The understanding of physiological adaptations, of evolutionary radiations and of ecological responses to global change urges for global, comprehensive databases of the functional traits of extant organisms. The ability to maintain an adequate water balance is a critical functional property influencing the resilience of animal species to climate variation. In terrestrial or semi-terrestrial organisms, total water loss includes a significant contribution from evaporative water loss (EWL). The analysis of geographic and phylogenetic variation in EWL rates must however account for differences in methods and potential confounding factors, which influence standard measures of whole-organism water loss. We compiled the global and standardized SquamEWL database of total, respiratory and cutaneous EWL for 325 species and subspecies of squamate reptiles (793 samples and 2,536 estimates) from across the globe. An extensive set of companion data and annotations associated with the EWL measurements of potential value for future investigation, including metabolic rate data, is provided. We present preliminary descriptive statistics for the compiled data, discuss gaps and biases, and identify promising avenues to update, expand and explore this database.

中文翻译：

---

世界范围内带注释的有鳞爬行动物蒸发失水率数据库

对生理适应、进化辐射和对全球变化的生态反应的理解迫切需要关于现存生物功能特征的全球综合数据库。保持足够的水平衡的能力是影响动物物种对气候变化的适应能力的关键功能特性。在陆生或半陆生生物中，总失水包括蒸发失水 (EWL) 的重要贡献。然而，对 EWL 率的地理和系统发育变异的分析必须考虑方法和潜在混杂因素的差异，这会影响整个生物体失水的标准措施。我们编制了全球标准化的 SquamEWL 总数据库，来自全球的 325 个有鳞爬行动物物种和亚种（793 个样本和 2,536 个估计值）的呼吸和皮肤 EWL。提供了一组广泛的伴随数据和注释，这些数据与 EWL 测量值相关，对未来调查具有潜在价值，包括代谢率数据。我们为已编译的数据提供初步的描述性统计数据，讨论差距和偏差，并确定更新、扩展和探索该数据库的有希望的途径。