1. Reply to Feeley and Machovina: Trophic ecology complements estimates of land use change due to food production
- Author
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Laurent Dubroca, Emmanuel Chassot, Sylvain Bonhommeau, Carlos Manacorda, Anne-Elise Nieblas, Olivier Le Pape, David M. Kaplan, Julien Barde, UMR 212 EME 'écosystèmes marins exploités' (EME), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Université de Montpellier (UM), Instituto de Biotecnología, Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA), Écologie et santé des écosystèmes (ESE), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-AGROCAMPUS OUEST, Bonhommeau, Sylvain, and Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)-Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)
- Subjects
2. Zero hunger ,Multidisciplinary ,Food Chain ,Meat ,business.industry ,Ecology ,Ecology (disciplines) ,Population size ,[SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio] ,15. Life on land ,Biology ,Models, Biological ,Food chain ,Food Preferences ,Food processing ,Animals ,Humans ,Land use, land-use change and forestry ,Ecosystem ,Letters ,business ,Inefficiency ,Trophic level - Abstract
Feeley and Machovina assert that even though humans occupy a low trophic level, we have larger ecosystem impacts than any other species because of the sheer volume of food consumed (linked to population size) and the inefficiency of its production (1). The authors argue that large differences in the impact on resource use exist between dietary preferences (e.g., differing proportions of beef, pork, or poultry in a diet), even if human diets are represented by the same trophic level. We are in complete agreement that humans have among the largest ecological impact of any species and that the human trophic level (HTL) (2) does not capture … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: sylvain.bonhommeau{at}ifremer.fr. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1
- Published
- 2014