The international trade in exotic vertebrate pets provides key social and economic benefits but also drives associated ecological, ethical, and human health impacts. However, despite its clear importance, we currently lack a full understanding of the structure of the pet trade, hampering efforts to optimize its benefits while mitigating its negative effects. In the present article, we represent and review the structure of the pet trade as a network composed of different market actors (nodes) and trade flows (links). We identify key data gaps in this network that, if filled, would enable network analyses to pinpoint targets for management. As a case study of how data-informed networks can realize this goal, we quantified spatial and temporal patterns in pets imported to the United States. Our framework and case study illustrate how network approaches can help to inform and manage the effects of the growing demand for exotic pets.

中文翻译：

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国际脊椎动物宠物贸易网络和来自美国进口外来宠物的见解

外来脊椎动物宠物的国际贸易提供了关键的社会和经济效益，但也推动了相关的生态、伦理和人类健康影响。然而，尽管其重要性显而易见，但我们目前对宠物贸易的结构缺乏全面了解，从而阻碍了优化其利益同时减轻其负面影响的努力。在本文中，我们将宠物交易的结构表示和回顾为由不同市场参与者（节点）和交易流（链接）组成的网络。我们确定了该网络中的关键数据缺口，如果填补这些缺口，将使网络分析能够查明管理目标。作为数据信息网络如何实现这一目标的案例研究，我们量化了进口到美国的宠物的空间和时间模式。