The Marsupial Database: A comprehensive dataset on the ecology and life history of American and Australasian marsupials
Mariana Silva Ferreira, Rodrigo C. Rossi, Stephane Batista, Kathleen Sena, Kevin R. Bairos‐Novak, Shamia Farhana Shoma, Natália O. Leiner, Diego Astúa, Graeme Coulson, Diana O. Fisher, Natasha D. Harrison, Julian Nicholas Garcia Willmer, Giulia R. Silva, Gabriel Cupolillo
TL;DR
The Marsupial Database is a comprehensive dataset that compiles ecological and life history traits of marsupials to support comparative studies.
Contribution
The paper introduces a new, open-access database of marsupial traits to address their underrepresentation in ecological and evolutionary analyses.
Findings
The database includes 11,054 records of 35 traits across 414 marsupial species.
It covers all seven modern marsupial orders and includes data from 34 countries.
The dataset is freely available and encourages inclusion of marsupials in broader comparative studies.
Abstract
Marsupials are an important but typically neglected group of mammals that have been overlooked in many comparative analyses of vertebrate ecology and life history evolution. In order to address this knowledge bias, we have developed The Marsupial Database. The Marsupial Database contains traits for a phylogenetically diverse set of 414 extant and recently extinct (last 200 years) species from all seven modern marsupial orders (Dasyuromorphia, Didelphimorphia, Diprotodontia, Microbiotheria, Notoryctemorphia, Paucituberculata, Peramelemorphia) native to 34 countries in the Americas and Australasia. The database comprises 11,054 records of 35 traits describing anatomical, physiological, phenological, and reproductive characteristics, as well as information on species' ecology and current conservation status. Data were collected from 41 sources, comprising published databases and other…
Genes, proteins, chemicals, diseases, species, mutations and cell lines named across the full text — each resolved to its canonical identifier and authoritative record.
- —Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico ‐ CNPq
- —Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior10.13039/501100002322
- —Fundação de Amparo a Ciência e Tecnologia do Estado de Pernambuco (FACEPE)10.13039/501100006162
- —Fundação Carlos Chagas de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ)10.13039/501100004586
- —Foundation for Research Support of Minas Gerais State (FAPEMIG)10.13039/501100004901
- —Australian Alumni Grants Round 2023‐2024
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Taxonomy
TopicsEvolution and Paleontology Studies · Wildlife Ecology and Conservation · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Supporting information
Data S1.