DOI: 10.5061/dryad.7m0cfxq10
title: Phylogenetic insights into Canidae trait variation across continents

description: Aim Understanding the spatial structuring of ecological communities
 involves considering the interplay between evolutionary history and
 environmental factors. This study investigates how the phylogenetic
 structure of Canidae influences the geographical distribution and trait
 patterns of lineages globally, and how these patterns relate to
 Bergmann's and Rapoport's rules. Location Americas, Africa,
 Eurasia. Time period 12 million years ago – present. Major taxa studied
 Canidae. Methods Using distribution data and phylogenetic information for
 37 Canidae species, we analyzed key ecological, functional, and
 evolutionary variables. We applied phylogenetic fuzzy-weighting via
 Principal Coordinates of Phylogenetic Structure (PCPS) and variance
 partitioning analysis (VPA) to assess the contributions of phylogenetic
 structure and environmental factors to trait variation among species.
 Results Our results revealed distinct global patterns in body size, body
 weight, range size, habitat use, and evolutionary distinctiveness among
 lineages. We also identified the shared contributions of phylogenetic
 structure and temperature to trait variation using variance partitioning
 analysis. The PCPS axes highlighted the influence of phylogenetic
 relationships on Canidae assemblages, particularly in South America. Main
 conclusions Importantly, the study challenges the applicability of
 Bergmann's and Rapoport's rules across continents. The unique
 diversification history of Canidae in South America and Africa and their
 diverse environmental conditions likely contribute to the observed trait
 patterns that make both continents so distinguished when compared to North
 America and Eurasia. Our findings underscore the need to incorporate
 phylogenetic information in models assessing trait variation across
 geographic scales for unbiased estimates.
description: # Phylogenetic insights into Canidae trait variation across continents ---
 The files available here can be used to map, using phylogenetic
 fuzzy-weighting, the distribution of phylogenetic information of canids
 across the globe, together with their traits. ## Description of the data
 and file structure * phylogeny.new (phylogenetic tree with 37 species of
 Canidae used in our study derived from Porto et. al., (2019)) *
 Tmean_per_Sites.txt (Information on mean annual temperature across all the
 grid cells used in our study) * traits.txt (Species trait values used in
 our study) * Diet - values of 1, 2, and 3 to hipo-, meso-, and
 hypercarnivory species, respectively * Group_behav - values of 0, 1, and 2
 to species with low, medium, high social behaviors, respectively * Size_cm
 - species sizes in centimeters * Mass_kg - species body weights in
 kilograms * Habitat - percentage of vegetation cover (from 0 to 100) in
 the grid cells in which species are distributed * Range_npixels - number
 of grid cells that species are distributed (a proxy for species range
 sizes) * Evol_distinc - value of evolutionary distinctiveness among canids
 based on their phylogenetic relationships * shapes.zip (Combined shape
 files of all the 37 canids used during your analysis) ## Sharing/Access
 information Data was derived from the following sources: * Porto, L. M.
 V., R. Maestri, and L. D. S. Duarte. 2019. Evolutionary relationships
 among life-history traits in Caninae (Mammalia: Carnivora). Biol. J. Linn.
 Soc., doi: 10.1093/biolinnean/blz069. * IUCN - IUCN. 2020. The IUCN Red
 List of Threatened Species. * PanTHERIA - Jones, K. E., J. Bielby, M.
 Cardillo, S. A. Fritz, J. O’Dell, C. D. L. Orme, K. Safi, W. Sechrest, E.
 H. Boakes, C. Carbone, C. Connolly, M. J. Cutts, J. K. Foster, R. Grenyer,
 M. Habib, C. A. Plaster, S. A. Price, E. A. Rigby, J. Rist, A. Teacher, O.
 R. P. Bininda-Emonds, J. L. Gittleman, G. M. Mace, and A. Purvis. 2009.
 PanTHERIA: a species-level database of life history, ecology, and
 geography of extant and recently extinct mammals. Ecology 90:2648–2648.