title: The causal pie model: an epidemiological method applied to evolutionary biology and ecology.
abstract: A general concept for thinking about causality facilitates swift comprehension of results, and the vocabulary that belongs to the concept is instrumental in cross-disciplinary communication. The causal pie model has fulfilled this role in epidemiology and could be of similar value in evolutionary biology and ecology. In the causal pie model, outcomes result from sufficient causes. Each sufficient cause is made up of a "causal pie" of "component causes". Several different causal pies may exist for the same outcome. If and only if all component causes of a sufficient cause are present, that is, a causal pie is complete, does the outcome occur. The effect of a component cause hence depends on the presence of the other component causes that constitute some causal pie. Because all component causes are equally and fully causative for the outcome, the sum of causes for some outcome exceeds 100%. The causal pie model provides a way of thinking that maps into a number of recurrent themes in evolutionary biology and ecology: It charts when component causes have an effect and are subject to natural selection, and how component causes affect selection on other component causes; which partitions of outcomes with respect to causes are feasible and useful; and how to view the composition of a(n apparently homogeneous) population. The diversity of specific results that is directly understood from the causal pie model is a test for both the validity and the applicability of the model. The causal pie model provides a common language in which results across disciplines can be communicated and serves as a template along which future causal analyses can be made.
authors: Max Planck Research Group: Modeling the Evolution of Aging, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research Konrad Zuse Strasse 1, Rostock, 18057, Germany ; Leyden Academy on Vitality and Ageing, Poortgebouw LUMC Rijnsburgerweg 10, AA Leiden, 2333, The Netherlands.
authors: Maarten
authors: M
authors: Wensink
authors: Leyden Academy on Vitality and Ageing, Poortgebouw LUMC Rijnsburgerweg 10, AA Leiden, 2333, The Netherlands ; Department of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Leiden University Medical Center C2-R, PO Box 9600, RC Leiden, 2300, The Netherlands.
authors: Rudi G J
authors: RG
authors: Westendorp
authors: Max Planck Research Group: Modeling the Evolution of Aging, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research Konrad Zuse Strasse 1, Rostock, 18057, Germany.
authors: Annette
authors: A
authors: Baudisch
keywords: Agents of selection; aging; causation; causes of mortality; correlated traits; natural selection; semi-neutral mutations; trade-offs