Information on tropical Asian vertebrates has traditionally been sparse, particularly when it comes to cryptic species inhabiting the dense forests of the region. Vertebrate populations are declining globally due to land‐use change and hunting, the latter frequently referred as “defaunation.” This is especially true in tropical Asia where there is extensive land‐use change and high human densities. Robust monitoring requires that large volumes of vertebrate population data be made available for use by the scientific and applied communities. Camera traps have emerged as an effective, non‐invasive, widespread, and common approach to surveying vertebrates in their natural habitats. However, camera‐derived datasets remain scattered across a wide array of sources, including published scientific literature, gray literature, and unpublished works, making it challenging for researchers to harness the full potential of cameras for ecology, conservation, and management. In response, we collated and standardized observations from 239 camera trap studies conducted in tropical Asia. There were 278,260 independent records of 371 distinct species, comprising 232 mammals, 132 birds, and seven reptiles. The total trapping effort accumulated in this data paper consisted of 876,606 trap nights, distributed among Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Bhutan, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Nepal, and far eastern India. The relatively standardized deployment methods in the region provide a consistent, reliable, and rich count data set relative to other large‐scale pressence‐only data sets, such as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) or citizen science repositories (e.g., iNaturalist), and is thus most similar to eBird. To facilitate the use of these data, we also provide mammalian species trait information and 13 environmental covariates calculated at three spatial scales around the camera survey centroids (within 10‐, 20‐, and 30‐km buffers). We will update the dataset to include broader coverage of temperate Asia and add newer surveys and covariates as they become available. This dataset unlocks immense opportunities for single‐species ecological or conservation studies as well as applied ecology, community ecology, and macroecology investigations. The data are fully available to the public for utilization and research. Please cite this data paper when utilizing the data.

中文翻译：

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CamTrapAsia：来自 239 项相机陷阱研究的热带森林脊椎动物群落数据集

传统上，有关亚洲热带脊椎动物的信息很少，特别是当涉及栖息在该地区茂密森林的神秘物种时。由于土地利用变化和狩猎，全球脊椎动物数量正在减少，后者通常被称为“动物区系丧失”。在亚洲热带地区尤其如此，那里土地利用发生了广泛的变化，人口密度也很高。强有力的监测需要提供大量脊椎动物种群数据以供科学界和应用界使用。相机陷阱已成为一种有效、非侵入性、广泛且常见的方法来调查自然栖息地的脊椎动物。然而，相机衍生的数据集仍然分散在广泛的来源中，包括已发表的科学文献、灰色文献和未发表的作品，这使得研究人员难以充分利用相机在生态、保护和管理方面的潜力。作为回应，我们对在热带亚洲进行的 239 项相机陷阱研究的观察结果进行了整理和标准化。共有 371 个不同物种的 278,260 个独立记录，其中包括 232 种哺乳动物、132 种鸟类和 7 种爬行动物。本数据论文中累积的总诱捕努力包括 876,606 个诱捕夜，分布在印度尼西亚、新加坡、马来西亚、不丹、泰国、缅甸、柬埔寨、老挝、越南、尼泊尔和印度远东地区。相对于其他大规模仅新闻数据集，例如全球生物多样性信息设施（GBIF）或公民科学存储库（例如 iNaturalist），该地区相对标准化的部署方法提供了一致、可靠和丰富的计数数据集，因此与 eBird 最相似。为了方便这些数据的使用，我们还提供了哺乳动物物种性状信息和在相机调查质心周围（10、20 和 30 公里缓冲区内）三个空间尺度计算的 13 个环境协变量。我们将更新数据集，以包括更广泛的亚洲温带地区，并添加更新的调查和协变量。该数据集为单物种生态或保护研究以及应用生态学、群落生态学和宏观生态学研究提供了巨大的机会。这些数据完全可供公众使用和研究。使用数据时请引用本数据文件。