Main text
We thank Paz-Vinas et al. for developing aspects of our macrogenetics
paper that we were not able to cover in detail. We agree with some of
their messages and support the call for careful use of compiled data,
particularly when repurposing it for new questions.
Macrogenetics (Blanchet et al. 2017) investigates large-scale patterns
in intraspecific genetic diversity (IGD) across many taxa, as they
relate to ecological processes and anthropogenic impacts. Macrogenetics
is a fast-emerging field, so we hope this exchange with Paz-Vinas
contributes to its development.
Our paper presented a global analysis of the effects of human population
density and land use on patterns of IGD; the first (and most
substantive) part of our paper focused on a spatial analysis and the
second (using a much smaller dataset) presented a time series analysis.
Paz-Vinas et al. comment primarily on the latter.
Paz-Vinas et al.’s comment raises some points we addressed in Millette
et al. (2020) and present two issues that question the main finding of
our paper captured by our title: “No consistent effects of humans on
animal genetic diversity worldwide”. Yet, nothing in their comment
undermines our conclusions. We address the two major points of their
comment below.