food compared to other constraints

[McKeown, John]

Thanks for the interesting papers. 

Massimo’s item 6 on Anthropization prompts a thought that food production may not be the limiting factor, partly because some of the Planetary Boundaries would earlier be detrimental, notably Nitrogen flow, and biodiversity loss, risking local ecosystem degradations (e.g. Steffen et al, Science 2015). 

Massimo observes that “new data and methods are needed” which reminds me there is apparently still no composite measure for comparing amounts of national impact on biodiversity or species’ abundance, which was confirmed by one of authors of “Biodiversity: the ravages of gun, nets and bulldozers” (Maxwell et al. Nature Comment, 2016).

Both speakers helpfully highlight the spatial dimension. Last year I visited the BES Macroecology conference and that discipline (alongside biogeography) has distinctive relevant insights.

Thanks,

John

[MUTTARAK Raya]

Message from Massimo to John

 

Dear John,

 

Thank for your interesting comments. I am a demographer and historian, and I do not have the knowledge and expertise necessary to enter into a highly technical debate. However I am convinced that the spatial dimension (once upon the time…”geography”), abandoned and neglected by social scientists, should be brought back to the honors of the scene…I am trying, whenever it is possible, to convince my colleagues of this elementary truth!

 

Best,

Massimo

--
The Population-Environment Research Network (PERN) Cyberseminar Discussion List
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PERNSeminars - List" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to pernseminars...@ciesin.columbia.edu.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/a/ciesin.columbia.edu/d/msgid/pernseminars/70CC3E06-C065-43CC-9124-87F3018AFBC6%40exeter.ac.uk.