Global wildlife trade is a billion‐dollar industry, with millions of individuals traded annually from a diversity of taxa, many of which are directly threatened by trade. Reptiles exhibiting desirable life‐history or aesthetic traits, such as large body sizes or colorful morphologies, are traded preferentially. A key issue is understanding geographic and temporal variation between desirable species traits and their trade. Poor understanding of this can generalize patterns of consumer trait preferences and conceal functional consequences of wild harvest in ecosystems. Using records of legal, international trade in Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)‐listed reptiles between 2000 and 2020, we examine geographic and temporal variation in the functional composition of traded assemblages, both captive‐ and wild‐sourced, identifying key hotspots and routes of functional diversity in trade. We also identify associations between functional traits and species presence in trade. We find that functionally diverse trade assemblages are exported primarily from the tropics, with hotspots in sub‐Saharan Africa, and imported across Asia, Europe, and North America. Patterns of functional composition in trade remained broadly stable from 2000 to 2020. Globally, the species most likely to be traded were large, fecund, generalists. Sustained wild harvest of functionally diverse reptilian assemblages in trade hotspots, such as Madagascar and Indonesia, places substantial pressure on large‐bodied reptiles that fulfill important ecological functions, including population control and nutrient cycling, while also endangering harvest‐vulnerable species with slow life histories. Despite limited species‐specific descriptions of reptilian ecological functions, management in harvest hotspots can safeguard ecosystem functioning by prioritizing protection for threatened species that contribute disproportionately to local and regional functional diversity.

中文翻译：

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CITES贸易爬行动物功能组成的全球动态


全球野生动植物贸易是一个价值数十亿美元的产业，每年有数百万个体来自各种分类群的交易，其中许多分类群受到贸易的直接威胁。表现出理想的生活史或审美特征的爬行动物，例如大体型或丰富多彩的形态，被优先交易。一个关键问题是了解理想物种性状与其贸易之间的地理和时间差异。对此了解不足会概括消费者特征偏好的模式，并掩盖生态系统中野生收获的功能后果。利用 2000 年至 2020 年间《濒危野生动植物种国际贸易公约》（CITES） 列出的爬行动物的合法国际贸易记录，我们研究了圈养和野生来源的贸易组合功能构成的地理和时间变化，确定了贸易中功能多样性的关键热点和路线。我们还确定了功能特性与贸易中物种存在之间的关联。我们发现，功能多样的贸易组合主要从热带地区出口，热点地区在撒哈拉以南非洲，并在亚洲、欧洲和北美进口。从 2000 年到 2020 年，贸易中的功能构成模式大致保持稳定。在全球范围内，最有可能被交易的物种是大型、多产的多面手。在马达加斯加和印度尼西亚等贸易热点地区，功能多样的爬行动物组合的持续野外捕捞，给履行重要生态功能（包括种群控制和营养循环）的大型爬行动物带来了巨大压力，同时也危及生活史缓慢的易收获物种。 尽管对爬行动物生态功能的物种特异性描述有限，但收获热点的管理可以通过优先保护对当地和区域功能多样性做出不成比例贡献的受威胁物种来保护生态系统功能。