Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34780464›Full record

ArticlePLoS computational biology2021

Intriguing effects of selection intensity on the evolution of prosocial behaviors.

Alex McAvoy, Andrew Rao, Christoph Hauert

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PLoS computational biology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing 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

8 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Promoters of cooperation in evolutionary games.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Density amplifiers of cooperation for spatial games.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024
    Article
  5. Frequency-dependent returns in nonlinear public goods games.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2024
    Article
  6. Evolution of reciprocity with limited payoff memory.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024
    Article
  7. Article
  8. 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

3 authors.

Alex McAvoyDepartment of Mathematics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America.ORCID 0000-0002-9110-4635
Andrew RaoDepartment of Economics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Christoph HauertDepartment of Mathematics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.ORCID 0000-0002-1239-281X

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

In many models of evolving populations, genetic drift has an outsized role relative to natural selection, or vice versa. While there are many scenarios in which one of these two assumptions is reasonable, intermediate balances between these forces are also biologically relevant. In this study, we consider some natural axioms for modeling intermediate selection intensities, and we explore how to quantify the long-term evolutionary dynamics of such a process. To illustrate the sensitivity of evolutionary dynamics to drift and selection, we show that there can be a "sweet spot" for the balance of these two forces, with sufficient noise for rare mutants to become established and sufficient selection to spread. This balance allows prosocial traits to evolve in evolutionary models that were previously thought to be unconducive to the emergence and spread of altruistic behaviors. Furthermore, the effects of selection intensity on long-run evolutionary outcomes in these settings, such as when there is global competition for reproduction, can be highly non-monotonic. Although intermediate selection intensities (neither weak nor strong) are notoriously difficult to study analytically, they are often biologically relevant; and the results we report suggest that they can elicit novel and rich dynamics in the evolution of prosocial behaviors.

Indexed as

Evolution, MolecularSelection, GeneticModels, Genetic

Identifiers

PMID34780464
PMCPMC8629389

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.