Balancing data treatments with geographic and taxonomic representation in the Living Planet Index

Louise McRae , Valentina Marconi, Stefanie Deinet, Robin Freeman

We set out the published, peer‑reviewed steps behind the Living Planet Index (LPI) and use these to frame why the patterns highlighted by Toszogyova et al occur. By explaining the reasoning behind our treatment of zeros and the inclusion of shorter or sparser time‑series, we show how different choices shape representation, highlighting the problem of addressing uneven data representation in the LPI and the risk of removing shorter or sparser time-series. We conclude by emphasising that the present LPI workflow offers a transparent way to represent available data while we continue to investigate methodological refinements.