A dataset on the morphological, life-history and ecological traits of the mammals in China

Species traits reflect the species' ecological function and fitness.The trait data play a vital role in studying biodiversity maintenance and loss, species evolution and adaptation, ecological interactions and processes, ecosystem functions, and species responses to both climate change and human pressures.China is one of the countries with the richest mammal diversity in the world, so far, there is no comprehensive resource of morphological, life history, ecological and geographical distribution data of the mammals in China.We compiled 24 traits data of 754 Chinese mammals (including recently regional extinct species and those species with disputed taxonomy and distribution) between 2008 and 2021 through systematic literature review and dataset integration, referred to mammalian monographs and field guides.The main sources used in completing the dataset were: the life history traits were retrieved from A Field Guide to the Mammals of China (Pan et al, 2007), A Guide to the Mammals of China (Smith & Xie, 2009), and trait database (COMBINE: COalesced Mammal dataBase of INtrinsic and Extrinsic traits, Soria et al, 2021), and the zoogeographical regionalization and distribution type were searched in China Animal Geography (Zhang, 2011), and species distribution in provinces and threatened category were cited from China's Red List of