richness

description: In vertebrates, gliding evolved as a mode of energy-efficient locomotion
 to move between trees. Gliding vertebrate richness is hypothesised to
 increase with tree height and decrease with tree density but empirical
 evidence for this is scarce, especially at a global scale. Here, we test
 the ability of tree height and density to explain species richness of
 gliding vertebrates globally compared to richness of all vertebrates,
 while controlling for biogeographical and climatic factors. We compiled a
 global database of 193 gliding amphibians, mammals and reptiles and
 created maps of species richness from extent-of-occurrence range maps. We
 paired species richness of gliding vertebrates with spatial estimates of
 global tree height and density and biogeographical regions as covariates
 to account for ecological differences among global regions. We used
 univariate linear and multivariate generalised linear mixed-effect models
 to evaluate relationships between species richness and tree height and
 density and the interaction between both. We found that richness of all
 gliding vertebrate species increased significantly with tree height, while
 results for richness of amphibians, mammals and reptiles alone indicated
 mixed responses, especially among different biogeographical regions.
 Mixed-effect models mirrored these results for richness of all species
 combined, while also revealing the mixed responses to tree height and
 density of richness of amphibians, mammals and reptiles. Richness of all
 vertebrate species – gliding and non-gliding – also increased with tree
 height and density but at a lesser rate than richness of gliding
 vertebrates indicating a greater influence of forest structure on richness
 patterns of gliding vertebrates. Our results support hypotheses stating
 that gliding in vertebrates globally evolved in tall forests as
 energy-efficient locomotion between trees and provide further evidence for
 the importance of forest structure to explain the distribution of gliding
 vertebrates.
description: # Data to: Remotely sensed tree height and density explain global gliding
 vertebrate richness Benjamin Wagner, Holger Kreft, Craig R. Nitschke
 & Julian Schrader Correspondence to: jschrader@posteo.de AND
 benjamin.wagner@unimelb.edu.au **Abstract**: In vertebrates, gliding
 evolved as a mode of energy-efficient locomotion to move between trees.
 Gliding vertebrate richness is hypothesised to increase with tree height
 and decrease with tree density but empirical evidence for this is scarce,
 especially at a global scale. Here, we test the ability of tree height and
 density to explain species richness of gliding vertebrates globally
 compared to richness of all vertebrates, while controlling for
 biogeographical and climatic factors. We compiled a global database of 193
 gliding amphibians, mammals and reptiles and created maps of species
 richness from extent-of-occurrence range maps. We paired species richness
 of gliding vertebrates with spatial estimates of global tree height and
 density and biogeographical regions as covariates to account for
 ecological differences among global regions. We used univariate linear and
 multivariate generalised linear mixed-effect models to evaluate
 relationships between species richness and tree height and density and the
 interaction between both. We found that richness of all gliding vertebrate
 species increased significantly with tree height, while results for
 richness of amphibians, mammals and reptiles alone indicated mixed
 responses, especially among different biogeographical regions.
 Mixed-effect models mirrored these results for richness of all species
 combined, while also revealing the mixed responses to tree height and
 density of richness of amphibians, mammals and reptiles. Richness of all
 vertebrate species – gliding and non-gliding – also increased with tree
 height and density but at a lesser rate than richness of gliding
 vertebrates indicating a greater influence of forest structure on richness
 patterns of gliding vertebrates. Our results support hypotheses stating
 that gliding in vertebrates globally evolved in tall forests as
 energy-efficient locomotion between trees and provide further evidence for
 the importance of forest structure to explain the distribution of gliding
 vertebrates. All data is available used in the paper: Wagner, Kreft,
 Nitschke, and Schrader (2023) Remotely sensed tree height and density
 explain global gliding vertebrate richness. Ecography. doi:
 10.1111/ecog.06435. This includes a checklist to all gliding vertebrates
 worldwide, a reference list and the IUCN thread status of all these
 species. Layers, codes and further information can be found on:
 https://github.com/BennyWag/glider-trees Data provided include a checklist
 for all gliding vertebrates globally, references used to create the
 checklist, IUCN conservation status of all species, and statistical model
 outputs. Headers of tabular data is self-explanatory and described in
 attached .csv files. Also, R scripts are provided as well as raster data
 for spatial analyses. Raster data is georeferenced and explained in the
 methods of the paper. data\_1x1\_RS\_verts.csv: table containing all
 species richness and environmental data for each cell used for all main
 analyses and results. Column names: * all: total richness of all gliding
 vertebrates per cell * all\_genus: total richness as genus level of all
 gliding vertebrates per cell * mam: total richness of all gliding mammals
 per cell * mam\_genus: total richness at genus level of all gliding
 mammals per cell * amph: total richness of all gliding amphibians per cell
 * amph\_genus: total richness at genus level of all gliding amphibians per
 cell * rep: total richness of all gliding reptiles per cell * rep\_genus:
 total richness at genus level of all gliding reptiles per cell *
 tree\_height: maximum tree height per cell (in m) from Simard, M., Pinto,
 N., Fisher, J.B. & Baccini, A. (2011) Mapping forest canopy height
 globally with spaceborne lidar. Journal of Geophysical Research:
 Biogeosciences, 116. * tree\_density: mean tree density per cell (in
 number of stems with diameter at breast height &gt;10cm per ha) from
 Crowther, T.W., Glick, H.B., Covey, K.R., Bettigole, C., Maynard, D.S.,
 Thomas, S.M., Smith, J.R., Hintler, G., Duguid, M.C. & Amatulli,
 G. (2015) Mapping tree density at a global scale. Nature, 525, 201. *
 elevation: mean elevation per cell (in m) from Farr, T.G., Rosen, P.A.,
 Caro, E., Crippen, R., Duren, R., Hensley, S., Kobrick, M., Paller, M.,
 Rodriguez, E. & Roth, L. (2007) The shuttle radar topography
 mission. Reviews of geophysics, 45. * temp: mean annual temperature per
 cell (in C) from WorldClim2 * precip: mean monthly precipitation (in mm)
 per cell from WorldClim2 * country: country where cell was located *
 island: whether cell was located on an island * BGR: ID linking to
 biogeographical regions as defined by Kreft, H. & Jetz, W. (2010)
 A framework for delineating biogeographical regions based on species
 distributions. Journal of Biogeography, 37, 2029-2053. * vert\_all: total
 richness of all vertebrates per cell * mam\_all: total richness of all
 mammals per cell * amp\_all: total richness of all amphibians per cell *
 rep\_all: total richness of all reptiles per cell * x: Longitude in
 degrees * y: Latitude in degrees