December 2003 3403
DATA PAPERS
Ecology,
84(12), 2003, p. 3403
q
2003 by the Ecological Society of America
BODY MASS OF LATE QUATERNARY MAMMALS
Ecological Archives
E084-094
F
ELISA
A. S
MITH
,
1
S. K
ATHLEEN
L
YONS
,S.K.M
ORGAN
E
RNEST
,K
ATE
E. J
ONES
,D
AWN
M. K
AUFMAN
,
T
AMAR
D
AYAN
,P
ABLO
A. M
ARQUET
,J
AMES
H. B
ROWN
,
AND
J
OHN
P. H
ASKELL
1
Working Group on Body Size in Ecology and Paleoecology, National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis
(NCEAS), 735 State Street, Suite 300, Santa Barbara, California 93101–5504
Abstract.
The purpose of this data set was to compile body mass information for all mammals on Earth so
that we could investigate the patterns of body mass seen across geographic and taxonomic space and evolutionary
time. We were interested in the heritability of body size across taxonomic groups (How conserved is body mass
within a genus, family, and order?), in the overall pattern of body mass across continents (Do the moments and
other descriptive statistics remain the same across geographic space?), and over evolutionary time (How quickly
did body mass patterns iterate on the patterns seen today? Were the Pleistocene extinctions size specific on each
continent, and did these events coincide with the arrival of man?). These data are also part of a larger project
that seeks to integrate body mass patterns across very diverse taxa (NCEAS Working Group on Body Size in
Ecology and Paleoecology: linking pattern and process across space, time, and taxonomic scales). We began
with the updated version of D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder’s taxonomic list of all known Recent mammals of
the world (
N
5
4629 species) to which we added status, distribution, and body mass estimates compiled from
the primary and secondary literature. Whenever possible, we used an average of male and female body mass,
which was in turn averaged over multiple localities to arrive at our species body mass values. The sources are
line referenced in the main data set, with the actual references appearing in a table within the metadata. Mammals
have individual records for each continent they occur on. Note that our data set is more than an amalgamation
of smaller compilations. Although we relied heavily on a data set for Chiroptera by K. E. Jones (
N
5
905), the
CRC handbook of Mammalian Body Mass (
N
5
688), and a data set compiled for South America by P. Marquet
(
N
5
505), these represent less than half the records in the current database. The remainder are derived from
more than 150 other sources. Furthermore, we include a comprehensive late Pleistocene species assemblage for
Africa, North and South America, and Australia (an additional 230 species). ‘‘Late Pleistocene’’ is defined as
approximately 11 ka for Africa, North and South America, and as 50 ka for Australia, because these times
predate anthropogenic impacts on mammalian fauna. Estimates contained within this data set represent a gen-
eralized species value, averaged across sexes and geographic space. Consequently, these data are not appropriate
for asking population-level questions where the integration of body mass with specific environmental conditions
is important. All extant orders of mammals are included, as well as several archaic groups (
N
5
4859 species).
Because some species are found on more than one continent (particularly Chiroptera), there are 5731 entries.
We have body masses for the following: Artiodactyla (280 records), Bibymalagasia (2 records), Carnivora (393
records), Cetacea (75 records), Chiroptera (1071 records), Dasyuromorphia (67 records), Dermoptera (3 records),
Didelphimorphia (68 records), Diprotodontia (127 records), Hydracoidea (5 records), Insectivora (234 records),
Lagomorpha (53 records), Litopterna (2 records), Macroscelidea (14 records), Microbiotheria (1 record), Mono-
tremata (7 records), Notoryctemorphia (1 record), Notoungulata (5 records), Paucituberculata (5 records), Per-
amelemorphia (24 records), Perissodactyla (47 records), Pholidota (8 records), Primates (276 records), Probos-
cidea (14 records), Rodentia (1425 records), Scandentia (15 records), Sirenia (6 records), Tubulidentata(1 record),
and Xenarthra (75 records).
Key words: body mass; extinct mammals; late Quaternary; macroecology; taxonomy.
Manuscript received 14 November 2002; revised 20 October 2003; accepted 21 October 2003. Corresponding Editor: W. K.
Michener.
1
Corresponding author: Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131 USA,
fasmith@unm.edu