Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34059768›Full record

ArticleCommunications biology2021

A natural constant predicts survival to maximum age.

Manuel Dureuil, Rainer Froese

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Communications biology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Manuel DureuilDepartment of Biology, Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford St, Halifax, B3H 4R2, Canada. ManuelDureuil@gmail.com.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0803-6684
Rainer FroeseGEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, Düsternbrooker Weg 20, Kiel, 24105, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9745-636X

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Information about the survival of species is important in many ecological applications. Yet, the estimation of a species' natural mortality rate M remains a major problem in the management and conservation of wild populations, often circumvented by applying empirical equations that relate mortality to other traits that are more easily observed. We show that mean adult M can be approximated from the general law of decay if the average maximum age reached by individuals in a cohort is known. This is possible because the proportion P of individuals surviving to the average maximum age in a cohort is surprisingly similar across a wide range of examined species at 1.5%. The likely reason for the narrow range of P is a universal increase in the rate of mortality near the end of life, providing strong evidence that the evolutionary theories of ageing are the norm in natural populations.

Indexed as

MortalityAgingAnimalsEcosystemGenetic SpeciationHumansModels, TheoreticalPopulation Dynamics

Identifiers

PMID34059768
PMCPMC8166855

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.