ReviewTrends in ecology & evolution2019
Evolutionary Ecology of Senescence and a Reassessment of Williams' 'Extrinsic Mortality' Hypothesis.
Review in Trends in ecology & evolution, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
36 citing papers in PubMed.
- Environmental variability versus extrinsic mortality as correlates of mammalian lifespan: a pre-specified comparative analysis with phylogenetic and deep-time evidence.Biogerontology · 2026Article
- Evolutionary genetics of ageing.Nature reviews. Genetics · 2026Review
- Evolution of increased longevity and slowed ageing in a genus of tropical butterfly.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Social Organisation Predicts Lifespan in Mammals.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Fast females, slow males: accelerated ageing and reproductive senescence inEvolution letters · 2026Article
- Timing of mortality during development alters the evolution of aging.BMC ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- The pace and shape of ant ageing.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2025Review
- Aging by the clock and yet without a program.Nature aging · 2025Review
- Poor hypotheses and research waste in biology: learning from a theory crisis in psychology.BMC biology · 2025Review
- Social ageing can protect against infectious disease in a group-living primate.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2024Article
- The evolution of ageing: classic theories and emerging ideas.Biogerontology · 2024Review
- Social ageing can protect against infectious disease in a group-living primate.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Growth and longevity modulation through larval environment mediate immunosenescence and immune strategy of Tenebrio molitor.Immunity & ageing : I & A · 2024Article
- The Uncontrollable Mortality Risk Hypothesis: Theoretical foundations and implications for public health.Evolution, medicine, and public health · 2024Article
- Directional selection coupled with kin selection favors the establishment of senescence.BMC biology · 2023Article
- Genetic sex determination, sex chromosome size and sex-specific lifespans across tetrapods.Journal of evolutionary biology · 2023Article
- A sex skew in life-history research: the problem of missing males.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Review
- The selection force weakens with age because ageing evolves and not vice versa.Nature communications · 2022Article
- The hyperfunction theory: An emerging paradigm for the biology of aging.Ageing research reviews · 2022Review
- A synthesis of senescence predictions for indeterminate growth, and support from multiple tests in wild lake trout.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Article
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Abstract
The evolutionary theory of senescence underpins research in life history evolution and the biology of aging. In 1957 G.C. Williams predicted that higher adult death rates select for earlier senescence and shorter length of life, but preadult mortality does not matter to the evolution of senescence. This was subsequently interpreted as predicting that senescence should be caused by 'extrinsic' sources of mortality. This idea still motivates empirical studies, although formal, mathematical theory shows it is wrong. It has nonetheless prospered because it offers an intuitive explanation for patterns observed in nature. We review the flaws in Williams' model, explore alternative explanations for comparative patterns that are consistent with the evolutionary theory of senescence, and discuss how hypotheses based on it can be tested. We argue that focusing on how sources of mortality affect ages differently offers greater insight into evolutionary processes.
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