Alex Best
University of Sheffield
55 Papers
76 Citations
Alex Best is an academic researcher from University of Sheffield. The author has contributed to research in topics: Population & Biology. The author has an hindex of 20, co-authored 47 publications. Previous affiliations of Alex Best include Natural Environment Research Council & University of Exeter.
Chat about Author
Papers
Parasite Exposure Drives Selective Evolution of Constitutive versus Inducible Defense
Edze R. Westra,Stineke van Houte,Sam Oyesiku-Blakemore,Ben Makin,Jenny M. Broniewski,Alex Best,Joseph Bondy-Denomy,Alan R. Davidson,Mike Boots,Angus Buckling +9 more
TL;DR: The general theoretical model and experimental evolution are teased apart the mechanism that drives their evolution and show that infection risk determines the relative investment in the two arms of defense.
299
Deleterious Mutations Can Surf to High Densities on the Wave Front of an Expanding Population
Justin M. J. Travis,Justin M. J. Travis,Tamara Münkemüller,Tamara Münkemüller,Olivia J. Burton,Alex Best,Alex Best,Calvin Dytham,Calvin Dytham,Karin Johst +9 more
TL;DR: The surfing effect can lead to deleterious mutations reaching high densities at an expanding front, even when they have substantial negative effects on fitness, and is suggested to have important consequences for rates of spread and the evolution of spatially expanding populations.
The role of ecological feedbacks in the evolution of host defence: what does theory tell us?
TL;DR: The aim of this work is to review theoretical approaches that investigate the evolution of defence and to explain how the type of Defence and the costs associated with its acquisition are important in determining the level of defence that evolves.
The coevolutionary implications of host tolerance.
TL;DR: The models show that the coevolution of host tolerance and parasite virulence does not lead to the generation and maintenance of diversity through either static polymorphisms or through “Red‐queen” cycles, but may however lead to multiple stable states leading to sudden shifts in parasite impacts on host health.
The Evolution of Host‐Parasite Range
TL;DR: A coevolutionary model of hosts and parasites where infection does not depend on absolute rates of transmission and defense but is approximately all‐or‐nothing, depending on the relative levels of defense and infectivity of the host and the parasite is examined.