“Natural resource–dependent households rely on surrounding biodiversity for their food and income. Explicating the ways households use biodiversity is critical to appreciating the true value of diverse ecosystems.”

Households living near rice field fisheries in Cambodia eat a much wider cross-section of their fish catch (43% of local species) than they take to market to sell (only 9%). 

“Poorer households also consumed more species, underscoring how wild food systems may most benefit the vulnerable,” the article concludes. The results highlight the food security consequences of biodiversity loss—for families, communities, and global food systems.

The team's research integrated surveys of households and ecological sites collected over three years in the freshwater Tonlé Sap lake system in Cambodia. Cornell Chronicle coverage noted that the study—part of Cornell's 2030 Project—is one of the first to examine how diet and biodiversity interact in a wild food system.

Culinary habits are part of the reason why larger fish are more often sold, Fiorella said. “We tend to eat them as fillets, which tend to have a slightly lower nutrient content than some of the small fish where people are eating the head and the bones,” she said. To boost their household income, people sell the popular but less nutritious fish, and eat the more nutritious fish at home.

Kathryn Fiorella is director of Einaudi's Migrations Program and an associate professor of public and ecosystem health in the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Read the PNAS article

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