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Nature & Notoriety: linking
species traits and the extent to
which they are studied
Zoe Brooke
Why do we study what we study?
How did I do it?
Why the Order Carnivora?
Image from:http://www.untamedscience.com/biodiversity/animals/chordates/mammals/carnivorans
How did I do it?
• 286 Carnivore species in
15 Families
• 23 655 collected papers
of which
• 16 817 relevant papers
• 14 222 unique papers
O
rs
do i dae
be
ni
Ph dae
oc
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ae
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an
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en
id
O ae
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a
Fe e
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Ai ae
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M rida
us
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t
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Pr
l
oc ida
yo e
n
M ida
e
ep
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er tida
pe
e
st
i
Vi dae
ve
rr
Eu ida
e
pl
er
i
N
an dae
di
ni
id
ae
U
Mean number of papers per species
Carnivore publications by Family
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
M
M
C
an
id
ae
Fe
lid
ae
ep
hi
tid
ae
us
te
lid
ae
id
ae
Vi
vv
er
er
pe
st
id
ae
Pr
oc
yo
ni
da
e
H
Percentage species with zero papers
The least published Carnivores
28 Carnivores from seven Families had zero papers
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Why are there no published papers?
28 Carnivores from seven Families had zero papers:
• Occur in non-affluent countries
• Generally small (≤ 2.4kg)
• Taxonomic uncertainty
• Ecological characteristics
• Already extinct?
The 10 most published Carnivores
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Wolves
Red fox
Brown bear
Harbour seal
Eurasian badger
6. American black bear
7. Domestic cat
8. Coyote
9. Raccoon
10. Cougar/Puma
Emerging patterns
Predicted research effort & species traits
• 3 Carnivores received
much more research effort
than predicted.
• 2 Carnivores received
much less research effort
than predicted.
Body Mass
Affluence
Interactions with humans
Extinction risk
The Eupleridae
• One of the most
threatened Carnivore
families
• A research priority?
• One of the least studied
Carnivore research content analysis
We’ve looked at what we study in terms of species and
traits, but what are the Carnivore studies about?
We explore the content of Carnivore research in 2 ways:
– Word frequency
– Word co-occurrence
Carnivore research content analysis
Title word frequency
Common title words in Felidae research
Common title words in Canidae research
Carnivore research content analysis
Title word co-occurrence
Lion
n = 318
Tiger
n = 247
Examples of
common title
words
Behaviour


Social system;
Competition;
Predation &
Prey


Resource selection;
Ungulate
Human-wildlife
conflict


Depredation;
Livestock
Conservation


Reserve; Habitat;
Program
Morphology &
evolution


Skull; Evolution
Reproduction


Assisted; Embryo
Monitoring


DNA; Scat;
Camera trap
Disease


Distemper; FIV; TB
Conclusions
Wide variation in intensity of research effort at Family &
individual species levels.
Numerous differences between Families & extinction risk
categories but neither were found to be predictors of
research effort.
Carnivore research is driven by their size and potential
interactions with affluent humans.
Thank you!
Chris Carbone
Jon Bielby
Institute of Zoology, ZSL
Kate Nambiar,
University of Sussex