Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34932924›Full record

ArticleBiology letters2021

Causation without correlation: parasite-mediated frequency-dependent selection and infection prevalence.

Curtis M Lively, Julie Xu, Frida Ben-Ami

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Biology letters, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
0.7field-weighted citation impact, top 25% of its field
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

4 citing papers in PubMed, 4 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Genetic diversity and disease: The past, present, and future of an old idea.Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · 2022
    Article
  4. 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 at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Curtis M LivelyDepartment of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, 1001 East Third Street, IN 47405, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-6825-2285
Julie XuDepartment of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, 1001 East Third Street, IN 47405, USA.
Frida Ben-AmiSchool of Zoology, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel.ORCID 0000-0002-1978-5659
Indiana University Bloomington · USTel Aviv University · IL

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Parasite-mediated selection is thought to maintain host genetic diversity for resistance. We might thus expect to find a strong positive correlation between host genetic diversity and infection prevalence across natural populations. Here, we used computer simulations to examine host-parasite coevolution in 20 simi-isolated clonal populations across a broad range of values for both parasite virulence and parasite fecundity. We found that the correlation between host genetic diversity and infection prevalence can be significantly positive for intermediate values of parasite virulence and fecundity. But the correlation can also be weak and statistically non-significant, even when parasite-mediated frequency-dependent selection is the sole force maintaining host diversity. Hence correlational analyses of field populations, while useful, might underestimate the role of parasites in maintaining host diversity.

Indexed as

ParasitesAnimalsBiological EvolutionGenetic VariationHost-Parasite InteractionsPrevalenceSelection, GeneticVirulencegenetic diversityhost–parasite coevolutionnegative frequency-dependent selection

Identifiers

PMID34932924
PMCPMC8692037
OpenAlexW4225937320

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

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.