Bonhommeau S., Dubroca Laurent, Le Pape O., Barde Julien, Kaplan David, Chassot Emmanuel, Nieblas A. E. (2013). Eating up the world's food web and the human trophic level. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 110 (51), p. 20617-20620. ISSN 0027-8424.
Titre du document
Eating up the world's food web and the human trophic level
Bonhommeau S., Dubroca Laurent, Le Pape O., Barde Julien, Kaplan David, Chassot Emmanuel, Nieblas A. E.
Source
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2013,
110 (51), p. 20617-20620 ISSN 0027-8424
Trophic levels are critical for synthesizing species' diets, depicting energy pathways, understanding food web dynamics and ecosystem functioning, and monitoring ecosystem health. Specifically, trophic levels describe the position of species in a food web, from primary producers to apex predators (range, 1-5). Small differences in trophic level can reflect large differences in diet. Although trophic levels are among the most basic information collected for animals in ecosystems, a human trophic level (HTL) has never been defined. Here, we find a global HTL of 2.21, i.e., the trophic level of anchoveta. This value has increased with time, consistent with the global trend toward diets higher in meat. National HTLs ranging between 2.04 and 2.57 reflect a broad diversity of diet, although cluster analysis of countries with similar dietary trends reveals only five major groups. We find significant links between socio-economic and environmental indicators and global dietary trends. We demonstrate that the HTL is a synthetic index to monitor human diets and provides a baseline to compare diets between countries.
Plan de classement
Ecologie, systèmes aquatiques [036]
;
Nutrition, alimentation [054]
;
Etudes, transformation, conservation du milieu naturel [082]
