生物的生活史和生态学特征在一定程度上决定了物种的种群动态和生存策略, 并深刻影响着它们对环境变化的适应能力。蛇类是一类形态高度特化的爬行动物类群, 截至2024年9月全球共有4,145种。但是, 由于蛇类的隐秘性及独居性, 其宏观生态学研究与其他脊椎动物类群相比相对较少, 目前也没有专门针对蛇类生活史、生态学和生物地理特征的数据集。本研究通过系统查阅已出版的蛇类专著、文献、在线数据库等数据资源, 收集整理了全球4,145种蛇类的28个特征数据。这些特征包括生活史特征(体重、体长、猎物等8个特征)、生态学特征(分布地区、微生境、海拔分布等7个特征)和生物地理特征(年平均温度、年平均降水、归一化植被指数等13个特征), 其完整度为42.41%-99.90%。与已发表的数据集相比, 本数据集物种数更多、特征的完整度更高, 而且新增加了3个生活史和生态学特征数据(食物宽度、分布地区和致危因子), 以及13个生物地理特征数据。该数据集是目前全球蛇类最新和最全的特征数据集, 可为全球和特定地区蛇类的生态学、生物地理学和保护生物学等领域研究提供数据支持。

The inherent ecological and life-history characteristics of organisms are fundamental in determining species population dynamics and survive strategies, as well as their ability to adapt to environmental changes. Snakes are a group of vertebrates with a high degree of morphological specialization. However, due to the cryptic nature of snakes and their solitary behavior, life-history and ecological studies on snakes remain relatively lagged compared with other vertebrate groups, and no comprehensive trait database specifically dedicated to snakes has been available. This study collected and compiled 28 traits of 4,145 snake species by systematically consulting published snake books, peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed literature, online databases and other data resources. These traits include life-history traits (8 traits including body mass, total length, prey), ecological traits (7 traits including distribution, microhabitat, elevational distribution), and biogeographical traits (13 traits including annual mean temperature, annual mean precipitation, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI)). The data completeness of these traits ranged from 42.41% to 99.90%. Compared to other datasets, this dataset has the most complete number of species, the richest traits, and offers higher completeness for some traits. As the most comprehensive and up-to-date global trait dataset for snakes, it provides valuable data support for research in ecology, biogeography and conservation biology of snakes at both global and region scales.