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Capturing stochasticity properly is key to understanding the nuances of the Living Planet Index

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 7, pages 1194–1195 (2023)Cite this article

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Matters Arising to this article was published on 05 June 2023

The Original Article was published on 24 June 2021

arising from F. T. Buschke et al. Nature Ecology & Evolution https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01494-0 (2021)

In a recent study, Buschke et al.1 found that small additive population fluctuations led to a declining Living Planet Index (LPI), despite average population sizes remaining steady, and argue that, rather than a constant baseline at 1, the null expectation of the LPI should be one of decline. Buschke et al.1 do not invalidate the LPI as an effective tool for measuring biodiversity, but instead encourage the use of randomized null models as a baseline for assessing LPI trends. As the framework of the LPI is gaining momentum and is increasingly being used to quantify population changes in specific taxa2,3, habitats4 and countries5,6, having an accurate and robust null expectation for index values is critical.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA

    Emma J. Talis

  2. Institute for Advanced Computational Science, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA

    Emma J. Talis & Heather J. Lynch

  3. Department of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA

    Heather J. Lynch

Authors
  1. Emma J. Talis
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  2. Heather J. Lynch
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Contributions

E.J.T. and H.J.L. proposed the idea together, E.J.T. wrote the first draft of the manuscript, and both E.J.T. and H.J.L. finalized the manuscript together.

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Correspondence to Emma J. Talis or Heather J. Lynch.

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Nature Ecology & Evolution thanks the anonymous reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Talis, E.J., Lynch, H.J. Capturing stochasticity properly is key to understanding the nuances of the Living Planet Index. Nat Ecol Evol 7, 1194–1195 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02086-w

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