Body size, extinction risk and knowledge bias in new world snakes
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2014-11-19
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Extinction risk and body size have been found to be related in various vertebrate groups, with larger species being more at
risk than smaller ones. We checked whether this was also the case for snakes by investigating extinction risk–body size
relationships in the New World’s Colubroidea species. We used the IUCN Red List risk categories to assign each species to
one of two broad levels of threat (Threatened and Non-Threatened) or to identify it as either Data Deficient or NotEvaluated
by the IUCN. We also included the year of description of each species in our analysis as this could affect the level
of threat assigned to it (earlier described species had more time to gather information about them, which might have
facilitated their evaluation). Also, species detectability could be a function of body size, with larger species tending to be
described earlier, which could have an impact in extinction risk–body size relationships. We found a negative relationship
between body size and description year, with large-bodied species being described earlier. Description year also varied
among risk categories, with Non-Threatened species being described earlier than Threatened species and both species
groups earlier than Data Deficient species. On average, Data Deficient species also presented smaller body sizes, while no
size differences were detected between Threatened and Non-Threatened species. So it seems that smaller body sizes are
related with species detectability, thus potentially affecting both when a species is described (smaller species tend to be
described more recently) as well as the amount of information gathered about it (Data Deficient species tend to be smaller).
Our data also indicated that if Data Deficient species were to be categorized as Threatened in the future, snake body size
and extinction risk would be negatively related, contrasting with the opposite pattern commonly observed in other
vertebrate groups.
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VILELA, Bruno; VILLALOBOS, Fabricio; RODRÍGUEZ, M. Á.; TERRIBILE, L. C. Body size, extinction risk and knowledge bias in new world snakes. Plos One, v. 9, p. 1-8, 2014. Disponível em: < http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0113429>.