An evolutionary attractor is a state toward which evolution tends.[ 1] [ 2] Most often it means that adaptation is moving a population of a species towards a particular goal – that goal is the attractor.[ 1] [ 2] It less commonly means any other outcome of evolution and/or a larger group than one population.
Attractors are important to evolutionary epidemiology because what goal a pathogen is pursuing – and its speed of progress towards more transmissible and/or more virulent attractors – radically alter the actual damage a pathogen will do.[ 1] [ 3] [ 2] It also shapes the course of a species invasion .[ 1]
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Chapwanya, M.; Matusse, A.; Dumont, Y. (2021). "On synergistic co-infection in crop diseases. The case of the Maize Lethal Necrosis Disease" . Applied Mathematical Modelling . 90 . Elsevier : 912–942. doi :10.1016/j.apm.2020.09.036 . hdl :2263/79514 .
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Fabre, Frederic; Burie, Jean-Baptiste; Ducrot, Arnaud; Lion, Sebastien; Richard, Quentin; Demasse, Ramses (2022). "An epi-evolutionary model for predicting the adaptation of spore-producing pathogens to quantitative resistance in heterogeneous environments" . Evolutionary Applications . 15 (1). John Wiley & Sons Ltd. : 95–110. doi :10.1111/eva.13328 . PMC 8792485 . PMID 35126650 .