Reply to: Maximising time-series inclusion reduces geographic and taxonomic biases in the Living Planet Index

David Storch, Jan Smyčka, Anna Tószögyová 

In their recent communication, "Maximising time-series inclusion reduces geographic and taxonomic biases in the Living Planet Index" (https://doi.org/10.32942/X2M33C), McRae et al. have raised objections to our study, "Mathematical biases in the calculation of the Living Planet Index lead to overestimation of vertebrate population decline" (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-49070-x). In this reply, we address the persisting misunderstandings of the problems concerning the Living Planet Index (LPI) methodology that we have described in our original study.